So it’s the summer season and it’s been raining a lot. You go outside and take a deep breath of fresh air before turning to your house with a smile. Then the smile is gone, because on your house are these long, dark, ugly streaks that completely cover the roof. What in the world happened? you might ask yourself. Those long, dark, ugly streaks are actually mold growing on your roof, which can lead to problems that would mean getting a roof repair or a roof replacement.
What is Mold?
First off, what is mold? Mold is a fungus, the kind that likes to grow in moist, warm places. Their spores can take root onto a wet and warm surface, such as your roof, and feed from there. But unlike plants, mold don’t photosynthesize, or take energy from the sun. No, rather, they get their energy by breaking down organic compounds and absorbing them, effectively wearing down an item. In this case, mold can wear away at a roof and could cause many, many problems.
Detrimental
What exactly are these problems, though? As said before, this fungus is capable of breaking down organic compound, which is what the roof is made out of. They can wear away at a roof and very much cause damage, though the damage may seem minimal at first. With mold, you can never be too sure.
Also, mold poses as a health hazard. Now I know what you’re thinking, the mold is outside. Why would I ever need to worry about mold getting into my house? Well mold has a tendency to spread its spores all over the place, even into the cracks of your house. They can quickly grow in number and hide in the dark crevasses of your home. This can be a major problem for people with asthma or respiratory problems, as the spores get into their lungs each time they take a breath in a moldy household. It’s not just those with respiratory problems that have it bad, very young children and much older adults can face breathing problems as well.
It’s not just the roof and yourself that will face problems from mold. Mold can also get into the air ducts and air conditioning system, which further spreads throughout the house. They can grow and multiply in tremendous amounts, effectively making them a health hazard if they are left alone long enough. Mold is, for all intents and purposes, a gradual killer.
Also, mold is really, really ugly to look at on a house. Who wouldn’t hate seeing black streaks on their home, discoloring the other shingles?
Does My Home Need Emergency Roof Repair?
To be honest, no. Most people online will say that having mold on your house is not too much of a serious issue. Even if it looks ugly, it won’t do that much harm, right?
For some, it just might. Like the aforementioned health hazard problems, mold can wear away at the tar and limestone and feed on it, growing bigger and bigger by the day. It will remain like this until you call a professional to do a roof repair or a roof replacement. Mold is extremely hard to get rid of and just keeps growing until the roof repair or roof replacement comes. And the faster it wears down the house, the fast you’ll have even more problems on your hands, like leaks and lack of insulation.
Truthfully, it all depends on the person whether or not the mold needs to be gotten rid of immediately or not. While mold wears away at the roof, it does so very gradually and the main problem is the spores that can spread all over the place. If you’re suffering from respiratory problems, then you definitely need to take action.
What to Do When You Have Mold
So when you see mold on your roof, you might be very tempted to clean it up yourself. Don’t. While it may seem easy to just scrub away the mold, mold is extremely hard to get rid of and will always, always come back. Not only that, but you might cause harm to yourself if you fall or to your roof if you step on it and power hose the entire roof, removing the precious granules that protect you from ultraviolet rays. Also, if you do the the half-bleach, half-water method of washing the house with, then you can very well damage the gardens below due to the bleach runoff.
For mold, like any other problem with the roof, it’s best to call a roof repair contractor to handle the thing efficiently. Depending on the severity of the mold, you can just do a simple roof repair or you might need a full blown roof replacement to get rid of it all. Remember, this is not a do-it-yourself job and it his highly recommended that you contact a professional to get rid of the mold problem.