Metal Roof Inspection Visits by Purpose
The reason for the visit decides what gets the most attention. Say which one you need when you call.
Pre-Season Maintenance Inspection
A spring visit before hurricane season is the routine one. The roofer walks the roof, tightens or replaces loose screws, looks for cracked washers and dried sealant at laps, checks trim at the eaves and rakes, and clears valleys and gutters.
Timing is the point of this visit. Hurricane season starts in June, and loose trim found in May is a small job, while the same trim found missing in September is a storm repair. We suggest booking the visit in spring, and again after any named storm passes close. On exposed-fastener roofs the screws are the main item. Which fastener metals last and which need replacing is covered on Metal Roof Repair.
Post-Storm Inspection
After a tropical storm or a hard thunderstorm, the roofer looks for lifted panels, opened seams, loose ridge caps and rake trim, and dents or punctures from limbs. Ask for dated photos of anything found, since your insurer will want them. If the roof was built to a FORTIFIED designation or funded through SC Safe Home, file the photos with that paperwork too. What to do when the inspection turns up real damage is on Storm Damage Roof Repair.
Home Purchase Roof Check
A general home inspection often looks at a roof from the ground or a ladder. A metal roofer can tell you what the panel system is, whether the finish is chalking or the steel is rusting at cut edges, whether screws have been replaced before, and roughly how much life is left. On an older peninsula house that might be a terne roof that needs repainting. On a newer house it might be a standing seam roof that only needs trim work. Inside the historic districts, replacing a roof brings in the Board of Architectural Review's rules, which is worth knowing before closing rather than after (see Historic Metal Roof Restoration).
Dissimilar Metal and Corrosion Check
Some corrosion has nothing to do with age. A metal panel maker's design bulletin warns that copper and lead corrode Galvalume and galvanized steel, that a steel roof shouldn't drain into a copper gutter because the splash-back corrodes the roof, that lightning rods on these roofs should be aluminum, that condensate from rooftop air-conditioning coils should be piped off the roof, that lead pipe flashings should be replaced, and that treated lumber and wet mortar shouldn't touch the panels. An inspection that names these sources early saves a panel later.
Why Charleston homeowners call Charleston Metal Roofing Co.
- Estimate at no cost to you
- Metal, seam and fasteners named on paper
- Your request goes to a single local roofer
- Referral is free; you pay only the roofer you hire
Metal Roof Inspection Checklist
These are the items a thorough visit covers. Ask the roofer to note each one, even when it's fine.
Fasteners and washers
Backed-out screws, cracked or flattened washers, rust around screw heads, and the fastener metal.Seams and laps
Open standing seams, gaps at side laps and end laps, and old sealant that has dried or pulled away.Flashing
Walls, chimneys, skylights, pipe boots and the joint where a porch roof meets the house.Edge and ridge trim
Drip edge, rake trim, ridge and hip caps, and their fastening.Finish
Chalking, fading, scratches through the paint, and rust at cut edges and drip lines.Mixed metals
Copper, lead or treated wood touching steel, and runoff from one metal onto another.Gutters and valleys
Debris, standing water and rust where leaves sit against the metal.Underside
Stains on the decking, damp insulation and rusty nail tips in the attic, which point to condensation as much as leaks. See Metal Roof Insulation and Ventilation.
Metal Roof Maintenance Between Visits
A metal roof needs less attention than shingles, but not none. A few habits help:
Keep branches off the roof
Limbs scratch the finish in every breeze and drop leaves that hold moisture in valleys and gutters.Look from the ground after big storms
Binoculars from the yard show lifted trim and missing ridge pieces.Stay off the panels
Walking in the wrong place dents panels and bends seams. Leave the roof walk to the roofer.Plan the paint
Terne and other painted iron-based roofs have always needed regular repainting. When a steel roof's finish has worn through, a coating may be the next step: see Metal Roof Coating and Painting.
An industry field study projected a very long service life for one kind of metal roof, built with best practices (see Standing Seam Metal Roofs). Even in that study, some fasteners needed replacing long before the panels, which is the case for checking them.
Metal Roof Inspection Report Contents
A good inspection ends with something you can act on, not a verbal "looks fine". Ask for:
Dated photos
of each problem, with a note of where it is on the roof.Repair now, watch, or ignore
A short ranking, so you know what can wait until next season.Prices for the repair items
, listed separately from the inspection.The roof's system on record
: panel type, metal, finish, and fastener type, if they can tell. That record helps the next roofer, your insurer and a future buyer.