Chapter one
From the loft to the ridge: what gets checked
A sound inspection works inwards and outwards at once, matching what the loft shows with what the covering is doing above it.
A roof inspection is a methodical look at every part of the roof that keeps water out, taken in an order that lets one finding explain the next. The result should be a ranked list of faults, each one photographed, with a plain view on which can wait and which cannot. The trade uses inspection and survey loosely. We use inspection for the look itself, and survey for the look plus the written record of it.
At a glance
- We start in the loft, then go outside
- Each fault is recorded where it sits
- Findings are ranked by how soon they matter
Note Indicator 17.1 of the Housing Health and Safety Rating System asks that external elements be watertight, weathertight and in good condition.
1.1 Working from the inside out
We usually begin in the loft, because the underside of a roof is where a covering gives itself away. Daylight where there should be none, tide marks on the underlay (the sheet of felt or membrane stretched beneath the battens, the thin timber laths that tiles are hooked onto), dark patches on rafters and damp insulation each point to a place on the slope above. We mark those places, then go outside and examine the same spot on the covering. A cracked tile or a lifted flashing there confirms what the loft suggested. A sound covering above a wet timber sends us looking further up the slope, or across to a chimney, a pipe or a gutter.
1.2 The outside, one part at a time
On the covering we check tiles and slates for cracks, flaking, slipped courses and gaps. The ridge runs along the top of the roof and hips run down a sloping corner; capping tiles on both are tested for movement and for the fixings beneath them. The verge is where the roof finishes at the side of a gable wall, and its mortar or dry-fix trim gets the same attention. Flashings are strips of lead that seal the roof to a wall or a chimney, so we look for lifting, splits and pointing that has fallen out of the brickwork joint. Valleys, the channels where two slopes meet, are checked for debris and worn linings. At a chimney we check the flaunching, the sloped mortar cap around the pots, then the joints in the stack and the gutter behind it. Along the eaves we study gutters, fascias and soffits, because overflow there pushes water back under the lowest tiles.
Flat roofs and extension roofs get their own list: ponding water, blisters, open seams, tired outlets and the upstands. What we find goes onto a numbered set of pictures in the order we met it, and the written quote follows the same order, so you can match each picture to the work it leads to. Our guide to what a roofer checks in a roof survey goes through each part in more detail.
What each part of the roof can tell you
| Part of the roof | What a fault often means | Where we look first |
|---|---|---|
| Underlay | Water has already got past the covering | Tide marks from the loft side |
| Ridge | Bedding has failed or fixings are missing | Rocking tiles along the line |
| Flashing | Water can run behind the wall junction | Lifted edges and open joints |
| Gutter | Overflow is soaking the eaves timbers | Stained boards below the joints |
A fault in the loft is a clue; the same fault on the covering is the proof.
The pictures matter beyond the quote. A dated set of images of your roof, taken before any work starts, gives you a record to compare against after the next storm. It also gives you something to hand to a buyer, a managing agent or an insurer, and it shows a later roofer what was already there. Keep the set with the house papers, together with the written quote, so that the history of the roof stays in one place.
