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One Way To Tell An Aging Roof

Reblogger
Real Estate Agent with Douglas Elliman Real Estate 40OK1100747

Great tips on roof inspection to prevent flooding near the house and getting leaks from wind storms when the shingles fly off.

Original content by Jay Markanich 3380-000723

As roof's age, the shingles begin to shed the granules that make up the color and provide UV protection.  This shedding contributes toward the demise of the roof as the shingles dry out, curl, cup, crack and break.  As they get drier, the shingles become more wind vulnerable and blow off more easily.  Often, when that happens, they do not blow off singly but en masse, a little neighborhood of shingles all blowing away at the same time.  This vulnerability exists on the windward and leeward side of the roof.  These granules are important!  But they come off.

Such was the case on a recent inspection.  Each downspout revealed severe granular discharge where they eliminated gutter water.

This house is 17 years old.  I do not know if the shingles used were intended to last 15 or 20 years, but it is fair to say this roof is very stressed.  It might survive a while longer, but likely not much.

Home inspectors are not in the game of predicting how long a roof will last.  Could they do that accurately I guarantee we inspectors would not inspect homes but roofs alone!  That little prediction key would be golden!  We could canvas a neighborhood with fliers telling people we could predict their roof's expected life span and the money dam would burst!

The sellers said that what you see on the ground in this photo is because they recently cleaned the gutters.  Well, yeah!  Of course!  Where would the granules go first?

Another key I saw:  all but one of the other houses in the neighborhood had new roofs (I routinely look at the other houses in a neighborhood to see how my subject house stacks up).  There is a reason for that!  People generally don't go about replacing things unless they need to be.   Roofs are expensive and most don't have  the discretionary money to replace them proactively.

My recommendation:  glance at the roof, and at the bottoms of the downspouts.  Look for signs of roof distress.  See if you can calculate the age of the house, and perhaps the roof.  Ask the sellers!   Look also at the neighborhood to see what the other houses have replaced.  That makes for great comparison.

Comments (3)

Pam Turner, REALTOR®, e-PRO®, SFR
Century 21 Belk Realtors Dalton GA - Dalton, GA

Thanks for some very helpful tips!

Jun 16, 2010 01:31 AM
David Okada
Douglas Elliman Real Estate - Manhattan, NY
Service-Beyond Your Expectations

Your welcome Pam.

Jul 13, 2010 11:50 PM
Laura Cerrano
Feng Shui Manhattan Long Island - Locust Valley, NY
Certified Feng Shui Expert, Speaker & Researcher

Hey David,

Great tips on what to look for with the roof...always need to make sure that is in check..thanks for sharing :)

Jan 13, 2011 12:18 AM