What a Roof Inspection Covers, Top to Bottom
Roof inspection starts at the drip edge and works up the rake to the ridge, because water travels that path in reverse. We check the eave for ice dam scarring, the valley for rusted step flashing, and the ridge cap for nails backing out.
Then we go inside. A moisture meter on the roof deck and an infrared scan of the ceiling below separate an active leak from an old stain. Drone imagery covers the steep pitches we would rather not walk.
What We Check, and What Failure Looks Like
- Flashing: chimney flashing, apron flashing and counter-flashing get probed where open mortar lets meltwater wick behind the brick.
- Shingle field: asphalt shingle, architectural shingle and three-tab shingle fail on different clocks, and granule loss at the hip is the first tell.
- Underlayment: felt, tar paper and synthetic underlayment age at different rates, and the ice-and-water shield at the eave is the layer nobody sees from the ground.
- Ventilation: ridge vent, soffit vent and attic fan work as one system, so attic insulation blocking the intake turns the exhaust into decoration.
- Gutter and fascia: a sagging gutter or a clogged downspout pulls the fascia off the soffit, and that gap starts rot along the roofline.
- Penetrations: a cracked pipe boot, pipe flashing or vent boot at the stack is where we find repeat leaks most often.
- Decking: soft plywood, swollen OSB and delaminated sheathing give under a pry bar, and the rafter tails and joist ends behind them hold the rot.
- Building code: when a repair crosses into permit territory, we say what the building code requires before you spend a dollar.
How We Read the Materials Already Up There
Slate, clay tile and concrete tile roofs are usually worth maintaining, since the tiles outlast the fasteners holding them. Wood shake and cedar shake rot from the underside, and a wet winter speeds that up.
On flat rooftops, the membrane is the whole story. We read TPO, EPDM and PVC membrane at every seam, scupper and parapet edge where coping meets the wall.
A built-up roof with modified bitumen and old tar can often be recoated rather than torn off. A standing-seam panel or corrugated metal panel gets probed at each fastener and sealant line.
Details That Decide Whether the Repair Holds
Nobody opens a roof for a casual look. Test spots come up with a pry bar and a roofing shovel, a torch only touches modified bitumen details, and the rebuild runs on a nail gun and air compressor.
- Mastic and roof cement get worked into the gable and verge corners, where wind uplift peels the first field course loose.
- Sealant, caulk and adhesive belong at the counter-flashing and apron flashing joints, not smeared over a wet shingle.
- A vapor barrier and attic insulation have to agree; adding exhaust without intake just moves the moisture problem to the ceiling.
- Every screw, nail and fastener gets checked for length and corrosion, since an overdriven nail is a leak waiting for a cold snap.
- Snow guards, roof anchors and rooftop equipment get waterproofed and weatherproofed before we close out the report.
What a Roof Estimate Includes on Our End
A roof estimate from us is a written report with photos, not a number shouted from the driveway. It lists the roofing square count and whether the job needs a tear-off or a recover over the substrate.
The ice-and-water shield and starter course show up as line items, never as a lump sum you have to take on faith.
- Access: scaffold, ladder placement and safety harness setup price separately, because a steep gable changes the labor.
- Debris: the dumpster, tear-off and disposal are line items, and so is protecting the overhang and your shrubs.
- Structure: truss, rafter and ridge beam condition gets noted, since a rotted rafter is a carpentry job with its own price.
- Metal trim: purlin, batten and counterbatten work, plus new drip edge, ridge cap and caulk at every joint.
- Permits: local permit costs, plus a building code review where one applies.
How Local Weather Shortens Roof Life
This part of New Jersey sits in a classic ice dam climate. Freeze-thaw cycles push meltwater under the shingles and into top-floor ceilings near exterior walls. Roughly 46 to 50 inches of precipitation a year keeps the problem fed.
About 26 to 29 inches of snow per season, with nor'easters that drop a foot in one storm, is why snow guard calls start in January.
Roofline shape matters too. A simple gable or hip goes quickly; a mansard or gambrel with dormers takes longer, and a canopy, awning or overhang traps water in a low-slope pocket.
