Do I need a roof inspection?
When a roof needs one, and what the free documented inspection covers.
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The short answer.
Get an inspection when the roof is past 10 years old and nobody has checked it in a year, after a named storm, before you buy or sell a home, or when you see a ceiling stain or granules in the gutters. For a roof under 10 years old with no symptoms, an annual inspection still pays, but it is not urgent.
Roof age
At ten years, a roof starts having problems you cannot see from the driveway. Pipe boots crack in the sun and fasteners work loose, and both let water in. A stain on the ceiling means the deck has been wet a while. Past ten years, have a professional look at the roof every year.
After a storm
Wind can crease shingles and displace tiles while the roof still looks fine from the ground, and the damaged spots open up in the next heavy rain. Any named storm that crosses Palm Beach County calls for a documented inspection, even when nothing appears wrong. The photos record the condition of the roof after the storm.
Buying or selling
A general home inspection is a screening, with one inspector covering many systems in a few hours and often seeing the roof only from the eave or the ground. Before a closing, have the roof evaluated on its own by a licensed roofing contractor. The roofer walks the surface, opens the attic, and puts the remaining service life in writing. A seller should book that evaluation before listing, so the condition of the roof is known before the price negotiation starts.
Visible symptoms
Watch for a stain or bubbling paint on a ceiling, granules collecting at the downspouts, shingles lifted or missing after wind, a roofline that sags or dips, a musty smell upstairs, daylight showing in the attic, or a cooling bill that climbed while nothing else changed. Any one of these moves the inspection from this year to this week, because each one means water or heat is already damaging the house.
What a Luxe inspection covers.
Each inspection is two passes over the same roof, one with a drone and one on foot. The aerial photos show the damage pattern, and the walk and the attic check confirm the cause.
Drone survey
We fly the roof first, photographing every slope from above, including the ones too steep or too high to walk safely. Those photos catch damage patterns you cannot see from a ladder at the eave, such as runs of creased shingles and displaced tiles.
On the roof
Then we walk the roof and check the flashing at the walls and valleys, the ridge caps, every pipe boot and anything else that comes through the roof, and the sealant at each of them. The rest depends on your material: slipped and cracked pieces on tile, worn fasteners and washers on metal, unsealed tabs and loss of the surface grit on shingle.
In the attic
We look for daylight through the deck, moisture staining on the framing, and insulation holding water. We also check the ventilation, because it sets how fast a Florida roof ages.
At the edges
Rot usually starts at the edge of a roof, years before the middle fails. We check the condition of the board along the roof edge and the overhang underneath, and whether the gutters carry water off the roof or hold it against the edge.
An active leak.
In South Florida humidity, a small hole becomes a mold problem within days, soaking insulation and framing long before a stain reaches the ceiling. That work runs through our emergency roof repair crew.
A leak-focused inspection is its own job. The stain is rarely right under the hole, so we trace the water to its actual entry point, from the roof and from inside the attic, before we repair anything. We answer the phones weekdays 7 to 7 at (561) 941-1799.
Free, and in writing.
Every inspection ends in a written, photo-documented condition report. For each problem, such as a cracked boot or a slipped tile, the report includes a photograph of it, where on the roof it was found and what happens if the repair is put off. The roof's remaining service life is spelled out in plain terms. Plan on 45 minutes to two hours on site for most homes, depending on roof size, pitch, and attic access.
The inspection and the report are free for homeowners anywhere we work. When a roof is near the end of its life, the cost page shows what drives the price of a new roof, and the roof replacement page shows how the job runs. Book an inspection through the contact page or call our office.
Once a year, and after every named storm.
Sun and humidity age a roof faster here than up north. A yearly look catches that wear while the fix is still a repair rather than a replacement.
In Palm Beach County, inspect in the fall, as hurricane season winds down, and book any work the roof needs into the winter dry season. After a named storm, inspect the roof again, whatever the time of year.