Roof, Eavestroughs and the Outside of Your Home

Checking the roof from the ground

You don’t need to climb onto the roof to check it. CMHC’s home maintenance schedule says to check the roof from the ground each summer, and Get Prepared suggests checking your house, including the roof, for damage before the winter storms arrive. A pair of binoculars makes it much easier to see detail.

Walk all the way around the house and look for:

• Sagging along the ridge or between the rafters. CMHC lists it first.
• Shingle condition: missing, lifted, cracked or curled shingles.
• Flashing: cracks or gaps in the metal around the chimney, vents and skylights, and where a roof meets a wall.
• The chimney cap and its caulking.
• Eavestroughs that have pulled away from the fascia or sag between hangers.

Good times to look: in spring, after the winter winds; after any strong chinook windstorm; after every hailstorm; and in late summer, before the fall jobs.

After a hailstorm

Hail falls mostly from June to August here. Some storms do obvious damage; others leave bruised shingles and dented vents that you won’t notice until they leak.

Right after the storm

1. Stay safe first. Get Prepared says to clear broken glass and other hazards safely and quickly, and to watch for flooding and power outages after a storm.
2. Look the house over from the ground: roof, eavestroughs, siding, window screens, skylights, the air conditioner and anything else outside. Get Prepared says to inspect your vehicle and home for damage.
3. Document the damage. Get Prepared says to document any damage for insurance purposes, and the City of Calgary’s hail guidance says to photograph it once it’s safe. Take wide shots and close-ups.
4. Call your insurer to report the damage before you hire anyone, and ask what they need from you.
5. Leave anything on the roof to a professional. Look from the ground only.

Watch out for door-to-door “storm chasers”

After a big hailstorm, expect contractors knocking on doors offering roof repairs. Be careful. The Government of Alberta’s consumer advice is clear:

• Red flags. Service Alberta says to be cautious of contractors who come door to door, quote a price without seeing the job, demand a large down payment for materials, use pressure tactics, or won’t give you a written contract or firm start and finish dates. A post office box instead of a street address is another warning sign.
• Licence for deposits. A contractor who takes any money before the work is finished is a “prepaid contractor” and must be licensed by the Government of Alberta. Check the licence with the province’s online search before you sign or pay anything.
• Ten days to cancel. If a contract is signed away from the contractor’s place of business, such as at your door or kitchen table, you can generally cancel within 10 days of receiving your copy, without giving a reason.
• Get it in writing. The province suggests written estimates from at least three contractors, itemized costs, start and completion dates, references you can call, and always a written contract.

Eavestroughs and downspouts

Eavestroughs collect the water off the roof, and downspouts carry it away from the house. The City of Lethbridge says keeping them clear and directing the water away from the foundation helps prevent basement flooding.

• Clean them in the fall, after the leaves drop. CMHC says to clean leaves from the eavestroughs and roof and test that the downspouts drain properly. Get Prepared adds clearing debris from eavestroughs before hail season.
• Check them in spring for loose joints and blockages, as CMHC suggests, after the ice and snow are gone.
• Extend the downspouts. The City of Lethbridge’s design standards recommend that downspouts discharge onto a splash pad or hard surface that carries the water at least 1.2 m (4 ft) away from the building and from neighbouring properties.
• Keep it on the surface. The same standards say house downspouts should discharge onto the ground and flow overland, and must never be connected to the sanitary sewer.
• Aim away from walks and driveways too, or the meltwater will freeze into a sheet of ice every night after a chinook.

For winter, see eavestroughs before freeze-up.

Grading and the spring melt

The ground around a house should slope away from it, so rain and snowmelt run off rather than soak in beside the basement wall. The City of Lethbridge’s lot grading rules exist to “direct surface drainage away from building foundations to aid in preventing basement flooding.”

Over the years, the ground beside a house can settle and change. CMHC’s fall checklist says to make sure the grading still slopes away from the foundation, and its spring list says to look at the foundation walls for cracks, leaks or moisture.

• Watch the melt. On the first warm chinook day of spring, walk around the house and see where the water goes. Puddles against the wall, or water running toward the house, mean the grade needs work.
• Fix low spots next to the foundation so the ground slopes away again. For anything more than a little topsoil, ask a landscaper or contractor.
• Keep basement windows clear. CMHC’s winter list includes keeping snow clear of basement windows.

The yard side of this, including what to do with the leaves, is on the spring and fall yard checklists.

Caulking and weatherstripping

Natural Resources Canada’s guide Keeping the Heat In explains the difference: caulking seals joints between building materials that don’t move, and weatherstripping blocks air leaking around doors and the parts of windows that open.

• Summer: CMHC says to replace damaged caulking and weatherstripping around windows and doors, around pipes, wires and vents where they go through the walls, and on the door between the garage and the house.
• Fall: make sure windows and skylights close tightly and doors seal, and repair weatherstripping before the cold.
• Winter: CMHC suggests checking windows and doors for ice or cold air leaking in, and noting the repairs for spring.

