Every year, around late October, the phones change. The measured calls about renovations stop and the urgent calls about dripping ceilings begin. The frustrating part is that perhaps seven out of ten of those emergencies were visible — and cheaply fixable — a month earlier. This is the checklist our own technicians run on their own homes each September.
1. Walk the perimeter with binoculars
You can spot cracked, slipped or missing tiles from the ground. Look along each roof plane in raking light (early morning is best). One slipped tile is a fifteen-minute fix; the same tile after a storm is a soaked ceiling.
2. Clear the gutters — and check the falls
Leaves and tennis balls are obvious. Less obvious is a gutter that has sagged out of level, which ponds water against the fascia until it rots. Water should visibly run toward the downpipes when you flush it with a hose.
3. Flush every downpipe
A blocked downpipe turns your gutter into a bathtub. Run a hose at the top; strong, immediate discharge at the bottom is a pass. Gurgling or overflow means a nest, a ball or years of sediment.
4. Inspect valley gutters closely
Valleys carry the most water and fail the most often. Look for rust streaks, lifted edges and mortar debris. A valley that shows daylight through any pinhole will leak in the first serious storm.
5. Check flashings around penetrations
Every pipe, vent and antenna mast that passes through the roof is a potential entry. Flashing sealant dries and cracks after a few years of UV; resealing costs almost nothing in dry weather.
6. Go into the roof space with a torch
Do this on a bright afternoon with the lights off. Points of daylight are holes. Then look at the underside of the tiles and the battens for water staining — old stains are grey and dry, active ones are dark and sometimes damp to the touch.
7. Read your ceilings like a map
Faint rings and yellowish shadows on ceilings mark past moisture. Photograph them and date the photos. If a ring grows after the next storm, you have an active leak and a head start on tracing it.
8. Test the overflow paths
Flat roofs and RC gutters should have overflow outlets that actually work. Block the main outlet with a rag, add water, and confirm the overflow discharges clear of the building — not into the wall cavity.
When to call us instead
Anything involving walking on tiles, working at height or opening the roof itself is crew work — a fall costs more than any roofer. Our pre-monsoon inspection covers all eight points plus a hose test on suspect areas, with a written report and photos. Book one before the clouds do it for you, or read about our roofing services.