What Season Is Best for Roof Replacement in Florida?
For those living in Florida, Protek Roofing, Heating, Air & Solar understands the unique roofing challenges. For one, the storms that the state experiences can require sudden repairs. There are many items to consider when looking at when to replace your roof in Florida, such as the cost, availability, and labor considerations.
When Should You Avoid Getting a Roof Replacement?
First, let’s explore when you should avoid getting a roof replacement. Of course, some people may not have this luxury, particularly if they are in need of emergency fixes. While Florida’s humidity is nothing to sneeze at, you should keep in mind that contractors likely won’t be able to work safely on your roof if it is raining heavily outside. Safety isn’t the only reason to avoid getting your roof replaced in the rain. Looking at it from a roofing integrity perspective, getting a replacement roof means removing protective roofing that is already in place. This means that more sensitive roofing components would be exposed directly to water. Specifically, the decking and membrane can be affected by rain in a negative manner. In general, water is not your friend when it comes to roofing!
This means that you should probably avoid having the replacement roofing put in during the spring and summer if you can at all help it. The spring in Florida often has sudden storms; that is, rain will suddenly begin pelting on roofing seemingly out of nowhere. These types of storms can be difficult to predict. Unfortunately, even if all safety and material precautions are taken, these won’t be able to be predicted. If one of these happens as you’re having roofing replacement work done on your home, you’ll expose yourself to all of the risks we discussed.
So, why should you not try to have your roofing replaced in the Summer months? Florida may be known for its rain during the Spring, but the temperatures in the Summer can get dangerously high. This, of course, can mean that the laborers doing the work on your replacement roof could get dangerously overheated. Remember, replacing roofing is no easy job. Even if laborers agree to do the job, there could be other material issues with your roof. For example, the shingles and other materials needed to do the job can get dangerously soft in the heat. This can make your replacement roof malformed and can require extensive repair work to get it back into the proper working order.
What specifically happens when the materials required to construct a roof get dangerously soft? Asphalt shingles, in particular, become much more difficult to install. They tend to wobble around and can shift during the installation. In addition to safety issues, there are cosmetic problems that tend to pop up when roofing replacements are performed in the summer. These include, but are not limited to, getting scuffed by workers walking on the roof as they are performing the job for you.
The spring and summer months share high temperatures in much of Florida as well as sudden rain storms out of nowhere. If you must get roofing installed in one of these seasons, though, you should probably pick the spring. That is because it is very difficult to find contractors who are willing and able to do a roof replacement installation in the summer months, and those who are willing and able to do it may become ill from the heat outside. In addition, flash floods are more common in the summer than in the spring. That means that you could see water damage from work done if the proper precautions aren’t taken. Of course, at Protek Roofing, Heating, Air & Solar, if we say we can do the job, we will take the proper precautions other companies may not take in order to ensure that the best quality work is done in the safest manner possible.
Now that we have discussed why not to have your roof replaced in the spring and summer months, let’s look at better seasons during which to install replacement roofing: the fall and the winter.
What Seasons Are More Optimal for Roofing Replacements in Florida?
The better seasons during which to install roofing are the fall and the winter. Unfortunately, there are some disclaimers we should cover before proceeding. For starters, Florida is known for having hurricanes during parts of these seasons. However, hurricanes tend to be predicted far in advance, unlike the floods that take place in the spring and the summer.
Contractors are able to work in a safer fashion during the fall and winter months. This is largely due to the fact that temperatures are far more reasonable and lend themselves to outdoor work during these seasons. There may be a concern that contractors would be more booked during these seasons because of this. However, top-quality contractors like Protek Roofing, Heating, Air & Solar will be able to work with you at any time of the year. If there does happen to be a hurricane during your roofing replacement, the equipment would need to be removed from your house and have emergency roofing put down.
The workers aren’t the only ones who benefit from the more moderate temperatures during these seasons. Thermal sealing can take place during these months, allowing the water-tight barrier that separates the outdoor elements from the roofing to be established. This can take place in an optimal fashion during Florida’s winters, which are much milder than most other states’ winters.
So, between the fall and the winter, which is the better season to have your replacement roofing done in Florida? In general, hurricanes tend to occur more often in the fall than in the winter in Florida, making it perhaps a less practical and predictable choice than the winter. The fall also will usually have higher temperatures outside than the winter. While you don’t need it to be too cold, winters in Florida tend to only go down to the 40s or 50s, so the temperature being too cold outside is an unlikely problem to have. The winter won’t have the issues of being too frozen or slippery for workers like you would have in colder states. The winter may have more contractor availability than the fall, but of course, that would vary by roofing company.
What If There Is an Emergency?
If there is an emergency, your ability to choose which season your roofing is replaced in may not be as cogent as it would have been if you had just decided to replace the roofing when there wasn’t any rush to have the work done.
Regardless of the season, top roofing companies like Protek Roofing, Heating, Air & Solar have no issues getting out to you day or night and whatever season it happens to be when your unfortunate emergency occurs. Your roofing dictates your safety within your own home, and that safety should never be in jeopardy; getting competent contractors to work on your replacement roofing in an emergency situation should ameliorate the worry you may have about remaining safe from outside rain and other hazards.
At Protek Roofing, Heating, Air & Solar, we provide roof replacement and repair for residential and commercial customers. We also offer a full range of heating, cooling, and indoor air quality services throughout Tampa and the surrounding area. Contact our team today to set up an appointment.
