What a General Home Inspection Covers
Buyers regularly ask whether the home inspector inspects the roof during a standard pre-purchase inspection. In most cases the answer is yes, in a limited way, and that limitation is where transactions get into trouble.
A general home inspection is a broad survey of the entire property. Foundation, framing, plumbing, electrical, heating and cooling, and the roof. The scope is wide by design. Time spent on any single system is short.
Most home inspection standards of practice permit the roof to be observed from the ground, from a ladder at the eave, or through an attic hatch. Walking the roof surface is usually discretionary, and many inspectors decline it on steep slopes, on tile, on wet or brittle material, or where access is unsafe.
Where the Home Inspector Inspect the Roof Question Gets Complicated
Home inspectors report visible signs of existing problems on the day they were on site. That is the job. They do not forecast future performance, and a responsible inspector will not try.
Read enough reports and the same sentence shows up: further evaluation by a qualified roofing professional is recommended. That deferral is doing real work. It marks the point where a general inspection stops and a roof-specific inspection has to begin.
A missing shingle is easy to see. A failed underlayment lap, a reversed flashing, a fastener backing out under a tile, dry rot in the sheathing above a bathroom vent, none of those announce themselves from a ladder.
What a Dedicated Roof Inspection Adds
NRCIA members perform a LeakFREE® Check, a five-zone inspection covering the interior, the attic, the exterior, the perimeter and the rooftop. The member documents each zone with photographs and issues a LeakFREE® Roof Inspection Report.
The five zones exist because water rarely enters where the stain appears. It travels along framing, follows fasteners, and shows up rooms away from the actual defect. Think Like a Raindrop™ is the working method behind the standard: trace the path, not the symptom.
Where the roof meets the published criteria, the accredited member who performed the inspection can issue a LeakFREE® Roof Certification, generated through InspectionPLUS®. It records the condition of that roof, at that address, on that date. It is not insurance and it is not a promise about future weather.
What to Do Before You Close
- Read the roof section of your home inspection report and look for deferral language.
- Ask whether the inspector walked the roof surface or viewed it from the ground.
- Ask whether the attic was entered and what was visible from inside.
- Book a separate roof inspection with an accredited member if any answer is vague.
There is no federal license for roof inspectors. Credentials vary widely by state and by company, so the training behind the person on your roof matters more than the title on the invoice.
Find an accredited NRCIA inspector near you and book a LeakFREE® Check before your contingency period ends.
LeakFREE®, Forensic ROOF®, Mr. RoofCheck®, InspectionPLUS®, Today’s Inspection… Tomorrow’s Protection®, and Got Leaks?® are registered trademarks of Field Gate FLP, used by permission. RoofGUARD™, ForensicGUARD™, DisasterGUARD™, E3GUARD™, and Think Like a Raindrop™ are trademarks of Field Gate FLP.
