Roof inspection in Durham

What fails on Durham roofs, specifically

An inspection is only useful if the inspector knows what this climate and this housing stock do to a roof. Durham is heat, humidity, pollen, pines and the occasional remnant, and each one leaves a signature.

Algae on the north slope. The black streaks down the shaded side of nearly every roof in Parkwood and Croasdaile are Gloeocapsa magma, and for years they are only ugly. The question is whether the granules underneath are still there. We run a hand across the streaked area; bare mat under the algae means that slope is older than it looks.

Valleys packed with needles. Loblolly needles and spring pollen collect in every valley and against every chimney, hold water for weeks, and rot the shingle edges sitting in the puddle. A cut-up 1990s roof south of NC-54 might have six valleys, and the one nobody can see from the ground is the one failing.

Boots and seal strips. Ten Piedmont summers crack a rubber pipe boot and bake the tar strip that holds each shingle down. We lift shingles by hand on each slope; if they come up without resistance, the roof will not survive its next remnant however it looks.

Chimneys that were flashed once. On a 1920s–50s house in Trinity Park or Lakewood the chimney was flashed with tin and tar when the house was built. We check for step flashing under the shingles and counter-flashing in the mortar; usually one or both are missing, with a matching stain on the attic side.

Attics that do not breathe. A Durham attic in July sits at 130 degrees with humid air trapped under the deck. From below we look for rusty nail tips, mold bloom on the sheathing, insulation burying the soffit vents, a ridge vent nailed on but never cut through, and bath fans dumping steam into the attic. All five are common on 1990s and 2000s houses and take years off a roof from underneath.

Board decking and extra layers. On the old houses we count layers at the drip edge and check the deck from the attic. Wide gaps between 1x6 boards, or three layers of shingles, mean a replacement is a tear-off with a plywood overlay, and the price moves by several thousand dollars.

Three Durham houses, three different inspections

Buying or selling in the Triangle

Due-diligence windows in Durham run 10–14 days and sometimes a week. The general home inspector gets to the roof from a ladder, notes that the shingles look worn, and recommends a licensed roofer. A roof estimate Durham buyers can hand to their agent turns that sentence into a dollar figure, which is what a seller credit is negotiated from. Tell us the deadline when you book and we work to it. Sellers use the same report the other way: a written eight to ten years of remaining life, with the boots and the valley already fixed, takes the roof off the list before the buyer's inspector adds it.

What the report says, and costs

It arrives within a day: a photo of each issue with a plain sentence about what it is, a repair price for that item, and a straight opinion on remaining life. If the roof is sound, the report says so. We do not write reports that soften you up for a replacement; a roof inspection Durham homeowners cannot trust is worthless to them and to us.

A standalone inspection with the written report is $150–$300 depending on roof size and pitch, and the fee comes off the invoice if we do the work it recommends. After a storm, when the damage is obvious and we are quoting the repair anyway, the look is free.

Feet, then drone

We fly a drone for the overview shot and for roofs too steep or wet to walk safely, but a drone cannot lift a shingle to test its seal, feel a soft spot in the deck, or get into the attic. A flyover is a photograph. The inspection happens on foot and on your knees in the insulation.

If the report finds something, the roof repair and roof replacement pages explain what comes next and the pricing page has current ranges. For a buyer weighing a credit against a new roof, read our post on roof repair versus replacement.