Roof Covering

Photographs of issues with the material covering your roof found during home inspections.

Are you a real estate investor? Here is a resource page for real estate investors.

Back to the contents page for the home inspection photos

These tiles are made of cement. They have the same issues that clay tiles have when you consider installing them. In this case, there may be an additional concern. These tiles were made in 1931, which may mean that they have asbestos fibers in them. Using these fibers helped create a sturdy tile. The fibers can be released if the tiles are cracking.

Sunny days cause shadows. This photo shows the ridge detail for these same cement tiles. Tile roofs seem to experience problems on the ridges first in my experience. Some are cracked here. There were tiles missing from other ridges. Note: it is not safe to walk on tile roofs, so if you have a problem with one, it is best to leave the repair to a professional roofer.

This vent is starting to rust. Rust allows holes, which permits water to enter the attic. You would be surprised how much water can enter. What is also interesting here is that staples were used to fasten the flashing of the vent. Staples were also used for the shingles. This is not common, but staples should be treated like nails. You want to see them caulked. Rusting staples or nails can cause leaks too.

Skylights can be sources of leaks. This one has a good deal of caulking along the top flashing. Since the side is flat, it can hold water. A better design would be an upside down V to shed water from this area. The cable in the picture is for the television. Being loose, the cable can whip around in the wind, causing damage to the roof covering. These cables are often not secured to the home.

This may belong in the Wall section, but this is something you may not notice unless you are on the roof. A new wall covering was being installed onto the home. Here the installer has to be concerned about having proper flashing from wall to roof, and then install the siding panels to fit well in the space. Roof lines like this one make it hard to fit, so mistakes can be made. In this case, the installer has not completed the job.

Damaged composite shingles can have different problems, but as homeowners, we tend to concern ourselves with the larger picture (does the roof need to be replaced). This is a newly installed roof, so most shingles are in great shape. These shingles have most of the material removed in a small spot. This can lead to further problems with water damage. Roofers can be careless with the packages of the shingles where they cut into the shingle when removing the wrapping. In this case, the damage was probably due to either improper support system used when installing the roof (not using roof jacks) or a roofer walking on the roof with a cleat type shoe.

While on a downtown balcony, I snapped this photograph, because I found it inspiring. This roof brings a lot of interest to this building, and it is done in metal. We have a quansat semicircle roof passing through a stepped roof. Metal roofs can be energy efficient, and they can be interesting.

This is the accepted method of taking water from a higher roof to send it down to a lower gutter. Supposedly shingle manufacturers agree with this practice. In my experience, this is a problem. You are directing a good deal of water all onto one spot on a lower roof. Basically, you have increased the weatherization of that roof surface. If you examine an older roof with this gutter arrangement, you will see that the shingles look darker. They have lost their outer covering, so they become worn more quickly. In this case, composite shingles have an outer coating that protects the asphalt base. The asphalt breaks down faster without the protective coating, so there is a greater chance of a leak.

Here we see a roof with quite a few missing shingles. People do not always notice them. I have a neighbor who keeps loosing more shingles from his roof with each high wind day, and he thinks his roof is fine. This situation does not mean that you need an entirely new roof though. You can replace the shingles that are missing. One problem is that if you buy the exact same shingles, they will not look the same due to weatherization. A problem when looking at a home to purchase is that different colors on the roof do not mean missing shingles all of the time; maybe new shingles were installed. The only way to tell is to go up on the roof.

Plastic plumbing vents have to be examined more often than the lead vent flashing. The problem can be that they were not well installed, or the movement in the house causes problems around the seals. This can lead to leaks. On this vent we see that caulk had been added, but you can see that the movement has caused this seal to break.

Excessive moisture on one section of the roof does causes problems for the shingles on that surface (I have had this argued that this would not be the case, so I offer this photograph). This is the roof covering over a back door. The home is L-shaped at this point. The upper roof has a valley, which directs a good deal of water onto this lower roof. The shingles are no longer laying flat. The UV protection (small pebbles embedded into the shingle) have worn off of the surface.

Sheet metal screws are used to hold the metal roof down. Sometimes you can find these to be bolts. The problem is the same with nails in other roof coverings: when the screw rusts, leaks can happen. Often on these porch roofs, installers do not caulk the heads of the fasteners, but this step should be taken.

Along the edge of this roof we are seeing damaged shingles. The drip edge which kicks out the water away from the fascia is coming off as well. This home has obtained damage from a windstorm, but installation issues can also be part of the reason. The fascia is not quite damaged yet, but this situation can lead to more damage to the roof covering and the wall below.

Have you seen a roof where the shingles are not all flush? You can see some sticking up. Here is a picture of the culprit: a nail holding the shingle below the one sticking up is popping up from the surface. This can damage the shingle coming up, or it could be a source for a moisture leak.