How the two kinds of asphalt shingle are built, how they look on a house, and where a flat three-tab still makes sense today.

What a maintenance visit actually looks at, from the gutters up to the ridge, and the small repairs that keep a roof from leaking in its first freeze.

Water coming through the ceiling right now. What to do inside, what a dry-in on the roof is, and why the permanent fix waits for the weather.

Some tear-offs turn into a re-deck once the old shingles are up. The signs we look for, what gets replaced, and what new sheathing involves.

What happens on a first roof between bare sheathing and the last ridge cap, and why the order of the layers matters more than the shingle on top.

Leaves and needles are the obvious part. Granules and heat cable buried in debris tell you more. What we pull out of gutters and the repairs that keep a run working.

The parts of a laminated shingle roof nobody sees from the street decide how it holds in wind: the starter course, the ridge cap pieces and where every nail goes.

Missing tabs are easy to spot. Unsealed and creased shingles are not. What to look for from the ground after a windstorm, and what we check once we are up top.

The small round flashings around vents and flues fail years before the shingles do. Why rubber boots crack, what the collar sealant does, and what a real fix looks like.

A bathroom fan that ends in the attic fills it with warm, wet air every shower. The frost and dark sheathing it leaves, and how the duct should leave the roof.