3 Big Reasons To Get A Roof Inspection Before Buying A House

Are you thinking about buying a house? Have you had the property appraised and inspected yet? When purchasing a home, it's not uncommon for the buyer to assume that the basic inspection and appraisal that is required for the purchase is sufficient to spot any issues with the home. Although this is true for the most apparent problems, it is not always the best decision. There are a variety of reasons why you might want to hire a roof repair service to take a look at your roof and other individual house parts. For instance:

Discover potential roof instability: When buying a home in an area where there is snow, it is especially important to have your roof inspected before purchase. Although the roof may have withstood snowfall for many years, this is no guarantee that it will continue to do so. This is especially true if the house has an attic bedroom or other living space. In order to be able to withstand the heavy load of snow, roofs are often designed with various trusses and rafters to help carry the weight. People who don't understand how roofs work may remove these trusses and rafters to open up the attic space and turn it into a usable area. Unfortunately, this can make the roof collapse under a relatively minor load of snow, resulting in an extremely high roof repair bill. An inspection will uncover whether or not this is the case and how much it might cost to fix, if so.

Find dry rot: A house that is infested with dry rot will have many symptoms appear, such as smelling musty or having a thick layer of oddly-colored dust on most surfaces. But when dry rot is first getting started, the symptoms can be much more subtle and difficult to find. Somewhat counter-intuitively, dry rot does need moisture to get started. it's only called dry rot because wood looks dry and shriveled after it's been affected, so it often begins with the roof or the area just beneath the roof. If the inspection should uncover dry rot in this area, it's up to you to decide whether the roof repair bill will be worth it or whether you should move on to a different house.

Estimated roof lifespan: Roofs do not all age at the same rate. Depending on local weather conditions, nearby trees,  the house layout itself, and more, two nearly identical roofs that were replaced in the same neighborhood and at the same time may need to be replaced years apart. Since the average person cannot tell how old shingles are or how worn they are simply by looking at them, it's important to get a roofing professional to inspect the roof to tell you approximately how long it'll be until you are in need of a roof repair or replacement.

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