Your Spring Roof Checkup: What Livingston County Homeowners Should Inspect After Winter

If you own a home anywhere in Livingston County — Brighton, Howell, Hamburg, Pinckney, or the surrounding townships — your roof just lived through another demanding Michigan winter. Freeze-thaw cycles, ice dams, wind-driven snow, and the occasional heavy spring ice storm all take their toll. Spring is the single best time to catch small issues before they turn into expensive ones.

Crown Roofing does dozens of free drone inspections across Livingston County every spring. The patterns we see are consistent: the roofs that fail first are almost always the ones where small winter damage went unnoticed for a full summer. Here's exactly what we look for — and what you can check from the ground yourself.

1. Missing, Curled, or Buckled Shingles

Michigan wind gusts in January and February regularly exceed 50 mph. Shingles that were already aging can lift, crack, or blow off entirely during those storms. Walk around your home and look at your roof from each side of the house. Scan for anything that looks uneven, curled at the edges, or missing entirely.

Pay special attention to the shingles along the edges and corners of your roof — those are the first to go in a windstorm. If you see exposed black underlayment or bare decking, that area is no longer protecting your home.

2. Granule Loss in Gutters and Downspouts

Asphalt shingles are coated with small ceramic granules that protect them from UV rays and shed water. When those granules wash off, the shingle's life expectancy drops fast. Check your gutters and the splash area where your downspouts empty — if you see piles of coarse black or gray sand-like material, your shingles are shedding.

Some granule loss is normal for new and old roofs. But if you're seeing visible patches where the shingle looks shiny or bare, or if your gutters are full of granules every spring, your roof is aging out.

3. Ice Dam Aftermath

Ice dams are one of Livingston County's most common winter roof problems, especially on homes with inadequate attic ventilation or insulation. They form when snow melts on the upper part of your roof, flows down, and refreezes at the cold eaves — creating a ridge of ice that traps additional meltwater.

That trapped water forces its way under your shingles and into your decking, attic, and eventually your walls or ceilings. Look for water stains on the ceiling near exterior walls, peeling paint on eaves or soffits, or warped fascia boards. If you had any icicles longer than six inches this winter, you probably had an ice dam.

4. Damaged or Lifted Flashing

Flashing is the thin metal material around chimneys, skylights, valleys, and where your roof meets a wall. It's the single most common place for leaks to start. Winter expansion and contraction can lift, crack, or pull flashing away from the roof surface.

From the ground, use binoculars or a camera with a zoom lens to look at your chimney base, any skylights, and the edges where a lower roof meets an upper wall. Rust, gaps, or visible caulk failure are all warning signs.

5. Sagging Gutters and Downspout Damage

Heavy snow and ice build-up can overload gutters, pulling them away from the fascia or bending them out of alignment. Check that all of your gutters still slope correctly toward the downspouts, that no sections are detached from the house, and that every downspout is intact and draining away from the foundation.

A sagging gutter full of standing water is a sign of a bigger problem — either from ice damage this winter or from undersized capacity for the roof area above it.

6. Attic Inspection

Go up into your attic on a sunny spring day. Look for any pinpoints of daylight coming through the roof deck — those are holes. Check for water stains on rafters, dark streaks or mold on the underside of the plywood, and any spots where the insulation is compressed or wet.

Also look at the underside of any roof vents, bathroom exhaust ducts, and around the chimney. These are the spots where we find hidden damage most often during full drone inspections.

7. Schedule a Professional Inspection

The DIY checks above will catch 60–70% of common problems. A professional drone inspection finds the rest — and documents everything in high-resolution photos you can use for insurance claims if the damage turns out to be storm-related. Crown Roofing offers free drone roof inspections across all of Livingston County, with a same-day written report and zero obligation.

If your roof is over 15 years old, or if you had any visible ice dams or wind damage this winter, spring is the right time to get a professional set of eyes on it. Call us at (734) 359-7140 or book online at crownroofing.pro/schedule.