How do I prepare my Vancouver Island roof for fall wind storms?

The exposed faces are different in each part of Greater Victoria. Dallas Road, Ogden Point and the James Bay waterfront take the south-westerlies straight off the strait; Cadboro Bay, Cordova Bay and Sidney take the south-easterlies; Bear Mountain and the Highlands get the wind plus the trees. Roofs on those sites should have their windward ridge caps and rake edges checked every September. Interior Saanich and Fernwood roofs are sheltered from the wind and suffer instead from what the wind brings down: fir needles, oak leaves and cones that pack the valleys and gutters.

Tree work is the most valuable prep in the tree-heavy municipalities. A Douglas fir limb over a Metchosin or Broadmead roof does more damage in one gust than a decade of rain, and arborists book weeks ahead in the fall. Sooke and the Highlands also lose power in the same storms, so an emergency tarp may be a next-day affair rather than a same-day one; a roof that is already tight going into October needs no tarp at all.

Wind does not lift a well-sealed field of shingles. It works on edges: the ridge caps, the rake and eave edges, any tab whose sealant strip has failed with age, and the metal flashings at chimneys and walls where the sealant has dried. It also loads gutters that were already heavy with wet needles until the fascia fasteners let go. Every item on the checklist is an edge or a load; that is why a dry-weather visit in September prevents most of the January emergency calls.

A written pre-season inspection tells you which caps and flashings are marginal, whether the pipe boots are cracked, whether valleys are holding debris, and how much life the shingles have left. On a roof past 15 years it is also the honest moment to hear whether this is the last winter for it. At $150 to $400 in our model, often credited against a repair or a re-roof, it is the cheapest line on the list and the one that orders all the others.

• Ridge caps and hip caps fastened and sealed
• Flashing sealant at chimneys, walls and skylights
• Pipe boots flexible, not cracked
• Valleys and gutters clear, drip edge intact
• Attic dry, fans ducted outside

Save a roofer's emergency number, know where your electrical panel is, keep a tarp-sized sheet of plastic and a bucket where you can find them, and photograph the roof and attic while they are dry. If a storm does take shingles or drop a limb, those photos and a same-day call to your insurer are what a BC storm-damage claim rests on; older roofs may be settled at depreciated value, so ask your broker in advance what your policy does.