Can a Roof Be Inspected From the Ground?

What you can see from the garden

Stand back far enough to see the whole slope, preferably on a dry, bright day when shadows show up distortions. Look first at the lines. The ridge should be straight, the eaves should run level and the slope should be flat, with no dips or bellies. A sag in the ridge or a hollow in the slope points to movement in the timbers below and deserves a closer look.

Then look at the tiles. Missing or slipped tiles show as dark gaps or tiles that sit proud of their neighbours. Cracks are harder to see, but a tile that has split in half often shows as a line with a shadow. Moss, lichen and algae are obvious, and so are bent or fallen gutters and stained fascias. On brick chimneys you can spot crumbling mortar, leaning stacks and cracked flaunching, the mortar cap around the pots.

A flat roof or a low-pitched extension is the odd one out. Water collects out of view, and ponding, blistering and open seams cannot be seen from the garden. A flat roof almost always needs someone to look at it close up, from a ladder or by getting on to it safely.

What cannot be judged from below

Flashings, the strips of lead or other metal that seal the joint where a roof meets a wall or a chimney, are tucked into the masonry and difficult to see from the ground. Valleys, the internal angles where two slopes meet, hide their condition under tiles. A pinhole in lead or a split in a fibreglass valley can look fine from the path and leak for years.

Underlay, battens and rafters are out of sight entirely. So is the back of the roof if the house is detached with a tall boundary, or terraced with a flat to one side. Ventilation, insulation and condensation can only be judged from inside. That is why the loft inspection is part of any proper survey, and our answer on whether a roof inspection includes the loft explains what is looked at there.

Slate roofs hide a different problem. Slipped slates, corroded nails and cracked slates are hard to spot from a distance because the surface is uniform and dark. A slate may be sitting on one fixing only, held in place by little more than its own weight.

Tools that extend what the ground gives you

Binoculars and a camera with a long lens are cheap and useful. A phone on a pole can reach lower eaves. A drone can see the whole roof, the ridge and the far slopes without anyone climbing up, and it records images that can be zoomed afterwards. It is good for large or awkward roofs, though it still does not replace a close look at a flashing. Our guide to drone roof surveys explains where they fit.

A ladder gives the best view of a lower roof, but it is a risk and best left to people who work at height as a job. If you are tempted to climb, read our answer on whether it is safe to inspect your own roof first.

Weather and light matter more than people expect. A low winter sun picks out every ripple in the slope and every raised tile, while flat grey cloud hides them. If the first look is inconclusive, try again at another time of day before deciding.

How we combine the methods

We start with a walk around the property, looking up from the ground and photographing each slope. Where it is safe, we then go up for a closer look at the details the ground cannot show, and we go into the loft. We take photographs of the faults on your own roof and keep them for the report.

A fixed written quote follows for any work needed. If the ground check is all that was required, and nothing worrying turns up, we say so and leave it there. There is more on how we work on our roof inspections in Basingstoke page.

An inspector working from the ground will tell you what the limits are, and a report that says the view was from a distance only is a sign of an honest one. Treat a report that claims to have checked flashings from the pavement with suspicion.