How to Prevent Storm Damage to Your Roof
In the last year, the Eastern coastline of Australia has experienced some of the harshest weather conditions, with tough winds and continuous rain. These conditions often cause damage to our homes, including to our roofs. As we like to say at LOHAS Australia: prevention is better than cure.
Existing Roof
Be sure to check the conditions of your roof regularly. LOHAS Australia recommends doing this yearly, especially if you have a pitched roof.
Check Your Roof
Check your roof to ensure no pans are loose and make sure that any loose pans are properly secured. Replace missing or broken roof tiles as soon as possible to ensure the wind does not blow in under the roof and tear even more tiles loose. We recommend keeping spare roof tiles at your home in case of an emergency.
If you live in a home that is surrounded by trees, they can cause damage to your roof in stormy conditions. Avoid large branches breaking off and landing on your roof. Prune the trees and remove dead branches regularly.
Correct Anchoring of Roof Tiles
To ensure that no roof tiles come loose in strong winds, it is not only important that the roof tiles are properly fitted together, but that the correct attachments are used. LOHAS Australia encourages that you make sure your roof tiles are anchored in accordance to the correct regulations. Preferably use the anchoring agents that have been specifically developed for the type of roof tile of your choice. Our expert team can assist you with this.
Ventilation Pans
Ventilation tiles can prevent tiles from blowing off your roof. These tiles are placed around one meter below the ridge, where the wind load is the highest. Ventilation tiles ensure that the overpressure under the roof tiles is relieved. The suction power of the wind is still the same, but pressure is no longer exerted on the tile from above and below, so that the wind cannot suck the tile from the roof. One ventilation pan per 1.5 meters is sufficient to ensure pressure equalization.
