Our Roof & Attic Inspection Process
Some issues (like leaks or missing shingles) are easy to spot. But only an expert knows what’s causing them, or what else they could damage. Think of these problems like the “Check Engine” light on your car. You know there’s a problem, and you’ve called in an expert to diagnose it.
The exterior of your home is built to do three things: seal, protect, and breathe. If any one of these elements is compromised, problems will continue to escalate. Home Genius has built our inspection process around these pillars, categorizing issues by what they might impact.
What We Look For During Your Inspection
Your roof is a multi-layered system. Damage can occur on the surface and penetrate through to your attic space without you knowing. There are many possible points of entry for water, pests, and other concerns. Our inspection process is a thorough, 52-point checklist during which our experts look for any of all causes for concern.
Exterior Warning Signs
When our Home Remodeling Expert goes up on your roof, here’s what they’ll look for:
Streaking
Water stains on your roof could be a sign of damage, or a sign that your roofing materials are aging and losing their water-resistant properties. Remember, water-resistant does not mean water-proof.
Plant Growth
The presence of moss, algae, or anything larger growing on your roof is a warning sign. Not only does it mean water is overstaying its welcome, but the plant life could be growing roots that will burrow into the wood of your decking over time.
Curling & Lifted Shingles
Curling and warping are signs of heat damage, which means age. It also creates a gap, which means water could be getting into the lower levels of your roof. Missing Shingles: Broken seal. Potential leak.
Missing or Damaged Flashing
Flashing protects the edges of your roof from water. If it’s missing or damaged, there’s potential for wood rot and leaking.
Ventilation Hardware
Airflow is critical to a healthy home. If your ridge caps or soffit are damaged, it could be impacting other areas of your home.
The Attic Inspection
Even if you’re calling us to look at a strip of missing shingles, we’ll ask to look in your attic. This is what sets us apart from other inspections you might schedule during your due diligence: most companies skip the attic, which means they could be missing warning signs of impending leaks and moisture infiltration.
If our expert sees any warning signs on your roof, they will request access to your attic. You are by no means obliged to let them in, but denying access will limit our ability to perform a complete inspection. The exterior surface of the roof can only tell us so much.
Interior Warning Signs
If our expert requests access to your attic, it’s because they’re concerned about moisture. If you agree to the attic inspection, here’s what they could find:
Extreme Temperatures
A boiling hot attic in summer means a lack of ventilation, while a freezing attic in winter could mean there’s a breakdown in the seal of your roof.
Water Vapor Levels
Your Home Remodeling Expert will use a moisture meter to measure the water levels in the air of your attic. It is normal for some level of moisture to gather in the air as it rises from the home, but there’s a point where too much moisture is a sure sign of improper ventilation.
Active Leaks
Similar to the missing shingles, this one’s a no brainer. An active leak means water has found its way through multiple layers of protection.
Water Damage
An active leak is obviously more concerning, but staining and other signs of water damage means water is present and needs to be addressed.
Cracking or Rotten Wood
If wood absorbs too much water, or goes through a continuous process of rapid heating and cooling, it will start to crack. Cracking or rotten wood loses its structural integrity, which could lead to major damage over time.
Amber Deposits
The presence of amber deposits (which can look like little yellow stones) means extreme heat is causing the wood of your home to leak what is essentially tree sap, again compromising its structure.
Cat Eyes
While cute in name, cat eyes happen when water is attracted to the metal of the nails in your roof. This causes the nails to rust and the wood to rot, creating ring-shaped weak points.
Dirty Insulation
Aside from checking to make sure you have a healthy level of insulation, your Home Remodeling Expert might look for signs of dirt, debris or mold in the material.
