What can you do in the face of a roofing emergency? What if you don’t have time to schedule repair with a roofing professional? In the event of an emergency, it’s good to know some quick, temporary, and least expensive roof repairs.

Keep in mind that the following tips are not recommendations that you should take any time your roof suffers from damages; they’re only tips that should be taken if your house and livelihood is in danger and you have zero time to contact a professional. Examples of situations include during a strong storm, holiday weekend, a time when your roofer is waiting several weeks for supplies, or when you need time to gather money for a professional repair.

Temporary Hole-in-Roof Fix

Was your roof severely damaged in a recent storm? If strong storm winds ripped up your roof shingles, the rest of your home is at risk from leaking water or additional wind damage. A quick and cost-efficient fix is to simply cover the damaged area of your roof with a durable plastic tarp. Plastic tarps come in a variety of sizes; because of its inexpensiveness it’s a good idea to buy plastic tarps in different sizes. That way you’ll have different tarp options depending on the damage size of your roof.

One of the most durable types of tarps comes in polyethylene weaves with border piping and heat-sealed seams. We usually don’t recommend nailing anything to your roof, because the possible damage made to your shingles. But in the event where you need an emergency fix where you’ll eventually reinstall shingles in a roof repair, nailing is a necessary option for keeping covering a large hole on your roof with a tarp. Nail down the edges  and if you can, cover the nail heads with roofing cement to prevent rain from entering your home.

Temporary Shingle Fixes

Have any of your shingles been damaged to the point where they’re loose, curling, or even ripped off of your roof? You can use a heat gun to soften and then straighten out any curling shingles, or use high quality glue to glue down to your roof loose or ripped off shingles.

Have any 2-inch 6D galvanized nails? Another temporary fix for loosened shingles is to nail them down securely with your 6D nails. Make sure that once all nails have been securely put in place on your roof to cover the nail heads with roofing cement. This ensures that the storm or wind that originally loosed the shingles won’t loosen the nails.

Don’t have 6D nails but you do have roofing cement? Help seal up your roof by applying the roofing cement to any damaged or cracked shingle joints, or to your roof flashing to help seal the roof.

Reminder: Only for Emergencies

As a reminder, all temporary roofing fixes listed above are for emergencies only, such as when your house and livelihood are in danger and you don’t have any time to contact a professional.

Contact Exterior Remodel & Design

If you can’t decide if your current situation is an emergency, contact Exterior Remodel & Design by phone at (402) 861-0000 or by email at exrede@gmail.com. Have Facebook? Message a member of our team on our Facebook.com/roofingOmaha page.