Every year, the north-east monsoon turns our schedule upside down between November and February. The frustrating part: perhaps seven out of ten emergency calls we take in that window were preventable with an hour of checking in September or October. This is the checklist we run for maintenance clients — most of it you can do yourself from a ladder at gutter height. Nothing below requires walking on the roof, and please don't.
Clear the gutters — then check the fall
Everyone knows to scoop out leaves. Fewer people pour a bucket of water in afterwards and watch what happens. If it ponds instead of reaching the downpipe, the gutter has sagged out of fall, and the first real storm will send water over the back edge into your eaves. Box gutters on link houses are the number one monsoon failure we attend.
Look along the valleys
Valleys carry more water than any other part of the roof. From the ladder, sight along each valley line: you're looking for debris dams, tile fragments, rust streaks on metal valleys, or mortar crumbs from the ridge above. Any of these will concentrate a torrent exactly where the roof is most vulnerable.
Check flashings at every wall junction
Where a roof meets a wall — above extensions and car porches especially — a strip of flashing keeps driven rain out. Cement fillets crack; old aluminium lifts. If you can see daylight, gaps or flexible sealant applied by a previous "repair", that junction will leak in horizontal monsoon rain even if it survives normal showers.
Scan for slipped and cracked tiles
Binoculars from the garden work fine. You're looking for tiles sitting out of line with their row, hairline cracks showing as dark streaks, and ridge capping with missing mortar. One slipped tile admits a surprising volume of water when rain comes with wind behind it.
Inside: the ten-minute attic torch test
The check most owners skip. On a dry day, get into the roof space with a torch and look for water staining on the underside of tiles, along battens and around penetrations. Fresh stains are dark with defined edges; old ones are faded. Photograph anything you find — comparing photos after the first storm tells you immediately whether it's active.
When to call someone instead
Call a professional if you find: sagging ceiling boards, valleys rusted through, flashing separated from the wall, or more than a couple of damaged tiles. Those are half-day repairs in October and become emergency tarp jobs in December, at three times the cost and in the rain. Our roof leak repair page explains how we trace and fix entry points, and a pre-monsoon inspection can be booked through the contact page.