What to Expect
When you schedule a roof inspection with Home Genius Exteriors, we’ll dispatch a Home Remodeling Expert to assess your home. These aren’t salespeople: they’re trained professionals who know the telltale signs of a compromised roof. They also know our manufacturing partners’ products inside and out, which means they can recommend the best materials for your remodel if you decide to work with us. They’ll have a few things with them, including:
- An infrared thermometer
- A ladder
- A moisture meter
- Laser pointers
- A drone (if they’re licensed to fly one!)
Our experts will conduct themselves professionally, going up on the roof and taking pictures of anything they might flag as concerning. If they’re licensed, they might fly their drone overhead to get a bird’s eye view of any problem areas. They may point these things out to you during the inspection, or wait to report all their findings at once.
Questions We Might Ask
Because we don’t want you to be surprised by anything that happens during your install, here’s a quick list of questions your Home Remodeling Expert might ask. Some will help diagnose a problem, or lead your expert to pay close attention to certain aspects of their inspection.
- What made you call us?
- When did you first notice this?
- How long has this been going on?
- Do you know how old your roof is?
- Has the roof ever been repaired? If yes, what work was done?
- How much are you spending on energy during high energy months?
Other Considerations
Aside from inspecting the materials of your roof and attic, there are other aspects of your home we may consider when putting your estimate together. These include:
Heating & Cooling Systems
We may recommend different products based on the setup of your heating and cooling systems, the size of your home, and the climate you’re trying to maintain.
Rainwater Management
While on the roof, your Home Remodeling Expert may check to see if your gutters are clogged. If they offer to clean them for you, don’t worry; it’s just as a courtesy, not a surprise charge. Rainwater management is critical for maintaining a dry home, and gutters are an often-neglected part of the home.
Airflow
Many states have updated building codes when it comes to ventilation requirements. If your home is older, your Home Remodeling Expert may note existing airflow pathways and make recommendations for adding new vents.
Landscaping
If you decide to work with us, your Home Remodeling Expert will want to pass off any critical information to your Project Manager, including any areas of the yard to be mindful of during the installation.
Why We Go the Extra Mile
If this seems like an exhaustive list of things to look out for, you’d be surprised to find out how much work this saves us in the long run. If we sprint through our inspection without taking the time to check for larger problems, we run the risk of finding out the hard way that a small repair actually requires a complete replacement.
We don’t want to be surprised and neither do you, whether that’s by the size of the job, the time it takes to install, or the price.
Why Home Genius Exteriors Exists
At Home Genius Exteriors, every roofing project starts with a thorough inspection. As a full exterior services company, we see the home as a complete ecosystem where one issue could easily spread to other areas of the home, costing you peace, time, and money.
Other contractors typically specialize in one area, limiting their ability to recognize and assess damage. Not only that, but most contractors lack the resources to take their time with your inspection, patching or ignoring issues that you don’t know to look for in the hopes of getting the job done faster. There’s a reason why home remodeling is frequently ranked as one of the highest industries for consumer complaints, with people spending tens of thousands of dollars settling disputes with contractors every year.
That’s why Home Genius Exteriors was born: to provide homeowners with a different experience.
We know home remodeling can be a scary process. Our mission is to become the fastest-growing and most-respected home remodeling company in the nation, and we won’t do that by letting down our homeowners. We’d rather underpromise and overdeliver, every time.
Tomorrow's Leaders, Todays Experts
Home Genius Exteriors is a National Services Group brand, backed by a nationwide network of home remodeling experts, manufacturing partners, and dedicated customer care teams. Not only are we going to make sure that your job gets done just the way you want it, we aren’t going to disappear on you.
Collectively, we’ve worked on more than 100,000 homes. We’ve seen everything from the smallest leaks to total teardowns. Our experts are trained to look for signs that smaller operations just can’t match. We pursue the highest industry certifications (the kind that less than 1% of contractors ever achieve), which means we can offer the most comprehensive warranty packages.
We also carry a two million dollar umbrella insurance policy for every project we tackle, protecting us and protecting you. When you call us to look at your home, it’s a chance for us to show off just a fraction of what we’ve learned.
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