Los Angeles County, California
Roof Inspections and Second Opinions in Los Angeles
A home inspector's roof paragraph is not a roof inspection. Here is what gets looked at when a ladder goes up, and what the written report should say.
Free, and there is no obligation to go ahead.
- Free roof inspection
Someone comes out, gets on the roof, and tells you what they find.
- The price in writing
A written quote before anyone starts, with nothing to sign on the day.
- Licensed roofers
The roofer who turns up holds a current California license.
- Across Los Angeles County
From the Valley and the foothills to the Westside and the South Bay.
A roof inspection is somebody on the roof with a ladder, and it is a different job from the roof paragraph in a home inspection report. You get what was found in writing, and the visit and the written quote cost nothing.
ASHI calls a home inspection a "limited visual non-invasive examination," does not require the inspector to walk roofs, and excludes remaining useful life, cause and insurability. That is most of what you want to know.
Ballpark, not quotes. Single-source leak $800 to $2,500. Composition re-roof $9,000 to $25,000. More on the costs page.
- What it costsNothing, and there is nothing to sign on the day
- Who asks for oneBuyers in a contingency window, sellers before listing, and owners answering an insurer
- What you getWhat was found, in writing, with photographs
- Second opinionsBring the other quote and its photographs and the two can be read side by side
What an inspection covers
- The covering.On composition, granule loss, cupping, nail pops and past repairs. On tile the tile is usually sound and the felt under it is not, so tiles come up in a few spots to check it.
- Layer count,read from a ladder at the eaves. A second drip edge goes on with a second covering, so look for one flashing tucked under another.
- Drainage.Gutters, downspouts, drains and scuppers. A roof dry since April holds a spring of jacaranda and pine litter in the valleys, and the first rain backs up behind it.
- Flashings and penetrations.Drip edges, valleys, ridge and hip, roof-to-wall, chimney, vent, skylight and solar mount. A new covering with bad flashings still leaks.
What the report should say
Tile and wood shake break under a boot, and on a low-slope asphalt roof a foot can go through rotted sheathing. So the report says how the roof was looked at, which ASHI requires in writing. Ask which slopes were walked and which were read off the ladder.
It should also carry photographs close enough to read the split shingle or open flashing, one of each slope, and the date. An inspection describes the roof on the day and predicts nothing.
The attic is half of it
Ventilation is why. The building code asks for one square foot of venting per 150 square feet of attic, or one per 300 where the vents sit high and the intake is low. Here the load is heat, not ice. An attic with the soffit vents painted shut stays hot all afternoon in September, and InterNACHI reports shingles under ten years old in poor shape from overheating, weak venting or too many layers.
The attic also shows decorative gable vents, soffit rot and a sagging rafter. And the ceiling stain is not under the hole, because on built-up roofs water runs sideways between the plies before it drops.
Buying a house
When a report says "recommend evaluation by a roofing contractor," that is what the standard leaves the inspector room to say. He is not required to judge how much life is left, so the roof goes to someone who will be on it. California's home inspection law in the Business and Professions Code treats a roof inspection as separate, so use the contingency window for one. The window comes from your contract, not from law, so check the date escrow opens.
When the insurer asks about your roof
Roof age is underwriting now. A San Francisco Chronicle review of California's twenty largest home insurers found that nearly all of them restrict roof material, slope or age in some way, with older roofs written at actual cash value or declined outright. Carrier rules change and they differ by carrier, so read your own letter and call your agent.
Much of it is decided from aerial photos. Under California Insurance Code section 678, a nonrenewal notice has to reach you 75 days out with the specific reason. Have someone stand on the roof and look before you answer the letter.
Second opinions
Where one company does both the home inspection and the roof inspection, California Business and Professions Code section 7197(d) requires a written disclosure before you authorize the home inspection, and section 7197(d)(3)(C) requires it to tell you that you have the right to seek a second opinion.
Bring the other quote and its photos. Compare what the two roofers say is wrong before you compare numbers. A scope naming the slope, the flashing and the material can be checked against your roof. One price for the whole job cannot.
A roof certification is a separate job. A licensed roofing contractor inspects it, makes the repairs, then warrants the roof leak free for a period he sets. That warranty is his, not ours.
Common questions
How long should a roof last?
Asphalt gets replaced long before tile does, and how long depends on the venting, the sun on that slope and the layers under it. The number on the shingle wrapper is a warranty term written for ideal conditions, and a west slope over the Valley does not get them. On tile the tile outlasts the felt, so the age that matters is the underlayment's.
Can someone look at a flat roof?
Yes, a roofer goes up the same way. Ponding, which the trade defines as water still sitting 48 hours after rain stops, leaves a ring of dirt you can read later on a dry roof. Alligatoring, blisters and split seams get looked at too. More on flat roofs.
Book a free inspection and put on the form what the roof has been doing. Or read roof repair and roof replacement first.
The offer
$500 off a new roof, 10% off any repair
Start online and it is attached to your request, with nothing to remember.
- We get on the roof, and into the attic if that is where the answer is
- You get photographs of whatever we find
- The price in writing, with nothing to sign on the day
Where we work
Across Los Angeles County
Tell us what is going on
A description is enough to start. We will come out, look at the roof properly, and give you the price in writing.