When is an inspection worth paying for?
Buying a home. A general building inspection may not look closely at a steep or high roof. A roofer's check, written up, tells you what you're taking on. See roof reports.
After hail or a big storm. Damage often can't be seen from the ground, and photos taken now help any claim. More on hail and storm damage.
Before a big quote. If one roofer says you need a restoration or a new roof, a second roofer's look tells you whether the roof really needs that much.
Before solar goes on. Sorting out cracked tiles or tired ridge capping before panels cover them is far simpler than after.
Every so often on an older roof. Catching a slipping cap or a rusting valley early keeps a small repair small.
What should a roofer check?
- Tiles or sheets: cracks, slips, rust, dents, loose or missing screws
- Ridge and hip capping: cracked pointing, loose or missing caps
- Flashings around chimneys, walls, skylights, vents and solar mounts
- Valleys: rust, blockages, and how the tiles sit along them
- Gutters, downpipes and box gutters: rust, sagging, overflow marks
- The roof space: water stains, damp or rotten timber, sarking, daylight through gaps, insulation
- On homes built or renovated before 1990, whether any of the roof might be asbestos cement
- What's going to need attention soon, as well as what's broken today
Walk-on, ladder or drone?
A roofer who walks the roof sees and feels the most: tiles that rock, soft spots, gaps hiding under laps. On a roof that's safe to walk, it's the most thorough option.
On a steep, high or fragile roof (slate, old terracotta, or anything that might contain asbestos), a roofer may inspect from a ladder at the edges or send up a drone. A drone gets close-up photos of every slope without anyone stepping on it, but it can't lift a tile or see inside. More in drone roof inspections.
What should you ask before booking?
- Will you walk the roof, work from a ladder, or use a drone?
- Will you go into the roof space as well?
- Do I get a written report with photos, or a verbal rundown?
- Is the fee credited if I go ahead with any work you recommend?
- Can you rank what you find, so I know what's urgent and what can wait?
Your own checks, and the roofer's
You can
- Look the roof over from the ground now and then, and after any big storm
- Check ceilings in top-floor rooms and built-in wardrobes for new marks
- Keep gutters clear if they're within easy, safe ladder reach, and note any that overflow
- Take a few photos of the roof each year so you can spot changes
Leave to a roofer
- Walking the roof or working at the edges
- Moving safely through the roof space
- Judging whether tiles, mortar or metal are near the end of their life
- Spotting possible asbestos, which only a lab test can confirm
When we'd book one
We'd get a roof inspection before buying any house with an older roof, after any storm that's damaged homes nearby, and before agreeing to a big restoration or replacement quote. Ask for photos of every problem and a plain list of what's urgent, what can wait and what's fine. That list is what makes the fee worth paying.
Want a roofer to take a look?
Tell us the job and your postcode. We match it with a Find My Roofer certified roofer who specialises in that kind of work, and they call you to quote. Your number goes to them alone.