Five Signs Your Roof Will Leak This Winter (Melbourne, 2026)

Heavy rain hits Melbourne hard in June and July. By the time water shows up on your ceiling, the damage upstairs has been brewing for months. Most leaks I get called to over winter started showing warning signs back in autumn that the owner missed.

Here are the five things I tell mates to check before the next big system rolls in.

1. Rust streaks running down the side of the gutters

If you can see orange streaks on the fascia under the gutter line, the gutter’s rusted through somewhere up top. Water’s getting behind it and running down the timber. On a Colorbond roof this is usually the gutter, not the roof sheets themselves — sheets last 30+ years if they were laid right. Gutters last 15-20 if you’re lucky.

Fix: replace the gutters. Don’t bother patching, it’ll just bubble through somewhere else next year.

2. Lichen or moss on the ridge capping

A bit of lichen on the sheets is normal in shaded suburbs like Northcote or Thornbury. Lichen growing on the ridge capping itself is a problem — it means water’s sitting there long enough to grow stuff. Sitting water at the ridge is how leaks start.

Fix: get someone up there to scrub it off and check the silicone seal under the capping. Cheap if you catch it early.

3. Sagging gutters

Stand back across the road and look at your gutter line. It should run dead straight. If it’s bellying down in the middle of a run, the brackets are letting go. Full of water and dead leaves it’ll rip clean off in the next storm.

Fix: re-bracket and re-pitch. Half a day of work, saves you a whole new gutter and the damage from one tearing off.

4. Water marks on the inside of the eaves

Walk around the house and look up at the underside of the eaves. Brown rings or stained timber mean water’s been getting behind the gutter or down a flashing. Often happens above a window or where a roof line changes pitch.

Fix: needs a proper look from the roof to find where it’s tracking in. Could be flashing, could be the box gutter behind a parapet. Don’t ignore — once the timber rots out, the eaves come down.

5. Leaves and gum bark blocking the box gutter

If you’ve got a flat roof section, a hidden box gutter, or an old terrace in places like Carlton or Fitzroy — go up and look in autumn. Gum trees drop bark all April and May. If the box gutter’s blocked, water has nowhere to go and backs up under the sheets. That’s the classic Melbourne winter ceiling collapse.

Fix: clean it out. Do it yourself if you’re comfortable on a roof. Get someone if you’re not.

When to call

If you spot two or more of these, get a proper inspection before the next storm system. A 30-minute look from a roofer now is a lot cheaper than a ceiling repair, soaked insulation, and a damaged property in July.

Give Anthony a call on 0429 103 480 if you need a hand. We’re across Melbourne, mostly north and west — Essendon out to Coburg, Toorak through to Richmond, and most places between.

If you’ve got tile roof, we don’t do tiles ourselves — we send tile work to Chris at Silverline on 0403 131 908. He’s the one to call.