A professional roof inspection takes about an hour. A roofer walks the roof, checks the attic underneath it, photographs anything that’s wrong, and hands you a written report with the roof’s remaining service life and what it needs now. At L&L Contractors the inspection is free and it doesn’t obligate you to anything. Here’s what actually happens during one, and how to tell a real inspection from a sales call.
How Long Does a Roof Inspection Take?
Most residential inspections run 45 minutes to two hours. A single-story asphalt roof with simple lines is quick. A steep, cut-up roof with multiple valleys, dormers, a chimney and skylights takes longer, because every one of those is a place water can get in and every one has to be looked at individually. Storm damage inspections take the longest. Every slope has to be documented separately in a format your insurance carrier will accept, which means more photographs and more measuring.
What Does the Roofer Actually Look At?
Four things, in roughly this order. 
1. The Roof Surface
Shingles first, because that’s what fails visibly. We’re looking for missing, cracked, creased or curling shingles, granule loss, blistering, exposed or backed-out nails, and moss or algae growth. We’re also looking at any previous repair, because a patch done badly is a leak waiting on the right storm. Granule loss is the one homeowners underestimate. Those granules are the shingle’s UV protection. Once enough of them are gone, the asphalt underneath starts breaking down fast, and no repair puts them back.
2. Flashing and Penetrations
Flashing is the metal that seals the roof where it meets something else: chimneys, walls, valleys, skylights and vent pipes. This is where most leaks start, not out in the open field of shingles. The rubber boots around plumbing vents are worth calling out on their own. They dry out, harden and split, usually around year 10 to 15, well before the shingles are finished. They’re one of the most common leaks we find on roofs that otherwise look fine from the driveway.
3. Drainage and Ventilation
Sagging gutters, loose fasteners, standing water, and how much granule sediment has collected in the gutter, which is a useful proxy for how much life the shingles have left. We also check that intake vents at the soffits are open and exhaust vents at the ridge are clear, because a poorly ventilated attic will age a roof years early.
4. The Attic
This is the part a lot of inspections skip, and it’s where the best evidence is. From inside we can see daylight through the deck, water staining on rafters and sheathing, damp or compressed insulation, rusted nail tips, mold, sagging decking and rodent entry points. A stain in the attic tells us where water is getting in. A stain on your ceiling only tells us where it finally came out, which is often several feet away.
How Often Should You Have Your Roof Inspected?
The National Roofing Contractors Association recommends twice a year, spring and fall. For a Middle Tennessee home with a roof under ten years old and nothing hanging over it, once a year is realistic. Move to twice a year if any of these apply:
- The roof is past 15 years old
- You have mature trees over the house
- You’ve just had hail, or straight-line winds over about 50 mph
- You’re planning to list the house
- You’ve had a leak before, anywhere
Worth checking your shingle warranty too. Some manufacturer warranties condition coverage on documented professional inspection at set intervals. If yours does, an annual inspection isn’t optional, it’s what keeps the warranty alive.
When’s the Best Time of Year to Schedule One?
Spring, if you’re choosing. Winter is hard on a roof and most of the damage doesn’t announce itself. Wind lifts and creases shingles without blowing them off. Freeze-thaw cycles widen cracks that were hairline in November. Ice at the eaves backs water up under the shingle courses. Branches come down. None of that necessarily leaks in January. It leaks in the first heavy spring rain, into a ceiling. Getting ahead of it in spring gives you warm dry weather for any repairs, and months of runway before the next winter. It also puts you ahead of the storm-season backlog, when every roofer in the county is booked. Fall is the other good window. Going into winter with sound flashing, sealed penetrations and clear gutters prevents most ice dam problems before they start. That said, don’t wait for a season. If you’ve seen a stain on a ceiling, call now.
Do You Need an Inspection After a Storm?
Yes, and sooner than feels necessary. Hail and wind damage are frequently invisible from the ground. Hail bruises a shingle by fracturing the mat underneath without breaking the surface, so the roof looks intact and fails two years later. Most insurance carriers have a filing deadline for storm damage, often a year from the date of loss. A free inspection after a significant storm costs you nothing and either gives you a clean bill of health or a documented claim while it’s still in the window.
Should You Inspect It Yourself?
Look from the ground with binoculars, and look in your attic with a flashlight. Both are useful and both are safe. Don’t get on the roof. Falls aside, walking an asphalt roof damages it, especially on a hot afternoon when the shingles are soft or a cold morning when they’re brittle. You can do real granule damage to the roof you’re trying to evaluate.
What Do You Get at the End?
A written report. If someone inspects your roof and gives you a verbal summary and a price, that was a sales call. A real report includes:
- Photographs of every problem found, with location
- A plain-language description of what each one is and what it will do if left alone
- An estimate of remaining service life
- A repair-versus-replace recommendation with the reasoning behind it
- Itemized pricing, separated into what needs doing now and what can wait
- If the damage is storm-related, documentation formatted for your insurance carrier
A roof with eight good years left should be told it has eight good years left. That’s the report you want.
Schedule a Free Roof Inspection
L&L Contractors has been inspecting and repairing roofs across Murfreesboro, Nashville, Franklin, Brentwood, Smyrna, Spring Hill and the rest of Middle Tennessee since 2006. The inspection is free, the report is yours to keep, and there’s no obligation attached to either. Call (615) 577-9103 or book a free roof inspection online.
