Signs your roof needs an inspection

What you can reasonably judge from the ground

Most roofs give notice before they fail. From ground level you can usually see whether the lines of tiles or slates are even, whether ridge and verge details look intact, whether anything has moved since you last looked, and whether gutters are overflowing or holding debris. A pair of binoculars and a photograph taken from the same spot each year will tell you a great deal.

What you cannot judge from the ground is the condition of the fixings, battens and underlay beneath the covering. That is where the difference between a small repair and a larger job usually sits, which is why we would rather look properly than price from a photograph.

• Tiles or slates that are slipped, cracked, missing or sitting out of line
• Ridge or hip tiles with crumbling mortar, or gaps opening along the apex
• Heavy moss growth, especially where it is damming water above a gutter
• Sagging, overflowing or leaking gutters and loose downpipes
• Slate or tile fragments on paths, in flower beds or in the gutter run
• Staining, cracked cement fillets or leaning brickwork around the chimney

What the loft tells you

The loft tells you more than the outside of the roof does. Take a torch up on a dry day and, if you safely can, again during heavy rain. Some symptoms point to detailing that has simply aged, and some point to something that has changed. The second group is more urgent, because it usually means water now has a route in.

• Daylight visible through the covering or around a chimney or vent
• Damp, darkened or rotting timbers, or a musty smell in the loft space
• Torn, sagging or perished underfelt between the rafters
• Water staining or blown plaster on top-floor ceilings and chimney breasts
• Wet insulation, which often shows a leak that has been running for some time

Why the cause matters more than the symptom

Replacing a visible broken slate is straightforward. Understanding why it broke is what stops the same repair being needed again next winter. Corroded nails, decayed battens, a perished underlay or an earlier repair carried out with the wrong materials can all produce the same visible symptom but call for very different work.

That is the basis of how we work: establish the cause, document it, then set out the options. Nobody should be asked to spend money on a roof they have not seen the evidence for.

What we would check

An inspection looks at the roof as a system rather than at the single defect you have noticed.

• The covering across each slope, not only the area you have reported
• Fixings, battens and underlay condition where these can be seen
• Chimneys, flashings, valleys, ridges, verges and any rooflight details
• Gutters, downpipes and where water is actually discharging
• The loft: staining, daylight, damp timber, insulation condition and ventilation

Repair, replace or monitor

Isolated defects with sound surrounding fixings, battens and underlay are normally a repair. Where the same failure repeats across a slope — widespread nail fatigue, decayed battens, perished underlay — repeated repairs stop being economic and replacement becomes the sensible option. Long-standing, stable features with no sign of water ingress can often be photographed and reviewed rather than worked on immediately.

When a drone inspection makes sense

A drone inspection is useful where a roof is steep, tall, fragile, surrounded by obstructions or too storm-damaged to walk safely. It can capture high-resolution stills and video of the covering, ridge, valleys, flashings and chimney without scaffolding and without disturbing the roof. It cannot reliably reveal concealed timber decay, hidden membrane or fixing defects, or every source of water ingress, so it supplements rather than replaces a close inspection where access allows.

For most straightforward domestic roofs a visual and, where safe, close-up inspection is enough. We will tell you which is appropriate rather than defaulting to the more expensive option.

What happens next

An inspection should end with written findings and photographs, not a verbal opinion. That record lets you compare quotes fairly, decide between repair and replacement, and evidence the roof's condition for an insurer, surveyor or buyer.

Where repairs are recommended, we scope them so the least intrusive effective fix is priced first. Replacement is proposed only where the covering or structure genuinely warrants it.