If you’ve had hail, or if you’ve had high winds, you should have an inspection done. If you see that there is damage or suspect that there may be a leak, you most definitely should have a roof inspection.
Alternatively, if you come back from a vacation and notice some damage to your landscaping, or just in your day to day, you happen to notice that some people in the neighborhood are getting new roofs, it might be not a bad idea to have your roof inspected. If, after a storm, some tree limb or anything has fallen on your roof, or you had a lightning strike hit the house, or anything like that, you should have your roof inspected.
If your roof is maybe ten years old, it is not a bad idea at that point to have it looked at. Without some other type of condition, it’s probably not going to need a repair. If you had ice damming, and you’ve had water coming in near your outside wall, then you obviously need to have it inspected. Probably the best time to inspect that would be after the snow and ice has melted so that the damage is easier to see.
What are the qualifications of a roof inspector?
If you’re going to have it inspected, the best person to inspect your roof is a roofer. It’s probably not wise to call an insurance company unless it’s very obvious you have damage. If you’re uncertain, and many people in the neighborhood are getting roofs done, then it would certainly make sense to have it inspected.
If you are not seeing a leak or see that a tree branch has punctured the roof, and you’re having it inspected, probably don’t need to turn it into an insurance claim right away. Having said that, an insurance adjuster can inspect. However, if you call the insurance agency and you think it’s very questionable, it might be wise to have the roofer come first as they may be able to point out the damage to the insurance company better than you.
A roofing company that does roof certifications could inspect your roof. They will tell you how much life is in it and if it’s damaged. These are places that you can turn. A general contractor, or a company that specializes in hail damage especially are also good choices for people to turn to for an inspection. In Colorado, the primary reason that roofs are replaced is because of hail.
Essentially, you want somebody who’s worked with insurance damage a lot, not just a roofer who does roofing, but a person who is very familiar with hail and what the insurance company is looking for, how hail damages different roofing materials, and to what degree the damage has to occur for a claim to be approved by an insurance company.
What are you looking for to determine if your roof is damaged?
An inspector is looking for the matting to be bruised. A lot of times people think because they have granules in their gutters that they have a bad roof. Granule loss is a natural process of aging, and is expected with any shingle. Granules in the gutter, or even granules in the gutter after small hail comes, is not to be interpreted as a damaged roof.
However, if you do have hail, you’re going to lose granules, but you may have additional damage that bruises the mat. It doesn’t always remove the granules. Sometimes it does, but other times it doesn’t. Most of the time, though, you can see where it does, and most times it will remove granules, but it’ll remove granules and it will bruise the mat underneath.
