If He Won't Walk The Roof, Is An H.I. Competent?

[Rob Amaral]

I have a 60mm spotting scope that I rarely need to use, but sometimes it comes in handy perfectly...

[Kyle Kubs]

Ah the old walk it or don't controversy... I shutter to even walk into this room.

As several others here have said, I get paid quite well compared to many inspectors in this area and my clients expect me to get up on the roof for the kind of fee I charge. Maybe one out of ten actually asks during the initial contact, "will you walk on the roof to inspect it?".

Sure there is a line nobody should cross and for every individual it is in a different comfort zone and that is fine. Never risk your ability to walk or feed yourself or play with your children to show off. But to not get on any roof ever, or even put a ladder up to a gutter? IMHO if you are that scared of falling you should find a desk job, you don't belong in this business. (This is my $.02 and I'm entitled to it.)

To answer this question;

Quote: Will one traverser offer one true story of finding a noteworthy roof defect that he knows a previous HI missed?

Well, I'll admit the timing is lucky but.

Tell me how you are going to see this from the ground...

Click to Enlarge

88.54 KB

The entire field of the roof was like this.

Heres the roof it was on. I pulled my ladder up onto the lower roof to access the upper from the gable. Not my preferred thing to do but on this one it was totally within reason.

Click to Enlarge

75.41 KB

The seller had just bought the house in 2004. He asked why his inspector didn't find this. I didn't ask him, I told him, "your inspector didn't get up on a ladder to inspect the roof". He just nodded his head into a gradual bow and walked away. Most sellers get pissed off at us for the things we find. I have sellers from the houses I've inspected calling me all the time to do their inspection and saying, boy you raked me over the coals so bad, your doing that for me now.

And besides if you don't go up you'll never get to enjoy the view.

Click to Enlarge

64.72 KB

Finally, I'll relate this to my diving experience. Diving to the bottom of the ocean can be exhilarating, awe inspiring and lethal. On any given day it can change from one to the other too fast to imagine. Many people want to get dive certified and be one of the crowd, put on the costume and go where few have. You can always tell the ones to stay away from, more interested in getting their pictures taken in their gear, then doing their safety checks. Then they get down there and the anxiety hits and they panic. At this time they become a danger to themselves and everyone around them. Typically what makes the difference between the guy who will live and the one who will be described as "Failed to surface" will be his comfort level with handling the panic and the situation. A few years ago I told my own wife, your too prone to panic and you don't handle it well, your not a safe diver and you should not dive anymore. She was smart enough to take the advice. The comfort level thing plays into the roof as well. More often on the way down then up, but then, like diving, your already in a dangerous place. As anyone who's taken the fast way down will tell you, it sucks. So in a rather long winded way what I'm saying is, don't ever go up because somebody else thinks you should, bad enough to kill or hurt yourself, worse to land on you clients six year old playing in the yard...

[Brandon Whitmore]

Kyle,

Maybe I'd better take a look at that pic in the morning when I am a little more awake. Are your issues with the roof the high nailing, the inadequate shingle exposure (blow- off issue), unsealed shingles, or something else?

I'm guessing it's the high nailing. Certainteed actually allows that on lower sloped roofs, but they at least have nail lines showing the variances allowed......

[Kyle Kubs]

Hey Brandon,

The main issue is that not a single shingle on this roof was sealed to another shingle. The exposure also was a little off and your right the spec on these shingles allows a wide margin for nailing. Basically the manufacturer changed the spec to make them idiot installable without so many denials from the code inspectors. Kind of like how the military made the physical testing requirements easier so more people could pass them... Some still had nails way too high, others not set sufficiently.

[Brandon Whitmore]

Thanks Kyle,

Just making sure I wasn't blind......