Roof shingles have been a popular roofing material style for some time now. They’re easy to install and lightweight. Moreover, these shingles come in different types and styles, allowing for versatility in our home designs. The following are some roof shingles types/styles:
- Wood shingle roof
- Solar tile shingles
- Asphalt shingle
But the hot question is, how long can a roof go without shingles? Your roof can go without shingle roofing materials for about two months. But, unfortunately, excess sunlight will damage your roof protection after 30 days.
When that happens, the protection dries out the paper’s oil. After that, rain or wind can tear the paper, making it porous.
Continue reading to learn more about how long a roof can go without shingles.
Are Missing Shingles a Big Deal?
Missing shingles is a common issue that occurs for different reasons. Unfortunately, missing shingles can lead to roof leaks, but not always. But, a missing roof shingle needs faster attention for overall roof health.
Therefore, it would be best to replace missing shingles early enough. Further, a missing shingle can put your life/home at risk, even if the roof leak isn’t happening now.
For composite roofing, missing shingles signal red flags for the underneath sheathing. Moreover, shingles lay on top of the shingles course underneath or below them. They do so to create more excellent protection.
Missing shingles in a clay tile roof expose the underneath felt. And even though this felt can repel moisture in proper conditions, a leak may still happen. Further, the felt of tile roofs can suffer damage if the following occurs:
- Weather like wind-driven rain getting underneath the felt
- The new roof felt rips or flaps up via the staples within the slate roofs.
Asphalt roof replacement is imminent if you fail to replace missing shingles. As a result, higher roofing material prices will stretch you out.
Elsewhere, damaged felt isn’t a durable roof material, unlike shingle.
How Long can a Roof go without Shingles?
If you’ve discovered some roof damage or it’s missing some shingles, what’s the next step? And how long can a roof go without shingles?
Well, that depends on several factors. A single or two shingles missing is a minor problem when your roof is intact. However, that may lead to critical issues on metal roofs with shingles.
Think of your shingles roof as your home’s armor suit. One chink or hole in that home armor may leave you vulnerable. Moreover, damaged or missing shingles can let moisture seep into the roof.
Further, the length of a roof with missing shingles depends on its location or damaged area. That’s especially the case when the area is within your roof’s sensitive parts. That can include the following:
- Missing shingles exposing seams between different shingles
- Holes in low points where moisture can collect. Or where the structure underneath will be exposed
In such situations, you’ve got less time to waste.
How Long can Roofing Felt Stay Exposed
It would help if you kept your roofing felt from harsh weather for one or two weeks. That’s because such weather elements easily damage your roofing felt underlay. But, importantly, avoid doing so even though it’s somewhat waterproof.
Also, Your felt will dry out when in the sun’s heat. The heat will ultimately cause your roofing materials to fall apart. In short, you shouldn’t expose the roofing felt to harsh elements for long.
Depending on your area’s climate, the roofing felt can damage within a few days to a couple of weeks. Further, when this underlay gets damaged, your home’s underneath will experience the following:
- Leaks
- Water damage
It will be best to act faster and call a pro roofer if you’ve got exposed roofing felt. The roofer will assess the felt’s damage and then suggest fixes. Moreover, that ensures your roof remains waterproof and robust. And that’s while protecting your house against severe leaks.
What Happens if you Don’t Fix your Asphalt Roof Shingles?
Leaks and Severe Water Damage
Leaks never miss among the first or most common problems that result from aging/faulty roofs. But, unfortunately, such things may have acute effects on our homes. Further, roof leaks can sometimes go unnoticed, causing some devastating consequences.
For example, extended roof leaks can cause the following:
- Structural instability
- Mold and mildew
- Water damage
Dated roofs don’t have the same durability/strength as during installation. Thus, they’re susceptible to losing their surface shingles granules. That leads to their deterioration or more frequent leaks.
Small leaks may develop into big ones when you don’t repair your roof shingles on time. When talking about damaged roof shingles, these leaks may happen frequently. Even further, the leaks will spread quickly.
The following will easily damage roofs with damaged or missing shingles:
- Tree branches
- Weather
- Or other impact events
Structural Instability and Potential Collapse
Apart from losing their functions, roofs with damaged shingles may also lose their stability and integrity. Unfortunately, when that happens down the line, your roof may collapse.
Further, your roofing structure may have difficulty supporting additional weight from snow/moisture. That means that the preceding snowfall and winter may significantly affect it.
A roof collapse doesn’t happen that often. But it’s a severe safety hazard and risk for your home’s occupants. Moreover, it will be best to take early precautions to prevent such troubles.
Further, installing new shingles helps maintain a safe, healthy, and stable household.
Fire Hazard
Other significant hazards/consequences coming from the leaks and damages are house fires. The moisture that seeps into the house via your ceilings and walls can reach the following:
- Electrical wiring
- Or outlets located in the same ceilings and walls
House fires are the most dangerous problem because of dated or faulty roof shingles. Further, house fires can be critically devastating and destructive to the following:
- Furniture
- Other objects inside your home
- The occupants themselves
Moreover, fires cause critical injuries or even life-threatening to the house occupants. Thus, it’ll be best if you fix your shingles, preventing potential injuries and damage. Fixing your roof shingles on time or at their lifespan saves you a lot of worry/stress.
