What Should You Check After a Storm?

From ground level: what to look for outside

Walk around the outside of the property, at a safe distance from the building and away from anything that looks like it could fall, and look up.

Ground-level checks

• Slates or tiles that look displaced, slipped, cracked or missing compared to the surrounding roof
• Debris in the garden, driveway or on the path — broken slate, tile fragments, pieces of flashing or ridge material
• Debris sitting in or overflowing from gutters, or gutters and downpipes that look sagging, pulled away from the fascia, or detached
• Ridge tiles or verge details that look disturbed, lifted or out of line along the top or edges of the roof
• Lead flashing that looks lifted, curled back or displaced where you can see it around chimneys, walls or roof junctions
• Damage to the chimney stack itself — leaning, cracked or loose brickwork, or a chimney pot that looks knocked out of position

From inside the house: signs of a problem above

Storm damage often shows up inside the house before it's obvious outside, so a walk through the rooms and landing is worth doing as well.

Indoor checks

• New staining, discolouration or damp patches on ceilings or walls, particularly on upper floors
• Any dripping, however small, especially during or shortly after rain
• Damp patches or a musty smell that weren't there before the storm
• Water tracking down a chimney breast or appearing around a fireplace
• If your attic is safely and easily accessible, a look for daylight showing through the roof, wet timber, or damp insulation — do not attempt this if access is awkward or unsafe

Other things worth checking

A few areas are easy to overlook but worth including in your check, all still viewable safely from ground level or from an upstairs window.

Additional checks

• Gutters overflowing during rain, or downpipes that appear blocked — this can point to a gutter problem rather than the roof itself, though the two are often connected
• If you have a flat roof extension or garage that can be seen from an upstairs window, standing water, debris, or an obviously lifted or torn covering — see also flat roof ponding water
• Any sign of water staining around roof windows or skylights inside the house — see Velux and skylight repairs and roof leaking around skylight
• A roof valley that looks obviously blocked with debris where it's visible — see blocked roof valley

Why a roof can look fine and still be letting water in

Many of the defects that cause leaks after a storm are simply not visible from the ground. A slipped slate three courses up a slope, a cracked but still-in-place tile, a nail that has worked loose under a slate, or a small split in a flashing detail can all let water in without anything looking obviously wrong from below.

Water also does not necessarily show up inside the house straight away. It can sit in insulation or track along timbers for some time before a stain appears on a ceiling, which means a roof can have sustained real storm damage that only becomes obvious weeks later, in the next heavy rain. This is exactly why a proper inspection matters after a significant storm, even where nothing looks wrong.

When should I arrange a roof inspection?

It's worth arranging a professional roof inspection after any storm that involved strong winds, if you noticed any of the signs above, or simply as a precaution if your roof is older or has needed repairs before. An inspection gets someone safely onto the roof, at height and with the right equipment, to check details that cannot be assessed from the ground — something we would never ask a homeowner to do themselves.

If you're weighing up whether it's worth it, our roof inspection cost guide explains what's involved and what tends to affect the price.

When it's an emergency

Some situations should not wait for a routine inspection to be arranged.

Call immediately if you see

• Active, significant water coming into the house
• Material that looks dangerously loose, lifted or about to come down, especially anything overhanging a path, driveway or road
• A chimney stack or large section of roof covering that looks structurally compromised

Getting help

Emergency roof repair call-outs are available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year on 087 466 6010. For anything less urgent, arrange a proper roof inspection or get in touch about storm damage repairs to have the roof checked and any repairs properly assessed. If you're dealing with active ingress right now, see water coming through ceiling for immediate safety steps.