Nobody looks at their roof until water comes through it. By then the leak has usually been working for a while: a slipped tile lets rain onto the underlay, the underlay lets it onto a batten, the batten stays damp for a winter or two, and the first you hear of it is a drip in the spare room. A good inspection interrupts that chain at the first link.
This page explains what a professional inspection is, how often it makes sense to book one, what a roofer actually looks at on the outside, in the loft and along the roofline, and how to read the findings. Further down there is a checklist you can print and hand to whoever comes up. If you would rather begin with the checks a householder can manage while standing on the lawn, our roof maintenance checklist covers the seasonal checks. This page is about the visit from a roofer, which sees what the garden view cannot. Our homepage lists the work we do once an inspection finds something.
What a professional inspection is
An inspection is a trained pair of eyes on every part of the roof, with safe access to reach them, followed by a plain account of what was seen. It is not a sales pitch and it should not end with a long list of work you did not ask about. The useful version ends with photographs taken on your roof and a straight sorting of what needs doing now, what can wait and what is fine.
How is it different from looking from the garden?
From the ground you see the outer skin and nothing else. You can spot a tile that sits low, a gap in a row or a ridge line that dips. You cannot see the fixings under a lifted tile, the condition of the felt beneath it, the mortar in a valley or the state of the flashing along a wall abutment. A roofer with a ladder, a scaffold tower or a safe working platform can put hands on all of that.
Does an inspection come with a price?
At Crown the survey comes first. If it turns up work, one total price in writing follows. You get photos of your roof so you can check our findings yourself. For cost guidance across the trade, see our guide to what roof work costs. Rates vary a good deal, and one number from a web page will never replace a look at your roof.
One thing worth asking any roofer before they climb: how will you get up there safely? The answer tells you a lot about how the rest of the job will run.
How often should a roof be inspected?
There is no single date that suits every roof. The rhythm depends on how old the covering is, what it is made of, how exposed the house is and what has happened to it recently. What follows is a way of thinking about it, not a rule.
Which moments call for a visit?
Book one when you buy a house, or before you sell, because a roof that has been looked at is a roof you can talk about with confidence. Book one after a storm that has moved things, and after any work that put people on the roof, such as a new aerial, solar panels or a loft conversion. Book one when the covering is entering the age band where its published life starts to run out. And book one if something odd turns up inside: a stain, a smell of damp, or daylight where there should be none. Our answer on roof checks when buying a house covers the first of those moments in detail.
What does age have to do with it?
Published lifespans give a rough guide to when a roof deserves more attention. Marley's concrete figure is about 60 years, though it flags that as no warranty. For clay, the Building Research Establishment puts the floor at 60 years, while slate, CORC says, can last 100 years or more if well maintained. Single-ply EPDM is expected to serve for 20 to 30 years, and GreenSpec is the source for that. A March 2026 guide from Less quotes felt at 10 to 20 years and GRP at 25 to 40. A flat roof near the low end of its range is a better candidate for a visit than a slate roof of the same age.
After the first survey, ask your roofer when they would like to see the roof again.
What the roofer looks at, outside
The outside inspection works from the top down, because water does. The roofer starts at the highest point and follows the rain.
Which parts get the closest look?
The ridge, the long line along the top where the slopes meet, is the first stop, since mortar there cracks and lets go over time. Hips come next, the sloping lines at outside corners. Then the verges, the finished edges above a gable wall, which take the worst of the wind. After that come the valleys, where two slopes join at an internal corner and funnel water into a narrow channel, and the field of the roof itself: every tile, checked for cracks, slips, missing nibs and frost damage. Slates are checked for the nail sickness that lets them slide.
What about flashings and chimneys?
Flashings are the strips, normally of lead, that seal a roof against anything that rises through it or butts up to it. The roofer checks them for lifted edges, splits and gaps in the pointing at the wall. The chimney gets its own look: the flaunching, which is the mortar slope around the pots, the pointing in the brick, the pots themselves and the flashing at the base. A chimney that leaks in the rain is a job in its own right, and our post on chimney leaks and how to find the cause takes it step by step.
And the gutters and roofline?
Fascias, soffits and gutters sit at the foot of the roof and often show the first signs of trouble: overflowing, stained brickwork below a joint, or a gutter sagging clear of its board. Rotten fascia timber lets water into the rafter ends. These are all part of one inspection, not an extra.
Inside the loft: the half you cannot see
The loft shows what the outside only suggests. On a dry day with the light off, the roofer looks for pinpricks of daylight, which mean a gap, then switches on a torch and works along the timbers.
What are the signs of an old leak?
