Most common fail
Active leaks
stains, wet decking, drips in the attic
Close behind
Flashing & shingles
loose flashing, missing, cracked or bald shingles
Roof inspection time
45–90 min
for most homes we inspect, report the same day
Home inspector scope from the InterNACHI Home Inspection Standards of Practice. Inspection time is from our own roof inspections.
What will fail a roof inspection? There is no single pass-or-fail test for a roof, but the problems that get a roof flagged are consistent: signs of an active leak, flashing that has pulled loose at a chimney, wall or vent, missing, cracked or badly worn shingles, soft or sagging decking, and moisture in the attic. Any one of those can turn a home sale, an insurance renewal or a plain checkup into a repair list.
Below is what inspectors look for, what usually gets written up, and how to tell a small fix from a bigger problem. If you want your own roof checked before someone else does it, our roof inspection page explains what we look at and what you get afterward.
A one-story house with a dark shingle roof. From the street it looks fine; an inspection looks at the flashing, the attic and the decking too.
Who Is Inspecting, and What They Check
“Failing” means something different depending on who is looking at the roof.
A home inspector during a sale
Tennessee licenses home inspectors through the Department of Commerce & Insurance. A general home inspection looks at the roof as one part of the whole house. Under the InterNACHI Standards of Practice, a widely used standard, the inspector checks the roof covering, gutters, downspouts, vents, flashing, skylights and chimney from the ground or the eaves, and must report observed signs of active roof leaks. The same standard says the inspector is not required to walk on the roof, predict its remaining life, or confirm the shingles were fastened properly.
So a home inspection can flag a problem, but it often cannot tell you how big it is. A buyer will usually ask for a closer look by a roofer.
A roofer’s inspection
A roofing inspection goes further: up on the roof, slope by slope, plus the attic. A standard home inspection covers roofing at a surface level; a dedicated roof inspection is where you learn whether a finding is a small repair or a roof near the end of its life.
An insurance or warranty inspection
Insurers and manufacturers look at the roof for their own reasons: storm damage for a claim, or how the system was installed and maintained for a warranty. What they flag follows from that purpose, which is why the same roof can “pass” one inspection and get written up on another.
What Will Fail a Roof Inspection
These are the findings that most often get a roof flagged, roughly in order of how seriously an inspector treats them:
- Signs of an active leak. Water stains on the ceiling, damp or stained decking in the attic, or drips during rain. This is the one finding the InterNACHI standard requires a home inspector to report as needing correction.
- Soft or sagging decking. A section that dips or feels spongy underfoot means water has been getting into the wood for a while.
- Failed flashing. Gaps or separation around chimneys, walls, skylights, vents and valleys, where West Tennessee’s freeze-thaw cycles work flashing loose over time.
- Missing, cracked or curling shingles. Wind lifts edges and ridges; age curls and cracks the rest.
- Heavy granule loss. Bald patches on the shingles, or granules piling up in the gutters, show shingles wearing out or bruised by hail.
- Hail impact damage. Dents in metal vents and gutters and soft spots in shingles after a hail storm, often invisible from the ground.
- Cracked vent pipe boots. The rubber collars around plumbing vents dry out and split, a common small leak.
- Poor attic ventilation and moisture. Moisture building up in the attic through humid summers rots decking from below.
- Gutters pulling away or overflowing. Water backing up under shingle edges and sitting against fascia boards.
- Patches that do not belong. Tar smeared over flashing or mismatched repairs suggest a leak that was covered rather than fixed.
Common Roof Inspection Findings and the Usual Fix
| Finding | What it usually means | Usual fix |
|---|---|---|
| A few missing or lifted shingles | Wind damage in one area | Repair |
| Cracked vent boot | Age; a common leak source | Repair |
| Loose chimney or wall flashing | Freeze-thaw separation | Repair (rebuild flashing) |
| Clogged or pulling gutters | Skipped upkeep | Maintenance |
| Hail bruising across the slopes | Storm damage over the whole roof | Often replacement; possible insurance claim |
| Curling, cracking and bald shingles everywhere | Roof near the end of its life | Plan a replacement |
| Soft decking in several areas | Long-term water getting in | Decking repair, often with replacement |
A general guide from what we see on West Tennessee roofs. The right fix depends on the roof’s age and condition.
