Question 1

How often should I have my roof checked?

Accepted Answer

It depends on the property, and any answer that is the same for every house is a subscription rather than a schedule. With trees over the roof, clear the gutters annually and look at the roof every couple of years. On the exposed ground east of the town, after a hard winter. A sheltered modern roof in good order can genuinely go several years. Almost every expensive roof repair started as a cheap one. A single slipped slate soaks a batten; the batten rots; the fixings around it let go; more slates come down; the rafter foot beneath goes. Every step is months or years apart, and any one of them could have been dealt with for a fraction of the last. That is the argument for looking periodically — not because roofs need constant attention, but because the failures are slow and invisible from the ground. The honest frequency varies. Trees over the roof means gutters annually, because leaves and moss fill them every autumn without fail. Heavy moss on the covering means the same, since moss is the main gutter-filler on most local roofs. An exposed property on the high ground benefits from a look after serious weather rather than on a calendar. A sheltered, modern, dry-fixed roof in good condition may need nothing for years. There is one clear seasonal case and it is autumn. Getting gutters cleared and anything loose refixed before the wet and windy season is worth considerably more than the same work in March — most February storm damage starts at something that was already loose in October. It also avoids the queue: after a serious gale every roofer in the county is booked out within the hour. The exposure gradient across this patch is real and it changes the answer by address. Air frost increases sharply with altitude — Buxton averages 51.5 air-frost days a year against 40.0 at low-lying Woodford, and Kerridge Hill is 313 metres — and freeze-thaw is what cracks the mortar at ridges and verges. A roof up the hill genuinely needs looking at more often than the same roof in town. The other real value is documentary, and it is underrated. Dated photographs of the roof's condition are what settle an argument with an insurer about whether damage was storm or wear, and what a purchaser's surveyor gets shown. On a rental property that record is worth having whether or not anything ever goes wrong.

Question 2

Do roofs need regular maintenance?

Accepted Answer

It depends on the property, and any answer that is the same for every house is a subscription rather than a schedule. With trees over the roof, clear the gutters annually and look at the roof every couple of years. On the exposed ground east of the town, after a hard winter. A sheltered modern roof in good order can genuinely go several years. Almost every expensive roof repair started as a cheap one. A single slipped slate soaks a batten; the batten rots; the fixings around it let go; more slates come down; the rafter foot beneath goes. Every step is months or years apart, and any one of them could have been dealt with for a fraction of the last. That is the argument for looking periodically — not because roofs need constant attention, but because the failures are slow and invisible from the ground. The honest frequency varies. Trees over the roof means gutters annually, because leaves and moss fill them every autumn without fail. Heavy moss on the covering means the same, since moss is the main gutter-filler on most local roofs. An exposed property on the high ground benefits from a look after serious weather rather than on a calendar. A sheltered, modern, dry-fixed roof in good condition may need nothing for years. There is one clear seasonal case and it is autumn. Getting gutters cleared and anything loose refixed before the wet and windy season is worth considerably more than the same work in March — most February storm damage starts at something that was already loose in October. It also avoids the queue: after a serious gale every roofer in the county is booked out within the hour. The exposure gradient across this patch is real and it changes the answer by address. Air frost increases sharply with altitude — Buxton averages 51.5 air-frost days a year against 40.0 at low-lying Woodford, and Kerridge Hill is 313 metres — and freeze-thaw is what cracks the mortar at ridges and verges. A roof up the hill genuinely needs looking at more often than the same roof in town. The other real value is documentary, and it is underrated. Dated photographs of the roof's condition are what settle an argument with an insurer about whether damage was storm or wear, and what a purchaser's surveyor gets shown. On a rental property that record is worth having whether or not anything ever goes wrong.

Question 3

How often should gutters and roof be inspected?

Accepted Answer

It depends on the property, and any answer that is the same for every house is a subscription rather than a schedule. With trees over the roof, clear the gutters annually and look at the roof every couple of years. On the exposed ground east of the town, after a hard winter. A sheltered modern roof in good order can genuinely go several years. Almost every expensive roof repair started as a cheap one. A single slipped slate soaks a batten; the batten rots; the fixings around it let go; more slates come down; the rafter foot beneath goes. Every step is months or years apart, and any one of them could have been dealt with for a fraction of the last. That is the argument for looking periodically — not because roofs need constant attention, but because the failures are slow and invisible from the ground. The honest frequency varies. Trees over the roof means gutters annually, because leaves and moss fill them every autumn without fail. Heavy moss on the covering means the same, since moss is the main gutter-filler on most local roofs. An exposed property on the high ground benefits from a look after serious weather rather than on a calendar. A sheltered, modern, dry-fixed roof in good condition may need nothing for years. There is one clear seasonal case and it is autumn. Getting gutters cleared and anything loose refixed before the wet and windy season is worth considerably more than the same work in March — most February storm damage starts at something that was already loose in October. It also avoids the queue: after a serious gale every roofer in the county is booked out within the hour. The exposure gradient across this patch is real and it changes the answer by address. Air frost increases sharply with altitude — Buxton averages 51.5 air-frost days a year against 40.0 at low-lying Woodford, and Kerridge Hill is 313 metres — and freeze-thaw is what cracks the mortar at ridges and verges. A roof up the hill genuinely needs looking at more often than the same roof in town. The other real value is documentary, and it is underrated. Dated photographs of the roof's condition are what settle an argument with an insurer about whether damage was storm or wear, and what a purchaser's surveyor gets shown. On a rental property that record is worth having whether or not anything ever goes wrong.

How often should I have my roof checked?

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