Attics, insulation and ice dams

Ice dams are ridges of ice that build up along the edge of a roof, often with big icicles hanging below. CMHC’s winter checklist includes watching for them, along with frost in the attic.

• Check from the ground in winter. CMHC’s winter list says to check the roof for ice dams or icicles, and the attic for frost.
• Air leaks into the attic. NRCan’s guide says to air seal so that air from the house doesn’t escape into the walls and roof. It lists attic hatches and the places where pipes, wires and chimneys pass into the attic as key spots to seal, and recommends weatherstripping around attic hatches.
• If you see ice dams, or frost or stains in the attic, have a roofer, insulation contractor or home inspector find the cause. Don’t chip ice off the roof yourself.

When you hire for insulation or air sealing, NRCan suggests asking for quotes in writing and insisting on a written contract before any work starts.

Decks, fences and the garage door

Decks, steps and railings

• Spring: CMHC says to re-level exterior steps and decks that shifted over the winter.
• Summer: check guardrails and handrails, and repair damaged steps, walkways and driveways.
• Permits: the City of Lethbridge says covered decks, and uncovered decks more than 0.6 m (about 2 ft) above the ground, need a building permit. So do retaining walls taller than 0.9 m (3 ft).

Fences

CMHC’s spring list says to repair and paint fences once the wood has dried. Check for leaning posts and loose boards after strong winds.

Siding, trim and the power line

• CMHC says to check siding and trim for deterioration each summer and clean, repair or refinish it, and to remove plants touching or rooted into the siding or brick.
• It also says to check that the electrical service entry, where the power line attaches to the house, is secure and not leaking, and to trim branches hanging over it. Hire this out; keep yourself, your ladder and your tools well away from the line. Our yard safety page explains why.

The garage door

• Auto-reverse: CMHC’s summer list says to lubricate the garage door hardware and the opener, and to make sure the auto-reverse works. Follow the test in your opener’s manual.
• The door into the house: CMHC’s fall list says to check the self-closing device on the door between the garage and the house. That door helps keep exhaust out of your home.
• Springs and cables on an overhead door are under heavy tension. Leave adjustments and repairs to a qualified technician.

Ladders: do it safely or hire it out

Eavestroughs, first-storey windows, the roof edge and the light over the garage put a lot of people on ladders. Falls from ladders can be serious even from modest heights. The basics from our yard safety page:

1. Firm, level ground. Never on ice, soft lawn or wet clay.
2. The right angle. For an extension ladder, about 1 m out from the wall for every 4 m of height.
3. Three points of contact at all times: two hands and a foot, or two feet and a hand.
4. Don’t overreach. Keep your belt buckle between the rails, and move the ladder instead.
5. Not in the wind. In Lethbridge that rules out a lot of days; pick a calm morning.
6. Have someone with you, and stay well away from power lines, including the service line to the house. Never use a metal ladder near electrical wires.
7. Stay off the top two rungs or steps, and check the ladder for cracked or broken rungs before you climb.

Sources

• Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, About Your House: Home Maintenance Schedule (roof from the ground; eavestroughs; grading; caulking; ice dams; decks; fences; garage door; service entry): assets.cmhc-schl.gc.ca
• Public Safety Canada, Get Prepared, Hailstorms (inspect and document damage; clear eavestroughs; hail-resistant roofing; modified 2026-03-12): canada.ca
• Public Safety Canada, Get Prepared, Winter storms: how to prepare (check the house and roof for damage): canada.ca
• City of Calgary, Hail preparedness guide (photograph damage when safe; report to your insurer): calgary.ca
• Service Alberta, Home Improvements: what you need to know (October 2022) (red flags; prepaid contractor licence; 10-day cancellation; written contracts): open.alberta.ca
• Government of Alberta, Repairing homes after the Alberta wildfires (June 2023) (three written estimates; references; pressure tactics): alberta.ca
• City of Lethbridge, Design Standards 2021, Section 9: Post lot development issues (downspouts 1.2 m; never to the sanitary sewer): lethbridge.ca
• City of Lethbridge, Lot grading permits (drainage away from foundations): lethbridge.ca
• City of Lethbridge, Building permits brochure (decks; retaining walls; re-roofing): lethbridge.ca
• Lethbridge Herald, City has tips for dealing with stormy forecast (June 21, 2025): lethbridgeherald.com
• Natural Resources Canada, Keeping the Heat In (2017) (caulking and weatherstripping; attic leaks; vermiculite; knob-and-tube wiring; written contracts): natural-resources.canada.ca
• City of Saskatoon, Building Standards, Snow on roofs: what owners should know (“do not go on your roof”): saskatoon.ca
• Environment and Climate Change Canada, Canadian Climate Normals 1991–2020, Lethbridge (hail season).
• Workers’ Safety and Compensation Commission (Northwest Territories and Nunavut), Ladder safety (top two rungs; inspect before use; no metal ladders near wires): wscc.nt.ca