Add "check roof drains" to your monthly maintenance calendar. A few minutes of inspection today can save you $10,000 in water damage tomorrow. Have a clogged drain you can’t clear? Search our directory for a licensed roofing contractor in your area.

A pair of gloves, a putty knife or flathead screwdriver, and a bucket.

When we think about roof maintenance, we usually picture missing shingles, cracked flashing, or rusted gutters. But there is a hidden menace lurking just out of sight that causes more catastrophic water damage than almost any other roofing issue: the clogged roof drain.

If your property has a flat or low-slope roof (common on commercial buildings, apartments, and modern homes), you likely have internal roof drains. When they work, you never think about them. When they fail, you end up with water inside your building. It starts with a simple blockage. Leaves, twigs, dirt, bird nests, or even a forgotten tennis ball cover the metal grate of the drain. The rain keeps falling, but the water has nowhere to go.