What to check on your El Paso roof before monsoon season
Six things every El Paso homeowner should check on their roof before monsoon hits in June. Drainage, flashings, mounting penetrations, ponding, and when the inspection is past DIY.
El Paso monsoon season starts in mid-June and runs through the end of September. The rain that comes is not the rain that finds the leak. The dry months between October and May are what set up the failure. Debris settles in valleys, mortar joints crack on chimneys, sun damages flashings, and animals make nests in vents. When the water finally arrives, it finds every weak spot at once.
Here is what to check on your own roof in the next two weeks before the first storm.
1. Valleys and gutters
Walk the perimeter of the house and look up. Every valley should be visibly clear. If you can see tumbleweed, pine needles, palm fronds, or a layer of grit packed into the valley, that is a dam. The first half-inch of rain will pond against the dam, and the dam will redirect water under the shingles instead of off the roof.
Gutters should be empty enough that you can see the bottom of the trough. If you have not cleaned the gutters since October, there is a layer of compacted grit, dust, and dead bug shells that will not let water through. Hire someone to clean them now if you cannot do it safely yourself.
2. Flashing around penetrations
Every place something pokes through the roof is a potential leak. Plumbing vents, gas vents, HVAC penetrations, chimney saddles, and skylights. Walk the perimeter and look up at each one. The metal flashing should sit flat against the shingles with no gap, no curled edge, no daylight visible underneath.
If you can see a gap from the ground, the flashing has failed. That is the most common cause of a slow ceiling stain in El Paso homes built in the 1980s and 1990s.
3. Solar panel mounts
Solar systems installed in the 2010s in El Paso are now ten to fifteen years old. The penetrations where the mounting feet attach to the deck were sealed with butyl tape or a flexible sealant that has now dried out and cracked.
If your solar system was installed more than eight years ago and has never had a maintenance inspection, schedule one before monsoon. The number of solar mount leaks we have rebuilt in the last three years is the single fastest-growing category of insurance reconstruction in our residential business.
4. Ponding on flat roof sections
Most El Paso homes have at least one flat section: a patio cover, a porch awning, sometimes the whole roof. Flat does not actually mean flat. There should be a slight slope to drains or scuppers. If you can see standing water on a flat section more than 48 hours after the last rain, the slope is gone and the deck has started to sag.
Ponding water sitting on a flat roof during monsoon is how decking rots from the top down. By the time you see the ceiling stain inside, you are usually looking at a section replacement, not a patch.
5. Eaves and fascia
The eaves of the roof are where wind gets under the shingles. Walk around the house and look for shingles that are lifted, curled, or missing at the perimeter. If a shingle has been lifted by wind, a monsoon gust will rip it the rest of the way off and expose the underlayment.
The fascia board should be solid wood with no soft spots. Press a screwdriver into it gently at the corners. If the wood is soft, the fascia is rotted and the gutter mounting screws are not holding. A monsoon storm with full gutters can pull a soft fascia off the house.
6. Attic ventilation
Open the attic hatch and look. Every ridge vent, soffit vent, and gable vent should be clear. If birds, wasps, or rodents have nested in a vent, the attic does not breathe. Hot trapped air during the summer evaporates moisture out of the wood. When monsoon hits, that wood swells and pushes shingles loose.
Ventilation is what most homeowners forget. It is also what most contractors do not check on a basic inspection.
When to stop and call
If any of the above shows damage you can see from the ground, the next step is not climbing the ladder yourself. Most homeowner roof injuries in El Paso happen between April and June when people are trying to get ahead of monsoon. The math is bad: a $600 inspection is much cheaper than an emergency room visit.
We do residential roof inspections across El Paso and Las Cruces year-round. The inspection itself is free if we end up doing the repair. If you want a second opinion on what another contractor told you, send us the project and we will give you an honest read.