When to Inspect Your Roof

Analogous to how a doctor recommends regular physicals to check for problems and keep our bodies operating smoothly, reputable roofers recommend periodic checkups to ensure your roof system is running at optimum performance — and for good reason. If you don’t have your roof inspected and maintained regularly, studies show it will last about half of its expected lifetime. In addition, without regular maintenance, you’ll have a hard time making a claim on a warranty issue due to negligence.

Sun, winds, dust, rain, hail, snow, ice, frost and even foot traffic all wear out roofing materials. In a perfect world, it is a good idea to have your roof inspected before and after the worst weather of the season — in other words, twice annually. In the desert areas of the Southwest, that’s generally before and after Monsoon season. In colder climates, before and after winter is recommended.

Of course, we realize that twice yearly inspections for home owners may be a bit overwhelming. For pitched roofs that can be seen from the ground, we do recommend an inspection at least once per year, preferably after Monsoon. For flat / low-slope roofs, it’s still a good idea to inspect twice a year.

Ideally, business owners should really make regular inspections a part of the cost of doing business. After all, the roof shelters your products and services, your employees and customers, and without a safe place to work and do business, there may not be any business.

In addition to a visual survey, a moisture survey every once in a while is also a good idea. Various types of scans can measure the amount of heat lost through insulation — wet insulation transmit heat better than dry materials. So these types of scans catch problems that might not show up to the naked eye.

Considering the studies that show a roof without maintenance will last half its expected life, let’s break down a cost comparison between maintenance and neglect:

If you have a 100,000 square foot roof with a 10 year lifespan at a cost of $10 per square foot to install, or $1 million, and regular inspections and ongoing maintenance runs $200,000, you’re looking at a total cost of $1,200,000 over 10 years.

If it isn’t maintained, the lifespan drops to five years instead of 10 years. That means you’ll need to shell out another $1 million five years sooner than you otherwise should have.

Thus, in the case of maintaining your roof, the actual savings over 10 years would be $800,000! Most businesses could find a much better place to invest that money.

If you don’t currently have an arrangement for regular inspections and maintenance, most reputable roofers offer custom solutions for various roof types.