Answers · Materials and upkeep
How often should a roof be inspected?
The short answer
Twice a year, spring and fall, and after any significant hail or wind event. Most of what matters can be seen from the ground with binoculars and from inside the attic with a flashlight, and doing that yourself between professional inspections catches the things that get expensive.
What you can check without a ladder
- From the ground with binoculars: missing, lifted or creased shingles, bare patches, damaged flashing, sagging in the roofline.
- The gutters: granules, plants growing, sagging, and whether the downspouts discharge away from the foundation.
- The soft metal: dented vents, gutters and downspouts after hail.
- From inside the attic with a flashlight: staining on the underside of the deck, daylight, damp insulation, and frost on a cold morning.
What a professional inspection adds
Close inspection of the details that leak — flashings, valleys, penetrations, pipe boots — and an assessment of the deck and the ventilation. A written report with photographs is also documentation, which matters if a storm claim follows later and the insurer wants to know what condition the roof was in before.
Also asked
- Is a free roof inspection worth having?
- It can be, and understand the incentive: the inspection is free because it is a route to selling work. Ask for photographs of anything found, and get a second opinion before authorising a replacement on the strength of one free inspection.
General information about roofs and about hiring, not advice about your building. Roofing contractor licensing, permits, insurance practice and deductible rules are set state by state and province by province across the United States and Canada, so your own authority is the current answer.