Lexwin Realty LLC

Greater Boston Real Estate Company   (781) 367-8522   info@lex-win.com

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How to inspect a roof?

It’s obvious that when inspecting the roof of a house, the external surface tells a lot. However, it’s only one aspect of the roof that needs to be checked. Before you even break out the ladder, the first thing you should check is your home purchase file. Did you retain all of the paperwork that came with your transaction? Most importantly, do you have a copy of your roof warranty? How about the names and phone numbers of every company that has set foot on your roof, such as roof inspectors, contractors, and architects? You should have retained a copy of any repair orders and documentation of the outcome of those repairs.

Finally, you should have a scaled copy of your roof plan in your file that indicates where all of the equipment is located as well as where any previous leaks and repairs were made.

With any roof inspection you should also check your walls and glazing. Frequently, leaks originating from a wall, sealant, or window failure is misdiagnosed as a roof leak. Things to look for are cracks in the wall and water stains as clues to whether or not there may be issues with these areas. You’ll have the most trouble with your piping, conduit, and any other penetration through your walls. The biggest problem is when these penetrations are left unsealed, particularly when they’ve been installed as a retrofit.

Once you’ve looked at all of those areas, you’re ready to take a look at your roof. The best thing to do is to make an overall assessment of the roof top. Is there a lot of debris up there such as plants, leaves, and old unused air-conditioning equipment? If these things are present, then it’s a strong indicator of a neglected roof.

Now take a closer look at the actual surface of your roof. If there’s supposed to be a coating, is it still intact? If the roof has a gravel or ballast surface, are the stones still evenly distributed across the entire surface? Your roof surface is supposed to provide protection from the sun’s ultraviolet radiation, which also happens to be the major cause of the aging and breakdown of most roofing materials. It’s not unlike what happened if you fail to protect your skin from harmful UV rays from the sun. The rays will cause your skin to prematurely age and you can potentially suffer from other serious skin degradation.

Next you want to check your drainage system. If you see large bodies of standing water that don’t ever seem to go away, you may be able to resolve the problem by cleaning out any debris from around the drain. More seriously, you may have to snake your roof drainpipes and maybe even the downspouts. It’s important to resolve standing water problems because they can cause the premature failure of your roof since standing water may leach chemicals right out of the membrane that help your roof remain pliable.

Even worse, if there’s a puncture where standing water accumulates, then what was once a minor drip can quickly escalate into a major disaster because a great deal of that water will end up seeping into the building.

Roof failures don’t normally occur in the large expanses of the field membrane. Therefore, a thorough roof check will pay particular attention to the metal and membrane at changes in the plane and at surface penetrations. Always be on the lookout for punctures, scrapes in the membrane, and tears. Unsealed laps in the vertical portion of your flashings and where your flashing terminates on the field of the roof are potential trouble spots. If the membrane is drooping, that indicates a faulty installation of flashing and corrective action will be necessary. Diagonal wrinkles seen in the flashing indicate that the roof deck and wall are moving independent of each other. These seemingly harmless wrinkles will lead to cracks in the flashings and leaks in your roof.

Any expansion joints that are part of your roof should be included in any thorough roof inspection. When expansion joints are not terminated properly they can crack at the ends. You should inspect the rubber bellows for open laps and cuts, as well as signs of faulty repairs using inappropriate materials such as roofing cement.

Roof penetrations involving equipment stands and pipes should be checked to ensure that they are properly waterproofed with plastic or metal concrete rings or pitch pans. Look for cracking and verify that the ring or pan has been completely filled with sealer. Inspect the bottom of concrete rings to verify that the seal between the roof membrane and the ring is intact. And finally, inspect all alternate flashings that involve prefabricated plastic, metals, or rubber or plastic boots for cracking, holes, and sealants that have failed.