Guide
What to do, and when
A roof that gets looked at twice a year lasts appreciably longer than one that gets looked at when it leaks. The work involved is small.
Get it looked at
Three questions, and up to three Fullerton contractors. Free either way.
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Keep the penetrations honest
Pipe boots crack, sealant shrinks, and satellite mounts get screwed straight through the covering. Every penetration is a hole somebody decided to make watertight, and each is worth a look.
Cut back anything touching the roof
Branches abrade the surface in wind and drop debris that holds moisture. Keep growth well clear of the covering, and clear of the gutters while you are at it.
Twice a year, from the ground
You do not need to be on the roof to find most problems. A slow lap of the house at a low angle finds nearly all of them.
Clear the gutters before the wet season
Blocked gutters back water up under the bottom course of shingles and rot the fascia behind them. This is the highest-value hour of maintenance there is, and here it wants doing before November through March.
Look in the attic after heavy weather
Check after the first real weather of the season rather than at the end of it. A small stain found in autumn is a cheap repair; the same stain found in spring is not.
Deal with growth properly
Cleaning a roof aggressively does more damage than the growth was doing. Gentle treatment, patience, and a strip at the ridge to stop it returning.
In short
Put two dates in the calendar, one either side of November through March. That is the whole programme.
Related questions
Are gutters included in a re-roof?
Usually not, unless the quote says so. If they are near the end of their life, replacing them during the re-roof is meaningfully cheaper than doing it later, because the crew and the staging are already there.
I have solar panels. What happens to them?
They come off and go back on, and that is a separate cost, often handled by the solar installer rather than the roofer. If the roof is near the end of its life, do the roof first — removing and refitting panels twice is money wasted.
Why does ventilation keep coming up?
Because a badly ventilated attic cooks the roof from underneath and takes years off it. Intake at the eaves and exhaust at the ridge, in balance. It is cheap during a re-roof and awkward afterwards.