Decreased Home Value
Real estate is challenging, even when the properties are in perfect shape. With the following, selling your home would be nearly impossible:
- Faulty roof shingles
- Aging roof
- Or watermarks on your ceilings and walls
Further, properties in such conditions wouldn’t be devalued in today’s real estate market. Also, selling such properties at lower prices would take a lot of work. But, on the other hand, you’ll lose lots of money by selling them at lower prices.
When buyers look for new homes, they never want homes that’ll incur extra costs. The costs may come as the following:
- Roof replacement
- Or other necessary house renovations
Instead, these buyers love functional or move-in-ready houses. Installing new roof shingles early, before causing the following, will save you money:
- Water leaks
- Structural deterioration of the house
- Wall stains
Moreover, early fixes reduce maintenance costs and even increase your house’s resale value. Thus, boosting the possibility of you selling your home when you decide to do so.
Higher Roof Replacement and Installation Costs
Neglecting/delaying roof replacements can cause increased costs, blowing your budget within days.
First of all, aging or dated roof shingles break down frequently. So these faults in your roof keep piling up, causing further damage. And that damage cuts beyond the roof, sometimes even the rest of the home.
Second of all, when the roof shingles age, they start becoming useless more and more. And the more you delay fixing them, the more damage they’ll cause. Moreover, that means you’ll have the following issues:
- Regular surface issues
- Broken shingles
- Water leaks
Unfortunately, the deterioration starts affecting the roof’s underlying structures too.
How to Block Roof Leaks While you Wait for Repairs
Waterproof Tarp
The cheapest, simplest, and most common roof leak temporary fix is installing tarps. You’ll cover the affected spots with waterproof tarps.
- Cover the damaged spots on your roof
- Smooth your tarp out
- Nail the tarp in place
- Cover the nails heads using some roofing cement, sealing more tiny holes
Though that keeps rainwater out for some time, a tarp isn’t a permanent fix for the ultimate leak. Moreover, never delay roof repair for long, pretending that you can get away with doing so.
Pro Tip: Don’t walk on the roofing structure when it’s raining outside. I say so since the fall is exceptionally high. Also, install the tarp from the inside if you can’t apply it during the rain break.
Reattach Loose Asphalt Shingles
The temporary fix is straightforward if some shingles turn loose, causing leaks.
- Smooth your shingles back down/ shift them into position
- Staple or nail the shingles, covering the roof’s exposed area again
Once again, reattaching loose shingles isn’t a permanent fix. But it offers more roof protection, unlike a waterproof tarp.
Substitute Shingles
If the roof shingles are broken or damaged, it will help to add some temporary shingle sets.
- Carefully cut the sheet metal out. The shapes should resemble those of roof shingles.
- Attach the sheet metal to your roofing structure. Do that the way you’d a typical roof shingle.
- Cover the nails using a block of roofing cement, preventing leaks from coming back.
- Finally, keep an eye on the handiwork, ensuring the leaks won’t spread when waiting for a roofer.
Protect the Rest of Your House
The roof is your house’s first line of defense against rainwater. And since leaks compromise that protection, stopping the leaks early enough is essential. Moreover, temporary roof repairs will work in the short term, saving you money. That’s even though emergency works are a better option.
Further, such measures help prevent further damage to other parts of your home.
Will Roof Leak if One Shingle Missing?
Will your roofing structure leak because of a single missing shingle? That’s possible. Moreover, losing one or more shingles doesn’t mean moisture may drip from the ceiling. However, missing the shingle may cause problems over time.
That’s true especially when the surrounding shingles have deteriorated from the following:
- Sunlight
- Wind
- Water
Further, the older the roofing, the higher the chances of progressive damage. And if that happens, the leak will damage the following parts of your home:
- Insulation
- Attic
- Ceilings
- Crawlspace
Worse still, finding this interior moisture damage may be challenging. You may only notice such damage when it progresses, needing extensive repairs. To avoid moisture damage within your house, replace missing shingles immediately.
Does Insurance Cover Missing Shingles?
Before filing any insurance claim, consider the number of claims you’ve filled. And that’s on your homeowner insurance in the last three to seven years. Further, insurance firms have records of claims you’ve made previously.
So, the premium costs will shoot if you’ve filled two or more claims within five years. However, filling a roof claim is worth it if the damage is extensive. The roof replacement cost outweighs the higher premium costs.
Let’s examine some factors determining if your claim will cover the whole roof. Or leave you with poor records. Further, the damage itself won’t decide whether the insurance firm approves the claim.
Most, if not all, insurance policies cover “like-kind” materials.
- If the roof shingles are no longer available or are discontinued, the insurance firm should replace them, even if a single one is missing.
- If the insurance firm can’t replace a shingle with “like-kind” material, it may do a complete roof replacement instead. Thus, they’ll likely approve your claim.
Most insurance firms recognize such claims as valid. But unfortunately, most homeowners need to know if the shingles are discontinued.
Choosing roofing companies one can trust is essential to navigating most roofing projects. That’s because they know the roofing industry well enough to understand the various options available.
Conclusion
Taking care of a roof isn’t just about the shingles. I say so since it involves everything that goes up to the roof. Further, I’d recommend inspecting your roofing structure’s condition yearly.
As we’ve seen, a roof can only go with shingles for a long time. Therefore, Immediately contact your roofer to assess if your roof has abnormalities. Such abnormalities include missing shingles and leaks.