Preventing leaks in your roof is essential for roof health. If rainwater or melting snow leaks through the roof, it can cause significant issues to your home, like expensive structural damage. Therefore, you need a brilliant flashing product.
An innovative and exciting flashing product is Deks Fast Flash, which is brilliant for sealing roof leaks, but why is this?
Read our Fast Flash guide to understand why it is an excellent solution for sealing roof leaks. We will also detail how to install it, how long it lasts and more.
Why Are Roof Leaks a Problem?
Before explaining fast flashing, we need to detail why it’s necessary in the first place.
Roof leaks can transform your house from your comforting home into a living nightmare.
They often happen from rainwater falling through gaps or cracks in the roof. Leaks can also occur after snow or ice melts on top of the roof.
If water leaks through your roof, it can seep through the attic and the rest of the house. The first consequence of this is rot, which is highly unpleasant to look at and smell. Rot also negatively affects the air quality in the house.
Rot can cause an even more significant problem: structural damage. If rot compromises the structure of your walls, it can make the house unsafe to inhabit. Additionally, repairing structural damage on this scale is very expensive.
Because of these consequences, you need brilliant flashing for your roof.
What Are the Limitations of Traditional Flashing Products?
Your first instinct may be to choose a traditional flashing product to prevent roof leaks, but these have several limitations.
Materials you can expect to find for traditional flashing include metal and rubber. The purpose of these is to redirect rainwater from the roof into the gutters. To seal these products to the roof, installers usually use sealant or overlap other roofing materials over the flashing.
However, despite them being mostly effective in preventing leaks, there are multiple limitations with traditional flashing, including:
- The materials for traditional roof flashings can corrode and deteriorate over long periods, rendering them ineffective at preventing leaks.
- Because they can deteriorate, you must often maintain and replace traditional flashing, increasing maintenance costs.
- They are often not wholly sealed because rain can still enter the attic through seams in the roof.
What is Fast Flash and What Sets it Apart?
Fast Flash is an exciting and lead-free flashing solution that can seal onto the roof and prevent leaks.
The main difference between Fast Flash and traditional lead-based solutions is that it doesn’t need a sealant to stick to the roof. Instead, it is self-adhering, meaning you can attach it to the roof without extra materials.
Additionally, it is a very flexible material, so you can seal it over the trickiest shapes on your roof for a completely airtight seal.
It’s also easy to install and can save you money on maintenance costs.
Also, because you don’t need sealant and extra materials to cover it, Fast Flash looks more aesthetically pleasing on a roof.
What Are the Benefits of Fast Flashing?
We will now examine the multiple benefits of fast flashing in more detail.
It is Excellent at Preventing Leaks
Because fast flashing seals directly onto the roof, it provides a more air-tight barrier than other flashing products, meaning water is less likely to leak through.
You can use it on the most vulnerable areas of your roof to protect your home, such as penetrations on the roof.
It is Easy to Install and Lasts for a Long Time
Durability is a crucial feature of Fast Flash because it can resist many weather types.
For example, as well as heavy rain, fast flashing is resistant to UV ray damage and other adverse weather. UV rays can cause traditional flashing to deteriorate over time, so being resistant to this is a massive advantage.
Additionally, because of its high durability, Fast Flash requires less maintenance. It is also possible to install it yourself, saving money on a professional installer.
It Can Save You Money in the Long Term
Concerning maintenance, the low maintenance required means you can save money on repairing and replacing fast flashing.
Additionally, because it’s great at preventing leaks, there is less likelihood that you’ll need to pay for water damage repairs.
How Do You Install a Fast Flash Roll?
Fast Flash is an easy product to install yourself, but you must know how to do it. Here is the installation process for fast flashing:
- Prepare the roof by removing dirt and debris from where you want to place the flashing.
- Measure your roof space, then cut the fast flashing to the appropriate size.
- Carefully peel back the flashing to expose the sticky back, then place it where you want it on the roof.
- Press every edge of the fully adhesive base of the roll of flash to seal it onto the roof.
- Use a roller to firmly press the flashing to ensure a tight seal.
Also, you must remain safe while doing this, so bring a roof ladder and equipment like a hard hat and gloves.
How Do You Maintain Fast Flash Roll?
While fast flash roll can have a long lifespan without much involvement from you, for an even longer lifespan, you must maintain it.
To do this, inspect it multiple times yearly to check for damage to the flashing or wear and tear. If you find anything like this, repair or replace it quickly to reduce the risk of leaks.
Additionally, you need to clean the flashing regularly and remove debris to stop it from degrading the product.
What is the Environmental Impact of Fast Flash?
Aside from multiple other benefits, fast flashing has multiple positive impacts that make it environmentally friendly, including:
- Reducing landfill impact because of the recyclable materials in the product.
- Less energy consumed because of the reduction in maintenance.
- Because you don’t need as many repairs, it reduces carbon emissions because you don’t need installers and their transport.
Do You Need to Consider the Cost of Fast Flash Products?
Before purchasing a Fast Flash product, you need to know that most fast flashing products are more expensive than traditional ones.
However, consider fast flashing a long-term investment because you will save more money over a longer period due to fewer maintenance and repair needs.
Final Thoughts on Why You Need Fast Flash for Your Roof
In summary, Fast Flash represents the evolution of flashing products because of its ability to completely seal all gaps around the roof, improving leak prevention.
Because of this and its other benefits, including it being flexible and easy to work with when you install it, you should consider it for your roof.
If you can’t afford the up-front cost of fast flashing, get an installer to seal your flashing product to stop water from entering the attic.
To discover more ways to protect your roof, contact us on Roofstuff.