Fall is here, and for homeowners this means a lot of things. Shorter days, cooler nights, fewer storms, and of course, leaves falling from the trees.

As our trees change colors and shed their leaves, they provide a beautiful visual accent in your yards and neighborhood. They also offer you a visual reminder of the passage of time.

Unfortunately, this means that fall offers a unique set of challenges for maintaining your roof.

Leaves in gutters

The first threat that fall offers to your roof is leaves accumulating on the shingles and in the gutters. Leaves in your gutters keep water from flowing smoothly to the downspouts.

When water backups occur, the water seeps into soffits and backing board behind the gutters, and even up under the shingles.

If water gets everywhere you are trying to keep dry, that means that leaves in your gutters undo all of your hard work and threaten your largest investment.

It is important to regularly clear your gutters of leaves and sticks – and the busiest time of year for this work is the fall. This is when leaves are raining from the trees.

Plan to spend a few fall afternoons clearing your gutters, or pay a gutter and roofing service to do a full gutter cleanout – including reaching the upper level gutters so you don’t have to.

Photo by Eliza Lensa from Pexels

Leaves and branches on the roof

Between the leaves and small branches falling and the gentle fall winds, there is a threat to your roof that looks harmless.

When wind eddies deposit leaves in the corners of your dormers or chimneys, it can look picturesque. This harmless look is deceiving though. Because wherever leaves and sticks are accumulating, there is the chance that water will also be trapped.

Your roof was designed to move water away. Tiles are waterproof and built for this purpose. But they were not built to hold water. So when the leaf and stick gatherings stay in place through a rainstorm or even a series of heavy dews, they present a risk that your roof will fail and develop a leak.

Allowing them to stay in place can not only put your roof at risk, but it might also void your roof warranty,costing you thousands of dollars.

If you see leaves gathering anywhere on your roof for more than a day or two, you must clear them to help protect your roof.

Get those leaves off your roof and out of your gutters this fall!