DIY guideRoof and gutters

Look over the roof from the ground

Walk round the house with binoculars or your phone's zoom and look for curled, cracked or missing shingles and loose metal, without a ladder.

6 steps

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Walk all the way round the house, far enough back to see each side of the roof, with binoculars or your phone's zoom. A flat roof? Look from an upstairs window.
Stay on the ground. Never climb onto the roof to look.
Look for shingles or tiles that are curled, cracked, slipped or missing, and patches where the colour has worn away.
Look at the metal strips where the roof meets a wall or a pipe, and down the valleys, for gaps, rust or lifted edges.
Look at the ground under each downspout for heaps of the gritty granules worn shingles shed.
Take zoomed photos of anything you're unsure of, from a couple of angles, and send them to Handyman.
Missing shingles, a sagging line, or water stains on a ceiling inside: stay off the roof and ask Handyman for a roofer.

Handyman says: Stay off it. I'll find a roofer.

Free for every home. Handyman asks a few questions, then books a pro it trusts.