In Brevard County, the problem is different. Heavy rain, oak leaves, pine needles, roof granules and debris can turn a gutter from a drainage system into a wet trough sitting along one of the most vulnerable parts of your roof.

The damage usually doesn’t happen in one storm. It happens slowly, from the edge in.

1. The gutter fills up

A gutter only works when water can move freely to the downspout.

Pack it with leaves, pine needles and shingle granules, and Florida’s next heavy downpour can overwhelm it quickly. Water begins overflowing the front, and potentially getting behind the gutter where you can’t see it.

That’s where the trouble starts.

2. The fascia keeps getting wet

The fascia is the board running along the edge of your roof, usually directly behind the gutter.

When water repeatedly gets behind a clogged or overflowing gutter, that board may not have enough time to dry between Florida rainstorms.

First you might notice peeling or blistering paint. Eventually, the wood can soften and deteriorate.

And once the roof edge begins deteriorating, water isn’t necessarily the only thing we’re looking for.

3. Florida critters find it too

Squirrels, rats, insects and other animals are very good at finding vulnerable areas around a roof. A small opening at an eave or deteriorated fascia can become an entry point.

That’s why during a roof inspection we aren’t only looking up at the shingles. We’re looking at the entire roof edge. Water damage, loose materials and animal activity can all be clues that something is happening underneath.

More on animals in a Florida roof, and the law that decides what you can do about bats →

The small piece of metal protecting the edge

There’s another part of this system most homeowners never think about: the drip edge.

It’s the metal flashing running along the edge of a shingle roof. Its job is to help direct water away from the roof decking and fascia rather than allowing it to work back toward the wood underneath.

Florida’s residential code carries a drip edge requirement for asphalt shingle roofs, at the eaves and along the rakes, which is the gable edge of the roof.

But required doesn’t always mean perfect. We still inspect whether it is present, damaged, corroded or improperly installed, and whether other work around the roof edge or gutter has affected it.

Because when the drainage system and the roof-edge details aren’t working together, moisture can reach the materials the roof actually depends on: the fascia, the decking and the framing behind them.

Those are the expensive parts. Shingles are a surface you can budget for. Decking and framing are structure, and they are usually not discovered until the old roof is already off.

Florida Building Code, Residential, section R905.2.8.5 (Drip edge).

What this actually costs you to prevent

Clearing gutters twice a year in Brevard is the cheapest roof maintenance there is. It protects the part of the roof that is hardest and most expensive to replace, and it removes the damp, sheltered edge that animals look for.

The reason this matters is that roof-edge damage is one of the easiest problems to mistake for “you need a new roof.” Often the field of the roof is still in good condition and the work belongs at the edge.

Not sure whether this is a repair or a replacement?

Almost everything on this page is repair work. If you want to know where your roof stands overall, we published the scale we use so you can run it yourself.

SCORE YOUR ROOF

or schedule a free roof visit →

Eight factors, 100 points, about two minutes. The scale is for asphalt shingle roofs.