An aging roof
A roof rarely fails on a single day. It gets close over several years, and then one wet season finds the weakest point. On the Front Range the ageing runs faster than the warranty suggests — the altitude sun and the freeze-thaw swings see to that — but it also announces itself, to anyone who knows where to look.
The signs, roughly in order
Granules in the gutters come first: the mineral armour is leaving and the asphalt beneath is starting to take sun directly. The small rubber boots around plumbing vents crack next — neoprene gives out years before shingle does under this UV load, and a cracked boot is often a roof’s first actual leak. Then come curled edges, ridge caps working loose, and a general brittleness you can hear when a covering is walked late in its life.
The useful question near the end is not “can it be patched” but “what does this year’s decision cost versus next year’s.” Replacing early forfeits a little remaining life; replacing late buys interior repairs on top of the same roof. On subdivision streets where every covering is the same age, the neighbours’ roofs are data — when the street starts turning over, an evaluation of your own is due.