The pre-rains home checklist that Lagos roofs actually need

Water does not attack a house all at once; it queues. Every rainy-season emergency on a Nigerian roof has a dry-season version - a half-blocked gutter, a cracked seal, a downpipe pointed at the wall - and each one costs an hour before the rains to fix and a month of repainting after. This is that hour, ordered so the ladder work happens once.

Roof and gutters (dry boots, two people, morning light)

• The bucket test. Clear every gutter and downpipe by hand, then pour two full buckets into the far end of each run. It should leave the downpipe at the ground in seconds, in a steady stream. Anything that backs up, drips at a joint or exits slower than the next bucket proves is a blockage or a fall problem - fix it before the first storm decides for you.
• Sealant and screws. Walk the parapet and flashings: sheet-to-wall junctions, vent pipes, the screw lines on every roof sheet. Sealant that crumbles to powder under a fingernail is gone, whatever the colour says. Re-bed it; missing screws get replaced with the same neoprene-washer type, not a smaller one.
• The pencil habit. Mark the corners of every ceiling stain with a dated pencil note on the floorboard behind furniture, not the wall. After the first heavy rain, a stain that grew or a new mark is an active leak with a postcode; a stain that sat unchanged for a season is history. This one pencil is the difference between "repaint" and "find the sheet first."

Windows and walls

Slide-frame aluminium windows have weep holes in the outer track - small slots meant to let wind-blown rain out. Construction cement and years of neglect seal them shut, and then the frame becomes a fish tank for your wall. Clear every one with a cocktail stick and a damp rag before the rains. Outside: confirm the ground falls away from the foundation on all sides; a flat apron that puddles against the wall is rising damp on a payment plan. Check the paint at skirting height - chalky, bubbling or crumbling there means the ground, not the roof.

Power and water, the parts people forget

• Generator and inverter: outdoor units get a raised, drained, roofed position and an exhaust that points away from every window - the rain-storm habit of closing windows around a running generator is how carbon monoxide gets invited indoors; keep the intake side of the house clear and the machine outside, always. (This is the desk's hard line, not a suggestion.)
• Water tanks: covers sealed gap-free - storm water pooling on top of an open tank is a mosquito nursery with a maintenance schedule; flush the sediment from the bottom tap before the rains dilute what you're storing.

The ten-minute wrap

Photograph the cleared gutters, the pencil marks, the fresh sealant lines, and the dated note goes in the house file. Not for anyone else: when a leak appears next year, your photo set tells a roofer where to look first, and that sentence is worth more than the gutter itself.