Most of the items at the top of that table are small repairs: This Old House puts roof vent repairs at $75 to $250 and flashing at $200 to $500 nationally (March 2026). Our guide on whether you can repair part of a roof covers where that line sits, and our roof replacement cost guide covers the bottom rows.
What a Roof Inspection Includes
A full roof inspection covers every part that keeps water out of the house:
- Shingles: granule loss patterns, cracking, curling and impact damage from past hail.
- Flashing: chimneys, vents, skylights and valleys.
- Gutters and downspouts: drainage capacity for West Tennessee’s 52 inches of annual rain and the debris from mature trees.
- Attic: ventilation, signs of moisture, and stains on the decking that show where water has gotten in, even if it is not leaking today.
- Decking: where it is accessible, for soft spots and rot.
The back of a house with a deck. Rear slopes nobody sees from the street are where problems go unnoticed longest.
How to Get Ahead of a Roof Inspection
If you are selling, renewing a policy, or just want no surprises, a few steps help:
- Look from the ground and the attic. Check for missing shingles, granules in the gutters, and stains on the attic decking after a rain.
- Clear the gutters. Overflowing gutters are an easy write-up and an easy fix.
- Fix small things first. A cracked vent boot or a loose piece of flashing is a small repair now and a leak finding later.
- Get a roofer’s inspection before listing a house. For a home over 10 years old, a pre-listing or pre-purchase roof inspection is worth the cost before you are the one responsible for what is up there.
- Inspect before storm season. February or March, before Madison County’s spring hail season, leaves time to fix what turns up.
How We Inspect a Roof
We start by asking what you have noticed: a stain, a sound in the rain, shingles that look different. Then we work across every section of the roof, looking for obvious damage and the small signs that something is developing, and we check the attic wherever we have access. Most residential inspections take 45 to 90 minutes. You get a written report with photos the same day, with findings ordered by urgency so you know what needs attention now and what can wait a year or two, and our honest read on whether you are looking at maintenance, repairs or a roof approaching replacement.
We never start additional work without discussing it with you first. We inspect roofs from Jackson out to Milan, Humboldt, Lexington, McKenzie and Dyersburg. To book one, see our roof inspection services or request a free inspection below.
Frequently Asked Questions
What will fail a roof inspection?
The findings that most often get a roof flagged are signs of an active leak, soft or sagging decking, flashing that has separated at chimneys, walls or vents, missing, cracked or curling shingles, heavy granule loss, hail damage, and moisture or poor ventilation in the attic.
What does a roof inspection include?
A full roof inspection covers the shingles, the flashing at every penetration and valley, gutters and downspouts, attic ventilation and moisture, and the decking where it is accessible. Ours ends with a written report with photos the same day.
Do home inspectors walk on the roof?
Not necessarily. Under the InterNACHI Standards of Practice, a home inspector checks the roof from the ground or the eaves and is not required to walk on it or predict its remaining life. A roofer's inspection goes onto every slope and into the attic.
How long does a roof inspection take?
Most residential roof inspections we do take 45 to 90 minutes, depending on the size and complexity of the roof, including the attic where we have access.
Why do I keep getting calls about roof inspections?
After storms, roofing companies canvass by phone and door to door. A free inspection is common and not a bad sign in itself, but Tennessee's Department of Commerce & Insurance advises checking a contractor's license at verify.tn.gov and not being pressured into signing on the spot.
How often should a roof be inspected?
Once a year for most homes, plus after any significant hail or wind storm. Newer roofs in good condition that have not been through major weather can often go every two years.