When choosing a roof for your home, you need to take location and climate into consideration. For instance, you would not want to put a shingle roof on a house in the desert because the asphalt would melt. Similarly, there are some roofing tips to follow and options that tend to work well if you have a home on a lake. Take a look.
Consider metal.
Metal roofs have earned somewhat of a bad reputation when it comes to waterfront homes. But this only applies to homes on the oceanfront, since the salty water and air tend to make steel roofs rust prematurely. Lake water is freshwater, so your air and water won't be salty. You can safely put a steel roof on a lakefront home, and indeed, metal roofs are a good choice for this situation. The heavier metal is less likely to be lifted up by those lakefront winds than other roofing materials. Plus, steel roofing won't collect sand like shingle and cedar roofing can.
Make sure you have really good drip edging.
Drip edging is the plastic barrier that is put down along the edge of the roof, under the main roofing material. Its main purpose is to prevent rainwater from getting under the outer roofing layer and into the underlayment. Drip edging is even more important on a lakefront home, as it will protect your home from any water that gets blown up during a storm, and from rainwater that gets driven sideways by the strong waterfront winds. Make sure whatever roofing company you hire puts down drip edging, and that they use a high-quality product for this purpose.
Secure your gutters.
A roof is only as good as the gutters connected to it. Gutters are intended to gather water and drain it off the roof so it does not just collect on the roof and cause it to deteriorate. Although gutters are important everywhere, they're even more important on lakefront homes where the rain and water are abundant. Make sure your gutters are well-secured with metal fasteners so high winds do not blow them away, leaving your roof susceptible. Consider buying heavy-duty steel gutters rather than ones made from aluminum or vinyl.
The roofing tips above will help you choose the best roof and roofing components for your lakefront home. For more advice, reach out to a roofing company that regularly does work on waterfront homes.
