Church Roof Maintenance: Essential Tips & Strategies
Failing to properly maintain your roof can lead to unnecessary problems— like incurring losses not covered by insurance and disputes with your insurance carrier. Poor maintenance can even make it harder to get replacement coverage, or any coverage at all. United Methodist Insurance
Don’t Get Caught in the Rain
Insurance policies usually cover water damage if the water enters through a covered cause of loss. Therefore, it's essential to prevent problems like loose flashing, missing shingles or tiles, clogged gutters, and other issues. Additionally, trim tree branches hanging over your roof to avoid them rubbing or hitting your roof during high winds, falling on your roof during storms, and long-term accumulating debris.
Winter Watch
In winter, remove snow and ice with long-handled tools and melt ice dams with calcium chloride to prevent damage. If you don’t, there’s a strong chance your claim could be denied. What's more of an incentive though is the danger it can put our guests and members in from falling snow and ice.
Routine Checkups
Regularly and safely inspect and repair your roof. Look for missing or curled shingles, sagging areas, cracks, damaged flashing, and signs of rotting wood or insect infestation. Be sure to check for interior leaks and damage as well.
Financial Planning
Start saving for your next roof as soon as you install a new one. Save an amount equal to the annual depreciation plus an allowance for inflation. This amount set aside can be used for repairs or to cover the rising cost of property deductibles. Including this in your capital improvement budget can help you save for updates to other systems as well. While it might be tempting to use these funds for everyday needs, prioritizing roof maintenance is important to the long-term financial health of your ministry.
Make sure your church is protected and prepared! Contact United Methodist Insurance today to request a quote.
This content has been prepared by United Methodist Insurance Company (UMI) for informational purposes only. No article or document may accurately contemplate all possible scenarios or church resources. As such, this information is meant to foster discussion by the individual church and its members to develop a plan tailored to its own circumstances. UMI is providing this information with no warranties or guarantees of any kind and it should not be viewed as legal, financial, or other professional advice. All liability is expressly disclaimed. Any claim examples described herein are general in nature, may or may not be based on actual claims, and are for informational purposes only. Any coverage available for a claim is determined from the facts and circumstances of the claim as well as the terms and conditions of any applicable policy, including any exclusions or deductibles. In the event of a conflict with the content herein, the terms and conditions of any issued policy will control. Individual coverage may vary and may not be available in all states.
The commercial insurance coverages for United Methodist Insurance are sold and serviced directly or indirectly by Sovereign Insurance Agency (CA Lic. No. 0B01380) ("Sovereign") and underwritten by various available insurance markets. Sovereign pays United Methodist Insurance a royalty for the use of its intellectual property.