What Southwood homes are dealing with

Southwood sits at the bottom of the corridor, on the south block of the newer subdivision growth that’s filled in south Southwood over the past couple of decades. Most of the roofs here are architectural shingle on moderate to steep pitches, built to the code in place at the time of construction, with the kind of complex rooflines – multiple gables, dormers, hip transitions – that give water more places to find a way in than a simple gable roof would. Those transitions are where we find the majority of active leaks in this neighborhood: valley flashing, dead-end walls where a roof meets a two-story section, and skylight or vent curbs.

The tree canopy here is lighter than in Southwood’s older, more established neighborhoods, but the ones that are present, mostly oaks and pines planted with the subdivision, still drop needles and leaf litter into valleys and behind chimney crickets where debris dams water instead of letting it run off. Drainage and grading in a planned community like this are generally consistent lot to lot, which helps, but gutters clogged with pine straw during a wet summer can back water up under the drip edge and mimic a roof leak that’s actually a gutter problem. If Southwood has an HOA governing exterior work, and many communities built in this style do, keep in mind that any visible repair, especially flashing or shingle color match, may need to go through an architectural review before work starts. Ask your HOA documents or management company directly, since we don’t have visibility into that from the roof.