A roof inspection should leave you with facts: photos of every slope, what is wrong if anything, and roughly how long the roof has left. Here is what ours covers and when it is worth booking one.
Most people think about the roof when it leaks or when a storm rolls through, and both are bad times to start learning about it. An inspection on a calm day tells you where the roof stands: how old it is, what is wearing out first, and whether anything needs doing this year.
Ours is free. We measure the roof from aerial imagery before the visit, then get up on it and photograph every slope, valley and penetration, plus the gutters. Damage gets documented and written up as a line-itemed scope; a sound roof gets a plain "nothing to fix," and the photos stay with you either way. Below: what the inspection covers, the signs a roof is near the end, how long roofs last here, what to do after a storm, and what buyers and sellers should know.
The visit starts before we arrive: the roof is measured from aerial imagery, so the slopes, pitch and square footage are known before anyone climbs a ladder. On the roof, the work is a slope-by-slope walk with a camera:
What you get back: the photos, a plain account of what we found, and an estimate of the roof's remaining life. If work is needed, it comes as a line-itemed scope. If nothing is needed, that is the whole report, with no sales pitch attached.
FORTIFIED, a program of the research institute IBHS, publishes a list of common warning signs. Most can be checked from the ground with binoculars or a phone's zoom, which is where ARMA, the asphalt shingle industry's association, says property owners should stay:
From the attic, ARMA's checklist is short: stains on the deck's underside around each flashing, daylight showing at the ridge vent, and no fan or duct from the house emptying into the attic. It also notes that in cooler weather, a stain can be condensation from poor ventilation rather than a leak; the roof ventilation page explains the difference.
One common sign is not damage: dark streaks on shingles are usually airborne algae, which ARMA calls a cosmetic problem that will not harm the roof. It warns never to pressure wash or scrub shingles, because that strips the granules.
Missouri's Department of Commerce and Insurance gives the useful life of a roof as usually about 25 years. Weather moves that number. FORTIFIED's research found that metal and tile roofs last a bit longer than asphalt shingles, and that severe weather, temperature extremes or a falling limb can age any roof faster; IBHS testing found that even small hail wears shingles down by stripping their granules.
The age of your neighborhood is a decent first clue. More than half the housing in St. Louis City was built in 1939 or earlier, so those houses are many roofs in. Florissant added roughly 18,000 houses between 1947 and 1980. Out in St. Charles County, the median house in Wentzville dates to 2007 and in O'Fallon to 2006, which means many original roofs there are coming up on twenty years.
Age is the easiest clue to track, so an inspection somewhere around year 15 to 20 is worth booking.
Hail and wind damage is often invisible from the yard, and the window for reporting it is set by your policy, not by when you happen to notice. Post-storm walkovers are part of what we do, and the order matters: inspection first, claim second.
When we find storm damage, the photos and measurements become the start of your file. When we do not, we say so, and you have avoided calling your insurer about nothing. The claim itself, if there is one, stays yours from start to finish; the storm damage page walks through it step by step.
A few things to do while you wait for an inspection: note the storm date, photograph the four sides of the house and any dented gutters or air-conditioner fins, and keep receipts for anything you buy to stop a leak. Missouri's insurance department advises against letting any contractor look over your home while you are not there.
A general home inspection is not a roof inspection. The standards of practice published by InterNACHI, which many home inspectors follow, have the inspector look at the roof from ground level or the eaves, and do not require walking on it or predicting how long it will last. The same standards say a system at or past the end of its useful life is not, by that fact alone, a material defect.
In Illinois, the Residential Real Property Disclosure Act (765 ILCS 77) requires sellers to complete a disclosure report before a contract is signed, and one of its questions asks whether the seller is aware of leaks or material defects in the roof, ceilings or chimney. In Missouri, RSMo 339.730 requires a seller's real estate agent to disclose adverse material facts the agent knows or should have known, but gives the agent no duty to inspect.
That gap is what a pre-purchase roof report fills: photos of every slope, what needs work now, and a remaining-life estimate you can take into the negotiation. Ask the seller for the install date and the shingle brand, too. Warranties often have transfer rules; Owens Corning's requires the new owner to register the transfer within 60 days of the sale.
ARMA recommends examining a roof and its components every spring and fall. In practice, that means a look from the ground twice a year and a professional inspection when something changes:
We offer annual condition checks for owners who would rather have someone else keep track. Each one adds a new set of photos to compare against the last, which makes slow changes easy to spot.
It will not be a sales call dressed up as an inspection. We do not condemn a roof from the driveway, we do not recommend replacing a roof that a repair will carry for years, and we do not suggest filing a claim the photos do not support. If a repair is enough, see roof repair; if the roof is done, roof replacement explains the next steps.
It also will not be a code inspection. Your city's building department inspects permitted work; we document the condition of your roof, and the city pages under roofing by city show which code edition your town enforces if you want to compare. It will not cost you anything, whatever you decide afterward, and the photos stay with you either way: share them with a buyer, an insurer or another roofer for a second opinion.
Yes. We measure the roof from aerial imagery, inspect it in person, photograph every slope, valley and penetration, and give you the photos whether or not you hire us. If we find nothing that needs doing, that is the whole report.
Missouri's Department of Commerce and Insurance gives the useful life of a roof as usually about 25 years. Hail, wind and heat can shorten that, and IBHS research shows that even small hail speeds up shingle aging. That is why an inspection somewhere around year 15 to 20 is worth booking.
Only partly. Under InterNACHI's standards of practice, a home inspector looks at the roof from ground level or the eaves and is not required to walk on it or predict its remaining life. A roof inspection gets on every slope and estimates how many years are left.
In Illinois, sellers must complete a disclosure report before a contract is signed, and it asks whether they know of leaks or material defects in the roof, ceilings or chimney. In Missouri, a seller's agent must disclose adverse material facts the agent knows or should have known, but has no duty to inspect.
Usually not. Dark streaks on asphalt shingles are most often airborne algae, which the shingle industry's association calls a cosmetic problem that will not harm the roof. Do not pressure wash or scrub shingles; that strips granules. A roofer can clean them following the shingle maker's instructions.
Only if you decide it should. We inspect first and tell you what the photos show. If there is no storm damage worth claiming, we say so. If there is, the claim is yours to file with your insurer, and we never file it for you.
Roof inspection across greater St. Louis, from the city and St. Louis County out to St. Charles, Jefferson and Franklin Counties and across the river into the Metro East. Each city has its own page with the permit rule and code edition that apply there:
Sources: FORTIFIED (IBHS), 8 Ways to Know If You Need a New Roof · Asphalt Roofing Manufacturers Association, Spring Roof Inspection a Must for Property Owners · IBHS, Impact Testing of High Concentrations of Small Hail · Missouri Department of Commerce and Insurance, Raising the Roof on Insurance Coverage · Missouri Department of Commerce and Insurance, Resources for Severe Weather Victims · Owens Corning, Standard Product Limited Lifetime Warranty, Pub. 10023873 (coverage periods, transfer) · InterNACHI Home Inspection Standards of Practice (Sections 1.2 and 3.1, Roof) · Illinois Residential Real Property Disclosure Act, 765 ILCS 77 · Missouri Revised Statutes 339.730 (seller's agent disclosure duties). Codes, programs and prices change; confirm the current rule with your city before you rely on it.
Free inspection, a written scope, and photos you keep either way.
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