Roof inspection in Tampa

Four different things get called a roof inspection

They are not interchangeable, and being sent the wrong one is a common and avoidable waste of money.

1. A condition inspection. What state is the roof in, how much life is left, what needs doing. This is the general-purpose one.
2. A post-storm damage inspection. Documenting what a specific event did, with photographs, for a claim. The output matters as much as the finding.
3. A real-estate inspection. Usually part of a wider home inspection at a closing, and usually shallower than a roofing specialist would go.
4. A wind mitigation inspection. A different thing entirely: an inspector completing a standard state form recording specific construction features for your insurer. It is not a condition report and it will not tell you whether your roof is failing.

If your insurer has asked for something, ask exactly which one. The wind mitigation form is covered separately in the wind mitigation guide.

What an inspector should actually look at

A walk around the garden with a pair of binoculars is not an inspection. A real one covers, at minimum:

• The field of the covering — granule loss, cracking, brittleness, lifted or unsealed courses, previous repairs.
• Every penetration — pipe boots, vents, skylights, solar mounts. This is where leaks come from, so this is where time should be spent.
• Flashing and valleys, including wall intersections and anything previously patched with sealant.
• Ridge, hip and edge — the high-pressure zones in wind, and the first to lift.
• The attic, from inside. The underside of the decking records the roof's actual history: old staining, active tracking, daylight at fasteners, mould, and whether ventilation is working. An inspection that skips the attic has skipped the honest half.
• Drainage — gutters, scuppers, and where the water actually goes when it rains hard.

What you should be given afterwards

A written report with photographs. Not a verbal summary, not a quote with no findings attached. It should say what was examined, what was found, where, and what the recommended action is for each item, separated into what needs doing now and what can wait. If the recommendation is replacement, the report should show you the decking or the covering condition that justifies it.

Keep every report. A dated series of them is the most useful thing you can own when an insurer questions roof age or when a storm claim needs a before-and-after comparison.

Inspections and roof age

Age is where inspections turn into money in Florida. State law bars an insurer from refusing to issue or renew a policy solely because of roof age where the roof is under 15 years old, and for a roof of 15 years or more you are entitled to have an authorised inspector assess it — at your own expense — before replacement can be required. If that inspection finds 5 years or more of useful life remaining, roof age alone is not a ground for refusal.

In practice that means a sound older roof has a documented route to staying insured, and the inspection is what unlocks it. Confirm the detail with your insurer; this is general information, not legal advice.