Dark tide-marks on battens and rafters show where water has run. Damp or flattened insulation shows where it has dripped. A felt or underlay sheet that hangs slack, is torn or has gone brittle at the eaves is a warning about the layer that is supposed to catch whatever the tiles miss. Rusty nail tips poking through the underside of the roof deck can point to condensation rather than a leak, and the difference matters. Our answer on condensation or roof leak explains how to tell them apart.
Why do the timbers matter so much?
Because tiles can only stay put if the timbers under them are healthy. Soft, crumbling or sagging timber means the roof has stayed damp for a long stretch, and the repair has to go deeper than the surface. The roofer presses a screwdriver gently into suspect wood and checks that the ridge is straight and the rafters have not spread. Anything structural gets photographed and talked through with you before it is priced.
The loft is also where the roofer notices things that are not roofing at all: wiring running through damp, pipework close to the underside, and signs of birds or bats. Anything protected is left alone, and the report notes it.
Reading the findings: fix, watch or renew
After the inspection, you should be able to sort everything into three heaps. Be wary of any report that puts it all into one.
What belongs in the fix-now heap?
Anything that lets water in today or will do so in the next storm: a missing or broken tile, a lifted ridge, a split flashing, an outlet clogged with leaves on a flat roof. These are usually the smaller repairs and they get more expensive the longer they wait. A single visit can often deal with several. If you want to see how repairs rank by depth, our post on pitched roof repairs from tiles to structure works down through the layers.
What goes in the keep-an-eye-on-it heap?
Items that are weathering but not failing: a patch of moss, a hairline crack in old pointing, a gutter that is tired but still draining. A good report records them with photos, letting you compare like with like on the next visit. That record is worth having. It tells the next roofer what changed and lets you decide whether to act.
When is it time to renew?
When the repair list keeps growing in the same place, when the timbers underneath have gone soft, or when a whole slope of underlay has given up, patches no longer add up. The Planning Portal's test for skipping Building Regulations approval is work touching under 25 per cent of the building envelope and under 50 per cent of the roof, but add a covering 15 per cent or more heavier and the answer flips. Check with your building control body before you start.
A checklist to print and hand over
Print this page and put it in front of whoever comes to look. It keeps the visit on track and gives you something to compare against next time.
Before the visit: note where any stains, drips or draughts appear indoors, and the date of the last heavy rain or wind. Have any earlier reports to hand.
- Tiles or slates: cracked, slipped, missing, lifted at the edge, frost-damaged
- Ridge and hips: mortar cracked, tiles rocking, fixings visible
- Verges: pointing gone, tiles loose along the gable edge
- Valleys: lead, mortar or trough clear, no debris
- Flashings: lifted edges, splits, gaps at the wall
- Chimney: flaunching, pointing, pots, flashing at the base
- Gutters and downpipes: sagging, leaking joints, blockages, overflow marks
- Fascias and soffits: rot, splits, gaps, vents free
- Flat roofs: standing water, blisters, split seams, outlets clear
- Loft: daylight, tide-marks on timber, slack underlay, damp insulation
- Roof windows: seals, flashing, condensation between panes
- Photos: taken of every defect, shared with you after the visit
What about asbestos and wildlife?
For a building built or refurbished before 2000, HSE starts from the position that asbestos is present, so nobody should drill, break or scrub roofing sheets, soffits or garage roofs without being sure what they are. A bat roost in the roof void is shielded by law, and GOV.UK guidance flags re-roofing and repairs as jobs that might disturb one, so stop and take advice if you spot droppings. If you meet droppings, a nest or a roost, stop work and ask a professional before touching anything. A nest in use is also protected by law. Our post on asbestos garage roofs gives the background.
Part of Roofers in Crawley: the full guide
Roof inspection: three practical questions
Do I need an inspection after every storm?
Not after every one. Book a visit after a storm that brought tiles down, rattled the ridge or left debris on the roof, or when water or stains appear indoors. Photograph any damage from the ground, because IStructE says photographs are vital evidence for an insurance claim, and tell your insurer before the repair.
Can binoculars or a drone do the job?
Binoculars from the garden show the outer skin and little else. A drone shows the surface more closely but cannot see the loft side of the roof. Near Gatwick, the airport's own guidance restricts drone flights within 5km of it, so check first. A roofer on the roof sees the most.
What should I do with the report afterwards?
Keep it, with the photos, somewhere you can find it. It gives the next roofer a starting point and shows what has changed. If you sell, it answers a buyer's surveyor in advance. If it lists work, ask for a total price in writing and find out if VAT and any scaffold are part of it.
