Have you ever wondered if your roofer installed your home’s roof properly? Maybe you’re thinking of purchasing a home, but something about the roof looks off? Or, perhaps you’re hanging Christmas lights and noticing that your roof seems to look different from your neighbors? If you don’t know how a roof should look, it can be hard to assess a roofer’s performance. But you might need that information to make your purchase or to decide whether it’s a good idea to call the professionals to get your roof fixed. We thought we’d share some knowledge so that you know how to spot a bad roofing job.
Bad Shingle Pattern or Color
When something seems “off” about the roof, but you can’t quite describe it, chances are, the pattern of the shingles is off. Roofers are supposed to use a starter strip of shingles, and then stagger each subsequent row so that the shingle create the right pattern as per their design. However, if the roofer gets the stagger pattern wrong, the whole roof might have an odd texture. Or, just a line or two of shingles might look odd. Roofers make mistakes, but they should notice this one and correct it, not leave it on the roof.
Another common aesthetic problem a roof might have is mismatched color. Sometimes manufacturers make a mistake, and the same color shingles look slightly different, creating an odd look on the roof. Or some roofers may apply the wrong color shingles during a repair job. Either way, the roofer should have fixed this error and not left oddly colored shingles on the roof.
Missing Flashing
Flashing is the thin metal sheets that roofers use to protect certain parts of the roof from water. Flashing is used for roof features (such as chimney and plumbing vents) as well as for walls that intersect with the roof surface. Plus, there is a special kind of flashing for the rake edges of roofs, called a drip edge. Here’s how you can check if the flashing is in place:
- Drip edge: Look along the edges of the roof for a thin metal sheet. It should be below the shingles and above the underlayment.
- Chimney: All four sides of the chimney should have metal flashing. It should extend several inches up the chimney on the side that faces the roof peak or ridge.
- Skylight: Skylights need special flashing to prevent leaks.
- Dormer: The dormer kind of pops out from the roof. Usually, it has a window. The side of the dormer needs to be protected with flashing.
Flashing should be tight against the surface it is protecting. If it has bent or rusted, the roofer should have replaced it.
Improper Nailing
If you feel comfortable getting on a ladder and looking at the shingles, you may be able to tell if they have proper nailing. Lift a shingle, gently, and look at the nails on the shingle beneath it. The nails head should be sitting exactly on top of the shingle. There should be no space between the bottom of the nail head and the shingle. However, the nail shouldn’t be too deep or embedded in the surface of the shingle. Nailing that is too deep or too shallow is a problem.
Sagging or Warped Appearance
Does the roof look almost concave, like it’s sagging in? Or, do parts of the roof look swollen like they are bubbling up? Either one is a serious issue. Typically, they mean that there is an underlying moisture issue in the roof. Perhaps there isn’t enough ventilation to remove moisture, so the roof decking is absorbing it, and either sagging or swelling up. Decking is the wooden sheets that hold the roof up over the truss.
If work has been done on the roof recently, the roofer should have noticed this issue and fixed it by installing better ventilation and replacing the warped decking. If work hasn’t been done on the roof recently, insufficient ventilation, or a serious leak, may have caused the sagging decking.
Sagging or Odd Gutters
Whether it’s the whole roof or just the gutters, sagging is bad. Sagging gutters may leak and cause property damage, including damage to the foundation of the home. Gutters that were hung at an improper angle may also overflow. Gutters shouldn’t be perfectly straight; they should be hung on a very small angle, directing water to the downspouts. That said, they will likely appear straight to your eye, so if they appear warped, they likely need to be replaced. Gutters are a critical part of the roof and your roofer should not neglect them if they need to be fixed.
Missing Underlayment
You won’t always have the opportunity to inspect the underlayment, as it should be completely hidden beneath the shingles. However, if you’re watching a roofing job in progress, you may be able to check that the underlayment is there. Or, if you’ve hired a home inspector to check out your new home’s roof, they should be able to get a look at the underlayment.
There should be two types of underlayment, a felt fabric on top, and a waterproof membrane beneath that. The membrane should have been applied for the first few feet around the edges of the roof and
What Isn’t a Sign of a Bad Roofing Job?
Not all problems on a rooftop are a sign that a roofer did a bad job. Some problems aren’t related to the roofer’s performance, even though the effect the roof. Here are some roof problems that your roofer likely didn’t cause:
- Stains on the roof:Black stains on the roof are usually the result of an algae infection. Bluegreen algae naturally eats the materials in shingles, so infections happen even on perfectly installed roofs.
- Ice dams: Sometimes roofing mistakes contribute to ice dams, but the underlying cause is usually insufficient insulation in the attic. Once that is fixed, the ice dams should stop.
If you’ve spotted a bad roofing job, you can reach out to the original roofer to try to get the problem fixed. However, sometimes it is best to trust a new roofer to fix the problem properly.