5 common mistakes to avoid when performing DIY roof leaking repairs

Even though we’re talking about your roof, which is an important part of your home, it’s not more important than your safety. Working on a roof is dangerous because you’re high off the ground and the surface is uneven and tricky to navigate. Needless to say, a fall from your roof could be tragic.

If you decide to conduct any roof leaking repairs, you should take as many steps as possible to ensure your safety. Whether it be a safety harness attached to a solid point, or taking additional care when positioning your ladder, everything helps.

Most handy types out there would be aware of what roof flashing is. It’s installed along the valleys of your roof when there are joins. It’s an essential part of most roofs in Australia, but it needs to be installed correctly. Some common mistakes people make is using old flashing, which could already be damaged. Alternatively, even if you just install the flashing incorrectly, you could run into problems.

Poorly installed flashing can lead to serious damage, and the expenses are likely to be far greater than the cost of calling a roofing contractor for some repairs. Really, it’s not worth the risk unless you know exactly what you’re doing.

Like any type of building activity in Australia, you may need a permit to conduct work on your roof. For minor repairs, most people don’t worry about this, but it can come back to bite them later. For example, incorrect works can show up on building inspections when you try to sell the home. Also, your insurance may be compromised if you’ve done roofing repairs without following the proper regulations.

The Building Code of Australia is one to familiarise yourself with, as well as other applicable Australian Standards. You might be the best DIY handyperson in the world, and you could do a fantastic job repairing your roof. But if the work doesn’t meet strict codes, you could end up with issues.

There are a lot of components that go into constructing or repairing a roof. You’ve got the main roofing material (usually metal sheets or tiles), then the flashings, gutters, downpipes, ridge caps and much more. While it’s not difficult to research and find out what all of these components are and where they should go, if you’re not an experienced roofer you won’t necessarily know exactly what you need.

The other mistake is just buying the cheapest materials possible. Everybody loves saving money, but this can sometimes be to the detriment of the work. If you’re attempting roof leaking repairs yourself, it’s strongly advised that you consult a roofing store at the very least, to ensure you get the appropriate materials.

While tile roofs are becoming less common in modern houses, Australia still has plenty of homes with tile roofs. Tiles are an excellent roofing material, so even though we prefer metal sheet roofing such as Colorbond® steel, tiles are still popular. The problem is, they can either be extremely easy or extremely difficult to repair, and you might not know until you get stuck into the job.

Broken old tiles need to be removed and replaced, but removing them is sometimes easier said than done. You’ll need a bit of force to pry out an old tile, but this can also result in breaking the tiles around it. All of a sudden, you’re replacing 3 or 4 tiles instead of just one. For tile roofing, we would definitely recommend consulting an expert, because there are just too many things that can go wrong, even if you do manage to find the correct tiles to replace broken ones with, which can be a hassle in itself for older homes.