Voorhees Township Roofing, Decided From the Roof Itself

The covering itself — fastening, wear, sealant, granule loss, lifted or cracked tabs — then every penetration, because that is where water usually gets in: pipe boots, the chimney, skylights, vents and the valleys. Then the eaves and the gutter line. Then the attic, for ventilation, daylight, staining and the state of the deck from underneath. An hour is about right for a normal house.

About an hour on a typical two-storey house, longer where the roof has several planes or a steep pitch. Somebody should be in for the underside part, which needs the loft opened up, whether that is a hatch, a drop-down stair or a door off a back bedroom. The outside half can go ahead while you are at work.

Only if that is what the roof says. A covering with granule loss across the south slopes and splitting at the laps has reached the end; one with two bad boots and a worn valley has not. Both answers come with the same photographs and the same written findings, which is the point of doing it this way.

It bruises. A hail strike knocks the granules off a small circle of the shingle and often fractures the mat underneath without breaking the surface, so the roof looks fine from the ground and fails three winters later where the mat was cracked. The bruises are found by hand, on the slope, which is why a storm check cannot be done from a photograph.

We can document what we find and we can be there when the adjuster walks the roof, which is usually the most useful thing. We do not file claims for homeowners and we do not promise an outcome — the policy and the adjuster decide that. What we can do is make sure the damage that exists is recorded properly before anyone makes a judgement about it.

Age is a weak signal on its own. An architectural shingle roof in this part of New Jersey usually reaches somewhere between twenty and thirty years, but a badly ventilated attic can take ten years off that, and a sheltered north slope can outlive its own warranty. The condition of the mat and the laps matters far more than the date on the paperwork.

The written findings, the photographs that support each one, a clear line between what needs doing now and what can wait, and a price for the work that is recommended. If nothing needs doing, that is what it will say, and there is no charge for being told so.