Guide
The wet season roof checklist
What to check and book between September and November, in order, before the first real storm finds the gap for you.
6 minute read
Why order matters
September to November is the window. Book after that and you are behind the leak jobs, because a lot of Townsville is thinking about it at exactly the same time we are, and the afternoon storms that start turning up from December make roof work slower and less predictable.
The order below is the order we actually work in on a wet-season check, and it is not arbitrary. Clearing the gutters first means the roof space inspection in step four is not confused by water that was simply sitting in a blocked valley. Checking ridge and hip capping before the photo report means the report is complete rather than a first pass.
The checklist
Five things, in this order.
- 1. Gutters and valleys, cleared by handLeaf drop in this town is heaviest just before the wet, which is the worst possible timing. A gutter packed with leaf litter does not simply overflow outside, it backs water up over the fascia and in under the roof, which is why so many November ceiling stains turn out to be a leaf problem rather than a roof problem.
- 2. Every downpipe flushed and flow-testedA gutter can be spotless and still spill over the front if the downpipe it feeds is undersized or partly blocked further down. Flow-test each one while the gutters are open, not just the ones you can see are dirty.
- 3. Ridge capping, flashings and fasteners inspectedThe mortar bed under ridge and hip capping cracks in the heat over a dry winter, and the first serious wet season pushes water straight under it. A quick check from the ground with binoculars, or properly from the roof, catches most of this before it becomes a ceiling stain.
- 4. Roof space checked for stainingOld staining on the sarking or the top of the ceiling battens is a record of every leak the roof has had, including the ones that dried out and were never noticed. It is worth five minutes with a torch even if nothing is dripping right now.
- 5. A photo report, with anything that needs attention pricedYou want a written record of what the gutters and roof space looked like before the wet season, and a price on anything that needs doing, not a verbal "she will be right." Then it is your decision, not a guess made under pressure in February.
Worth knowing
You can do the gutter clearing yourself if the roof pitch and access are safe for it, and plenty of people do. What is harder to see from a ladder at the fascia line is the ridge capping, the flashings and the state of the sarking in the roof space, which is the part worth paying someone to actually walk and inspect.
If your gutters spill over the front even when they were cleaned recently, they are probably not blocked. A lot of Townsville houses were guttered to a rainfall figure lower than this region actually gets, and the honest fix is a downpipe or two more, sized off the roof catchment rather than off what was there before.
Homes under gums or poincianas need this twice a year, once before the wet and once partway through if the leaf drop is heavy. Everyone else is usually fine with the one visit in the September to November window, provided it actually happens in that window.
Book it now
The window fills early.
A wet-season roof check is $340, or it is included twice a year on the Roof Care Plan.
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