6 min read
Check Your Roof Now, Before the Leaves Come Down
It’s hard to believe it’s only a short week until Fall officially is here. To us, it still feels like summer and we’re trying to get the most out of the good weather as possible. But there is an important message for homeowners before Fall truly gets ahold of Northeast Ohio. And we know most homeowners might miss it during this short window.
Right now the trees are still holding their leaves, the weather is mild enough to spend an hour outside, and outdoor work is still being scheduled and completed before the cold arrives. In six weeks, all three of those things will have changed. The gutters will be full, the weather will be much more chilly, and the calendar for exterior work will be considerably tighter.
So this is the useful moment to find out what condition your roof is actually in. Not to fix everything today, but to know what you are dealing with while there is still time to do something about it this season.
You also do not need to get on the roof to do this. A roof that is developing problems leaves evidence in three places you can reach safely: the attic, the ground around the house, and the ceilings inside. Here is what to look for in each, and what the things you find actually mean.
This is the step most fall checklists leave out, and it is the one that tells you the most. The underside of your roof deck is unfinished wood, which means it keeps a record of everything that has happened to it.
Pick a bright day and bring a flashlight, but before you turn the flashlight on, stand still for a minute and let your eyes adjust. What you are looking for first is daylight. Any point of light coming through from above is an opening in the roof, and water is getting in through that same opening whenever it rains.
Once your eyes have adjusted and you turn the light on, look carefully at the wood over your head. Dark streaks running down the boards mean water has been traveling across them, and the direction of the streaking usually points back toward where it got in. Rust on the tips of the nails that come through the deck means moisture in the attic air has been condensing on the metal, which is a ventilation problem rather than a leak. That distinction matters, because the two have completely different fixes.
Next, look at the insulation on the attic floor. Insulation that is matted flat, darkened along one edge, or damp when you press on it has been getting wet. The moisture is coming from somewhere and needs to be traced, and wet insulation stops insulating, so you are losing heat through that part of the ceiling while the underlying problem continues.
Finally, look toward the low edges of the attic where the roof comes down to meet the exterior walls. There should be openings there that let outside air in, and on a sunny afternoon you can usually see light coming through them. If insulation has been pushed down into those openings, the intake is blocked and air cannot move through the attic properly. That condition is the most common cause of ice dams in January. It is also straightforward to correct in September and nearly impossible to address once there is snow on the roof.
When you come down, go outside and walk all the way around the house, looking up from the ground. Binoculars will show you considerably more than the naked eye and you can probably borrow a pair from a neighbor.
Shingles should sit flat and line up in even rows, so what you are looking for is anything that interrupts that pattern. A shingle tab standing up rather than lying down has lost its seal and is vulnerable to the wind that comes with fall storms. Corners curling upward mean the shingles are drying out with age. A patch that looks darker than the shingles around it usually means the protective granules have worn off and the mat underneath is exposed to sunlight, which speeds up the wear from that point forward.
Pay particular attention to the metal. Flashing is the metal that seals the joints where the roof meets something else, and you will find it around the chimney, along any wall that rises above the roofline, and around plumbing vents. Look for metal that has lifted away, rusted through, or opened a visible gap. These transitions account for a large share of roof leaks, because they are the places where two different materials have to stay sealed to each other through years of expansion and contraction.
Last, look at the ridge line along the peak. It should run straight from one end to the other. A visible dip or sag suggests a problem with the structure underneath rather than the roofing above it, and that is the one item here that should be looked at right away rather than added to a list.
You will clean the gutters after the leaves come down, which around here usually means late October into November. But there is something worth doing now, while they are still relatively clear and while a repair can still be scheduled.
Run a garden hose into the high end of each run and watch the water move. It should travel steadily toward the downspout without pooling anywhere along the way. If it collects in a low spot, that section has either pulled away from the fascia or sagged between its hangers. Either way it needs hardware work, not just cleaning, and finding that out now means it can be fixed before the leaves and then the ice arrive.
While the water is running, look at what comes out of the downspout with it. A small amount of granule material that looks like coarse black sand is normal on a roof with some age on it. A heavy accumulation of it means the shingles are shedding faster than they should be, which is worth mentioning to whoever looks at the roof.
Then follow the water to where it lands. Downspouts should discharge several feet away from the house. One that empties right against the foundation is delivering a large volume of roof runoff into the soil beside your basement wall, which is a common and very preventable cause of water in a basement.
Walk through the upstairs rooms and look at the ceilings deliberately, especially in any room with a chimney passing through it and any room with a skylight.
You are looking for staining, usually a yellow or brown ring, and for paint that has bubbled, blistered, or begun flaking in one spot. Both mean water has been in that ceiling at some point.
An old stain that is completely dry may be left from a leak that was repaired years ago. If you are not sure whether it is still active, take a pencil and draw a light line around the outer edge. After the next heavy rain, look again. If the stain has spread past the line, the leak is still happening.
Almost everything on this list is small work, and small work done now costs less and disrupts less than the same work done in the middle of winter.
Blocked intake vents, a gutter that has pulled loose, a section of failed flashing, or a handful of damaged shingles can all be handled in one visit while the weather is still cooperating. The difficulty is not the work itself. It is that exterior schedules fill up through October, and a homeowner who discovers a problem in mid-November could be looking at waiting until spring.
If you found something and you are not sure how serious it is, or you would rather have a second opinion before deciding what can wait, have the roof inspected. Ours are free and take about an hour, and you will get a written report describing the condition of each part of the roof.
Sometimes that report says the roof is in good shape and the right move is to check again next fall. That is worth knowing in September, because it means you can stop thinking about it and put your attention somewhere else for the rest of the year.
Campo Roof has been working on Northeast Ohio roofs for nearly 50 years– so you know you can trust us! If we inspect your home, you can count on photographs that tell you what’s going on and to find out the honest condition of your roof. We’ll walk you through our recommendations and tell you where a repair or replacement will be the right solution for your home. No surprises and no high-pressure sales. We look forward to hearing from you–schedule an inspection today!
Looking to start a home exterior project? Let us know and start the conversation