Imagine paying for somebody to just look at your roof. It sounds like money tossed into the wind, right? Wrong. Paying for roof inspections is never a waste of your cash. It can even save you plenty of moolah.
Roof Inspections
A residential roof inspection is a visit by a trained, professional roofer to your home with the express purpose of checking out your roof, inside and out. This doesn’t work for an amateur or a homeowner. Roofs are inherently dangerous, so never take it upon yourself to climb on your Alabama home’s roof.
The roof inspection will include experienced eyes on all these items:
- Gutters
- Drip edge
- Starter shingles (if you have a shingle roof)
- Field shingles (for shingle roofs)
- Metal panels, tiles, or shingles (for metal roofing)
- Mechanical fasteners (metal roofing)
- Ridge vents
- Attic ventilation
- Sheathing
- Flashing
- Rubber boots around rooftop piercings (vents and sanitary stacks)
- Underside of sheathing (from inside your attic)
- Attic insulation
The roofer is looking for trouble spots, weaknesses, or areas in urgent need of repair. Generally, a roofer will assign one of three values to each part:
- Good — Everything is working as expected
- Fair — Keep an eye on this issue; it may become a larger problem
- Poor — Immediate attention is needed to keep your Alabama home weatherproof
With gentle and practiced hands, your roofer will check for cracks in caulking, loose roofing nails, dislodged flashing, and cracked or split shingles.
Inside your home, your roofer may ask to see ceilings and walls closest to your roof. Your roofer is looking for peeling paint, discolored drywall, and stains on the ceiling; all indicate a leaky roof.
The roofer can see far more than you may notice. Minor signs of big trouble can help you and your roofer choose your path of repair and maintenance.
Perhaps you need to focus on sealing up caulking, boots, and flashing around chimneys and sanitary stacks. Perhaps your gutters are draining poorly and fascia boards are rotting. Whatever your roof’s issues, the inspection reveals all.
Peace of Mind
Once you get a roof inspection, your roofer will report on immediate problems and small issues which could become significant problems. All the findings are documented with photographs or video, so you know you are seeing your roof and your challenges.
The initial report can be unsettling, sure, but once you and your roofer partner put right anything wrong with your home’s roof, you gain something precious: peace of mind.
You will know your home is in good shape, with no significant outstanding problems, once you have the inspection and act on the roofer’s findings. Suppose the roofer reports a small area near a chimney where flashing is loose and the attic insulation shows damp spots. By having minor roof repairs made immediately, you avoid costly problems with mold and mildew, with wet drywall, or with ruined furnishings.
Of course, the best possible news after a roof inspection is this: your roof is working well, with no trouble spots. No further work is needed, except continued annual inspections and perhaps a cleaning.
Rapid Repairs
The roof inspection will reveal tiny problems which could quickly grow into expensive nightmares. A thorough examination followed by rapid repairs and routine maintenance will preserve your roof for many years.
The alternative to inspection and minor repairs is to wait. And wait. And then replace the entire roof. Meanwhile, you risk mold and mildew, illness in the family, and damage to household furnishings and sentimental heirlooms.
The roof inspection usually takes under two hours but returns years of trouble-free service from your roof. Most repairs can be done in a day, at minimal cost, and often by a single roofing crew member. The inspection and repair work costs far, far less than a complete tear-off and roof replacement.
Priceless Protection
A metal roof can last 75 years. A shingle roof should last between 20 and 30 years. The minimal investment of an annual roof inspection, followed by prompt repairs and routine maintenance, can add years of priceless protection to your home.
The one roof inspection is like a one-time insurance policy…and pays immediate dividends. From ridge vents down to soffit vents and with everything in between, your roof gets a thorough examination. The roofer can help you decide what to address immediately (those bad spots) and what to monitor. Minor repairs can help your roof do its job: protecting everything you own.
Yellowhammer Roofing will work with you to inspect, protect, and preserve your Alabama home’s roof. Contact us today to learn more about residential roof inspections.
