Maintenance

Your Roof Maintenance Checklist, Month by Month

By Fort Collins Roof Repair · October 26, 2026 · 8 min read

A roof in Fort Collins has a different job every season: hold on in the chinooks, shed a foot of wet March snow, take hail in July, and stay clear of cottonwood leaves in October. Most of the work is just looking at the right thing at the right time. This roof maintenance checklist runs month by month, starting with the season ahead, and ends with a one-card summary you can tape inside a garage cabinet. Nothing here asks you to walk a slope — binoculars, a ladder to the gutter line, and a flashlight in the attic cover nearly all of it.

Winter roof maintenance tips

November

The first real snow has usually come and gone, and the chinook season is starting. Check the west- and northwest-facing slopes after the first big wind event for lifted or creased shingles; a shingle that lifts in November may be gone by January. Make sure the gutters are clear after the last of the leaves. If you haven't cleared the soffit vents of insulation, do it now from inside — this is the month attic ventilation starts to matter for ice dams.

December

Icicles the size of your arm along the gutter line after a snow that sits for a week mean heat is leaking into the attic and an ice dam is forming. The fix is inside, and the attic insulation post covers it. Roofers are often quieter this month, so it's a good time to get a leak fixed or a replacement scheduled. Shingles need warmth to seal, so ask how the roofer handles a cold-weather install.

January

Chinook month. Sixty- to eighty-mile-an-hour winds off the foothills, sometimes for two days straight. After each one, walk the yard for shingle pieces and look at the roof with binoculars. A patch of lifted shingles is $300–$800 to fix now and a section of exposed underlayment by March if you don't.

February

Usually a dry month. Go in the attic on a sunny afternoon and look for frost on the nail tips — if the whole attic is frosted, the attic is too humid, and a bath fan may be venting into it. Look along the eaves for the beginning of ice-dam staining. If the roof is past 15 years, this is a good month to read the insurance renewal and see how the policy treats an older roof; the roof age and insurance post explains what to look for.

Spring: snow on the roof and the first look-over

March

Snow month, and often the wettest snow of the year: upslope storms that drop a foot of heavy snow and then melt it off in a few sunny days. Snow on the roof is normal and most roofs carry it fine; the trouble is at the eaves, where ice dams form. If water shows along an exterior wall, that's usually what it is. Don't chip at the ice on the roof — you'll take the shingles with it. A roof rake used from the ground to pull the bottom few feet of snow off the eaves is the one thing that helps in the moment. Keep branches in mind too; wet March snow on a silver maple is how limbs end up through decking.

April

The roof comes out from under the snow. Walk the yard, clear the gutters of the winter's grit and any granules, and look at the whole roof from the ground with binoculars: cracked ridge caps, curled corners, bare patches on the south slope, pipe boots with a dark ring at the base. Anything you see is a roof repair job, and spring is a good time to book it before the crews get busy. If the roof is due for replacement, April and May are the last quieter weeks before hail season fills schedules across Larimer County.

Summer: hail season

May

Hail season opens. The storms tend to build over the foothills in the afternoon and move east across town, so the west and south slopes often take the first hits. Photograph the roof and gutters from the ground on a clear day so you have a "before" record. Check your policy for the wind-and-hail deductible and whether the roof is covered at replacement cost or actual cash value. Confirm the gutters are clear for the cloudbursts.

June

The sun is at its strongest. Pipe boots are cracking and ridge caps are baking; this is when much of the year's UV wear happens. If the attic is hot enough to feel through the ceiling, ventilation is the fix, and it's a summer-friendly job.

July

Peak hail. After any storm with stones of an inch or more, run the storm damage checklist: photograph the ground evidence, look for dents in the gutters and vents, check the attic if it rained hard, and get a roofer's written estimate before you sign anything on the doorstep. Colorado law bars a roofer from paying, waiving or rebating your deductible. Never accept an offer to cover it — insurers treat it as fraud, and it can put your claim at risk.

August

Still hail season, and the afternoon storms can be the strongest of the year. Same routine as July. If a claim was approved from an earlier storm, replacements will be going on across town; make sure the replacement you're getting includes ice-and-water shield, six nails per shingle and, in this climate, a look at Class 4 shingles. Whether the job needs a permit depends on the work — check with the City of Fort Collins building department (or your town's), and ask your roofer who pulls it.

Fall: your gutter cleaning schedule

September

Hail season winds down. Clean the gutters before the cottonwoods drop. Do a full look-over of the roof from the ground and the attic — the fall prep post is the checklist. If there was hail this summer and the roof was never looked at, get an estimate now while the damage is fresh. Repair and replacement estimates from local roofers are usually free; a formal written inspection report typically runs $150–$300.

October

Cottonwood and silver maple leaves come down fast, and the first wet snow often follows. Clean the gutters and valleys again after the leaves are mostly down. Fix anything that must be fixed before winter — cracked boots, lifted shingles, missing ridge caps, exposed decking. Trim any limb within six feet of the roof. This is the last comfortable month for roof work.

The roof maintenance checklist on one card

Common questions

How often should a roof be inspected in Colorado?

A look from the ground with binoculars twice a year — spring and fall — plus after any hailstorm or major wind event covers most homes. A professional inspection makes sense when the roof is past about 15 years, before you buy or sell, or after a storm that dented gutters or vents. If your insurer asks for an inspection at renewal, follow its schedule.

When should I clean my gutters in Fort Collins?

Twice in the fall is the usual pattern here: once in late September before the cottonwoods drop, and again in late October or early November after the leaves are mostly down. A spring cleaning in April clears the winter's grit and granules. If you live under big cottonwoods, add a check after any heavy summer storm.

Is it safe to rake snow off my roof?

From the ground, with a long-handled roof rake, pulling only the bottom few feet of snow off the eaves, it's generally the safe way to do it. Don't climb onto a snowy roof, don't chip at ice, and stay well clear of power lines with a metal rake. If ice dams keep coming back, the lasting fix is attic insulation and ventilation, not more raking.

Most months this is ten minutes with binoculars. The roofs that fail early in Fort Collins are often the ones nobody looked at between the hailstorm that installed them and the ice dam that found the cracked boot.