A leaking roof can result in your home sustaining serious water damage. As such, it's sensible to do what you can to prevent this from happening. Here are two ways to do this.

Replace, rather than repair, cracked roof tiles

Roof tiles can crack if they are struck by a heavy object (such as a tree branch or a rock, for example) or if they are frequently exposed to fluctuating temperatures.

If several of your home's roof tiles sustain this type of damage, you might be tempted to patch up the cracks yourself with some strong glue.

However, this is not the best approach to take if you want to minimise the chances of your roof leaking. The reason for this is as follows; most glues will start to deteriorate rapidly if they are constantly exposed to UV rays, rain, humidity or frost.

As such, if you glue the broken pieces of the roof tiles back together, the glue will soon break down and the original cracks will then re-emerge and allow rainwater to seep into your home.

In short, glue should only be used as a short term measure, to stop the roof from leaking until you can get one of your local roof tilers to replace the broken tiles. Whilst having a roof tiler fit several brand new tiles may cost more than buying a bottle of glue, it could end up saving you quite a lot of money in the future, by preventing rainwater from seeping in through your roof and damaging your property.

Have a roofer remove moss from roof surface on a regular basis

Moss often tends to grow on the surfaces of roofs. In addition to being unsightly, moss can also increase the chances of your roof developing a leak.

The reason for this is as follows; moss absorbs and retains a lot of water. As such, any areas of your roof on which it grows will remain constantly saturated. Over time, this saturation can lead to the roof materials deteriorating (for example, you may notice that your roof tiles start to crumble or crack) which can, in turn, result in the development of holes that allow rainwater to drip into your home.

As such, it's important to remove the moss from your roof on a regular basis. Whilst you could potentially do this yourself with a pressure washer, this is not advisable if your main priority is preventing leaks, as the force of the water emerging from this piece of cleaning equipment could damage your roof materials.

Instead, it's best to arrange for a professional roofer to remove the moss once every couple of months or so; they will have the tools and the skills to do this work without harming your roof.