Nine signs you need a new roof in Louisiana.

A roof rarely fails all at once. It gives you warning, usually for a year or two, and most people miss it because the signs are either subtle or in places you don't look. Here's what to check.

1. Granules in your gutters

Asphalt shingles are protected by a layer of mineral granules. When those wash off, the mat underneath is exposed to UV and starts to fail. If you're cleaning your gutters and the bottom looks like coarse black sand, your roof is shedding its protection.

This is the single most common early warning we find, and it's the one people notice least — because you only see it when you're already up there for another reason.

2. Shingles that are curling or cupping at the edges

Heat and age make shingles lift at the corners. Once the edge is up, wind gets under it, and the next storm takes it. Look along the sunny side of the roof, which usually goes first.

3. Bare or missing tabs after a storm

Obvious when it's a whole section, easy to miss when it's one or two. Walk the perimeter after any named storm and look for shingles in the yard — that's often the first clue.

4. Shingles that look fine but aren't sealed

This is the sneaky one. Wind can break the adhesive seal without removing the shingle. From the ground the roof looks perfect. In the next hard rain, water gets under it. It's why a post-storm inspection matters even when nothing looks wrong.

5. Stains on your ceiling or in the attic

By the time water is showing on a ceiling, it's been getting in for a while. Check your attic with a flashlight after a heavy rain — dark streaks on the underside of the decking, or daylight where there shouldn't be any.

6. A sagging or wavy roofline

Stand across the street and sight along the ridge. It should be straight. A dip or a wave usually means the decking has taken on water and lost strength. That's structural, and it's a call-somebody-now sign.

7. Flashing that's lifted, rusted, or caulked over

Flashing seals the joints — around chimneys, vents, skylights, and where a roof meets a wall. It fails long before shingles do, and it causes most of the leaks we find. If someone has caulked over it, that's a repair with a short shelf life, not a fix.

8. Moss, algae, or dark streaking

In our humidity this is common and mostly cosmetic on its own. But moss holds moisture against the shingle, and where it's thick you often find soft decking underneath. Worth having looked at rather than pressure-washed — pressure washing a shingle roof strips granules and does real damage.

9. It's simply old

If you know the roof is 20-plus years old and it's been through multiple named storms, the honest answer is that you're on borrowed time even if nothing looks wrong. Budget for it before it becomes an emergency, because emergencies cost more and give you no choice about timing.

What to do about it

If you've got two or three of these, get someone on the roof. Our inspection is free, takes about twenty minutes, and you get photos of whatever we find whether you hire us or not.

And if the honest answer is that your roof has five good years left, that's what we'll tell you. We'd rather be the person you call in five years than the person who sold you a roof you didn't need.