Spring (March to May): assess and recover
Spring is damage-report season. Winter storms have done whatever they were going to do, and now's the time to find out.
- Walk the yard after the last big storms and look for shingle pieces or granule piles below downspouts.
- Scan the roof from the ground (binoculars help): lifted or missing shingles, debris in valleys, green starting on the north slope.
- Clear gutters of winter buildup so spring rains flow.
- Book a cleaning if moss showed up over winter. Spring treatments work well with the drying weather ahead.
Summer (June to August): the work window
Dry roofs and long days make summer the season for anything hands-on: cleanings, repairs, and replacements all go smoother now.
- Trim back branches that overhang the roof. This is the single best moss prevention there is, and summer is the time.
- Handle any repairs you've been putting off while the weather is friendly.
- If your roof is near the end of its life, summer and early fall are the best replacement windows. (Here's what a replacement involves.)
Fall (September to November): prep for the wet
Fall is the most important season on this calendar. Whatever condition your roof is in when the rains start is the condition it'll fight winter in.
- Get the roof and valleys cleared after the big leaf-and-needle drop.
- Clean gutters and downspouts, then check them again after the first real storm.
- Apply moss treatment before the wet season gives spores their opening.
- Fix small problems now. A loose shingle in October is a leak in December.
Winter (December to February): watch and respond
Winter is for observation, not roof work. Storms come through; your job is noticing what they leave behind.
- After windstorms, scan for missing shingles and check the yard for debris that came off the roof.
- Watch ceilings and attic for stains after long rain stretches.
- If something looks wrong, don't climb up in the wet. Call someone whose crew does this in harnesses. (That's us.)
Or let the calendar run itself
If you'd rather not carry a roof calendar in your head, that's what our maintenance program is: two visits a year, one in spring and one in fall, hitting everything above plus an inspection each time. Most of our maintenance customers signed up the year they forgot the fall cleaning and spent January with a bucket in the hallway.
For the deeper story on what all this maintenance is protecting you from, start with the Moss Handbook.