Your siding and roofing never really get to take a season off. It’s obvious what they have to put up with during a Midwestern winter when bitter cold and violent blasts of wind are the norm. But the summer does not come without its own trials for siding and roofing, either!
We want to briefly explain the threats Minnesota’s warm weather months pose to siding and roofing. We don’t mean to cause you alarm in doing so, but just want to help you understand that your home exterior is always aging. This occurs even when the weather is so nice that you can get away with wearing nothing but a bathing suit.
Heat
Depending on its manufacturer, vinyl siding can be remarkably heat-resistant. Newer materials are engineered to hold darker colors and retain their suppleness for a very long time. Additionally, they can do so even if they spend all summer subjected to sweltering heat. Older and inexpensive types of vinyl siding, on the other hand, are a different story. They have a tendency to buckle, melt, and lose their elasticity following several summers’ worth of heat. Temperature swings, which force vinyl to expand and contract, are the real driving force that wears out vinyl siding.
Intense summer heat does few favors for roofing, too. Dark shingles can heat up beyond 160° F in a single day. Such high temperatures force the asphalt they are made from to break down at an accelerated pace. As with siding, modern shingles possess certain chemical compounds which improve their resilience to heat – although recent technological innovations do nothing to help older shingles weather the sun. You may want to consider adding greater ventilation to your attic to ward off shingle heat deterioration. But, you will eventually need to replace your shingles even if sunlight is the only natural force they ever have to withstand.
Ultraviolet Light
UV light is invisible to humans, which is kind of ironic considering how badly it can damage our eyes. This imperceptible force can similarly damage the siding. Newer vinyl may contain titanium dioxide, a naturally occurring molecule that is typically used as a pigment. This molecule helps repel harmful UV rays. Some lines of vinyl siding offer UV protection as great as 99.5 percent! Yet once again, older siding lacks this sun-blocking compound and as the result has probably already lost most of its color. If you want a darker color for your next siding, make certain the vinyl contains titanium dioxide or an analogous UV blocking agent.
UV light harms roofing materials as well. The invisible wavelength of light degrades the oils in asphalt shingles which in turn weakens their elasticity. Shingles that have lost their suppleness will inevitably buckle, crack and split until the parts of the roof they cover are no longer shielded against the elements. There are chemical applications that restore some of asphalt shingles’ elasticity, but at present, there is no solution to UV damaged shingles as effective as a total replacement.
Extreme Weather
Midwesterners are used to getting abused by our winter weather, but we mustn’t overlook how destructive our summers can be. The strongest gust of wind ever recorded in Minnesota was faster than 120 miles per hour – and it took place in early September. Hokah, Minnesota was once bombarded by over 15″ of rain in a single day. And remember when we said that extreme temperature swings can cause tremendous damage to siding and roofing? Well, in 1970 the town of Nett Lake, Minnesota experienced a 72° F change in temperature in one single day! Every shingle and length of vinyl siding in Nett Lake must have been shrieking in terror on that day.
In short, winter storms and temperatures aren’t the only threat to your home’s siding and roofing. Blistering heat, intense UV radiation, and extreme weather will all gradually damage your exterior as well.
But there is hope, and it takes the form of Central Minnesota’s preeminent exterior remodeling contractor. Whether winter or summer weather is the culprit, Angell’s Construction is standing by to assess any damage your roof or siding may have suffered and then prescribe the most cost-effective remedy for it.
Don’t let a damaged exterior jeopardize your home’s interior! Contact us today and we’ll keep your most important investment safe and sound.