As someone who is thinking about having a new metal roof installed, there are plenty of things to consider. What roof style will add value to your house? What colour should it be? Who is the best contractor for the job? Perhaps most important of all, have you considered the impact of the trees around your home on your new roof? Before the contractors arrive for the roof install, there are a couple of very important things you need to do.

Look For Flying Foxes

Batemans Bay in New South Wales has a flying fox problem so large that it could be considered a state of emergency. While you don't have 10,000 flying foxes living in the trees outside your home, even the presence of one or two is enough to quickly do damage to the proposed new metal roof.

Flying fox urine and droppings contain acid that is corrosive to metal. While your new metal roof won't immediately become damaged by flying foxes using it as a toilet as they fly over, the droppings do have to be removed quickly and often to prevent corrosion from happening. Since you don't want to be on the roof cleaning away bat guano on a weekly basis, you need to remove the bats who are nesting in the trees by your home.

Bat removal needs to be done by a professional, so call one to take care of your flying fox problem before the new roof goes up.

Discourage The Local Possums

Hearing a possum moving across a metal roof at night can be a scary experience as the sound resembles a human walking across the roof while wearing heavy boots. Not only can a possum crossing scare you awake, but they can also scratch your beautiful new roof with their sharp claws. Deep scratches can penetrate through the protective coating of the roof so you want to discourage possums from getting up there.

To do this, trim away tree branches to make sure there are at least 5 metres between all trees and your metal roof. Possums like to use tree branches as a place to jump onto the roof, so if you remove the tree branches that are close to your roof, you can stop them from getting on there.

By removing the opportunity for bats and possums to use your trees as a stepping stone to your new roof, you can ensure that once your new roof is installed, it will stay looking fabulous for many years ahead.