We're DH Roofing, and we work on roofs across Norwich and the surrounding villages. One of the most common things people ask us is how to check a roof from the ground without climbing anything, so here's how we'd go about it.
Most roof problems show themselves long before water comes through a ceiling. If you know what you're looking at, a slow walk around the outside of your house with a pair of binoculars will tell you a fair bit. It won't replace a proper look up close, but it will tell you whether you need one.
How to check your roof from the ground
Pick a dry, bright day and start at the far corner of your garden or across the road, wherever you can see the whole roof slope at once. Standing right up against the wall is the worst place to look from, because you'll only see the gutter and the bottom couple of courses of tiles.
Work along one elevation at a time. Look at the main field of tiles first, then the ridge, then the edges, then the gutters and the brickwork underneath. Doing it in that order means you're less likely to miss something. Binoculars help enormously, and a phone camera with a decent zoom is useful because you can take a picture and look at it properly indoors afterwards.
The main slope
You're looking for tiles or slates that are missing, cracked, slipped out of line, or sitting at a different angle to their neighbours. A single slipped slate often shows as a dark gap in an otherwise even pattern. On concrete tiles, look for ones that have lifted at the bottom edge or are lying flat when the rest are keyed together.
Also look for a slope that isn't straight. If the line of the roof dips or waves in the middle, that's a structural issue rather than a covering issue, and it's worth getting someone up there sooner rather than later. Heavy moss growth is worth noting too, particularly on north-facing slopes, which stay damp for longer around here.
The ridge and the hips
The ridge is the line along the very top. Look along it from one end, not from the side, and see whether it runs straight. Mortar bedding that's cracked or crumbling often shows as pale gaps between the ridge tiles. If you can see daylight through a joint, or a ridge tile that's sitting proud of the others, that's a job for a roofer.
Hips are the sloping edges where two roof planes meet on a hipped roof. Same checks apply, and the bottom hip tile is the one that usually goes first because it carries the most weight.
Edges, verges and flashings
The verge is the edge where the roof overhangs the gable wall. On older Norwich houses this is often mortar, and mortar lets go eventually. Look for crumbling, gaps, or chunks that have dropped into the border below.
Flashing is the metal, usually lead, where the roof meets a chimney, a wall, or a different roof level. From the ground you can spot lead that's lifted away from the brickwork, or a strip that's slipped down and left a gap. Dark staining on the wall or chimney below flashing is a clue that water's getting behind it.
Gutters, fascias and soffits
Plenty of what looks like a roof leak is actually a gutter problem. Look for plants growing out of the gutter, sagging sections, joints that have dropped, and brackets that have pulled away from the fascia. Soft, discoloured or flaking fascia boards usually mean water's been running where it shouldn't.
If you can safely do so on a rainy day, watch where the water goes. Water pouring over the front lip of a gutter, or running down the wall from a joint, is easy to see when it's actually happening and almost impossible to diagnose when it's dry.
The walls underneath
The wall tells you a lot about the roof above it. Green algae streaks, white salt deposits, or a patch of brickwork that's always darker than the rest all point to water coming from somewhere higher up. Trace the stain upwards and see what's directly above it.
What you can see from inside
If you've got a loft hatch, a torch and a dry day, go up and look at the underside of the roof. Pinpricks of daylight through the covering, damp or stained timbers, wet insulation, or a sagging felt layer holding water are all worth noting. Do this a day or two after heavy rain rather than during it, so you can tell fresh water from old marks.
When ground checks aren't enough
Ground-level checks are good for spotting obvious faults. They won't show you nail sickness on a slate roof, worn underfelt, poorly lapped valleys, or mortar that looks fine from thirty feet but crumbles in your hand. Flat roofs are almost impossible to assess from below, because you can't see the surface at all.
So treat what you find as a starting point. If something looks wrong, or if you've got water coming in and can't see why, that's the point to get someone up there with a ladder or a tower. Please don't go up yourself on a wet or windy day.
If you've spotted something on your roof in Norwich and you'd like someone to take a proper look, call DH Roofing on 07464932323 and tell us what you've seen.