Anyone who has a job that requires climbing onto roofs can tell you stories about what they’ve seen up there. Roofers, home inspectors, quantity surveyors and of course, TV antenna installers all have tales to tell. When someone from Picture Perfect climbs up on your roof, they are not conducting an inspection and will not necessarily notice if something is amiss. Still, some things stand out so clearly that we can’t help but notice. Don’t worry. If something really jumps out at us, we’ll let you know. Here are a few things we’ve noticed while on the job.

Rooftop Animal Toilets

Yes, we’ve seen piles of dung on roofs. Are they left by possums? Maybe. It’s just interesting that some creatures like to return to the same place over and over again. We saw this once and mentioned it to the home owner. It was near an air intake and our clients found that cleaning up the mess solved a longstanding problem with a mysterious, foul smell in the laundry room. We are always happy to provide our customers with extra help and advice whenever we’re able to. However, we’re glad we weren’t the ones cleaning that one up.

Secret Roof Cavity Entrances

We see birds’ nests on roofs occasionally. However, sometimes the birds and other animals don’t stay on top the roof; they move into the space under the roof. Usually, an opening leading to the cavity that’s in use by animals is going to be too small to notice if you’re not looking for it specifically. However, it can be hard to miss when an entire family of birds starts to pop out of an opening and take flight, one by one. Birds, bats and possums love a snug and dry attic apartment. Of course, mice and rats are fond of that kind of living arrangement, too. In the case of the bird family, we had to ask our clients if they had thought about asking them to pay rent on that luxury loft apartment.

Accidental Green Roofs

Green roofs look fantastic and they’re great for the environment, too. Usually, when someone wants to install a green roof, they hire a designer to put together a system with a root barrier, drainage layer, growing medium and some nice sedum or local grasses. Then, they hire a contractor to build it. Sometimes, a green roof is a lot cheaper and of less benefit to the homeowner. Dirt can accumulate on roofs in various ways (see above) and seeds can start growing in the dirt. Suddenly, a corner or section of your roof is an accidental meadow. We’ve even seen trees growing on roofs. This might seem cool, but it’s actually something that needs be fixed as soon as possible. The roots can burrow through the roofing material and cause leaks.

The fact is, most people don’t go up onto their roof very often. As long as there are no obvious leaks or loud noises caused by animals in the attic, they won’t notice that their roof has a few surprises or that their attic has tenants. We are not necessarily going to notice, either, in the course of testing and installing a TV antenna. We like to stay focused on our work, if possible. However, if we happen to notice something odd or obvious, we’ll let you know.