A homeowner should schedule time for both roof maintenance and for the roof’s inspection. Those 2 operations work to identify and correct for damage to the roofing or the gutter system. By the same token, both operations should take place twice a year, in the early spring, and again in the winter.

Homeowners that hire a professional to carry out an inspection should ask the inspector to check for debris in the gutters.

Gutter cleaning is a part of roofing maintenance. True, a clogged gutter does not qualify as observable damage. Still, it can act as an invitation to problems.

It could allow a small animal to establish a home in the debris-filled channel that runs along the roof’s edge. It could also allow small plants to grow in the space that is close to the roof’s edge. A good inspection should remove any source of possible harm to the roof’s structure.

Roofing inspectors should check for the existence of low-hanging branches.

Each of those would qualify as a potential source of harm. Any one of them could break and fall on the roof’s surface. That could puncture the same surface. The act of fixing a puncture does not belong on a list of DIY jobs. Therefore, the Roofers in San Mateo that discover that type of damage should be paid to fix it.

Professionals inspecting the rooftop should also check for spots where algae or moss have begun to grow.

Roofing materials were not designed to support the growth of algae or moss. Those same materials would deteriorate rapidly, if some small plant were to start growing in the space under an asphalt shingle. That fact underscores the reason that inspection and maintenance go hand-in-hand.

An inspector’s job should include examination of any objects that protrude from the roof.

That would include things like a chimney or a ventilation system. Any such protrusion should have the proper amount of flashing.

That fact should be foremost in the mind of any homeowner that has invested in creation of a roof-covered extension. That extension might abut on a roofing region with a protruding item. Consequently, that protrusion would require an adequate amount of flashing.

A listing of inspectors’ tasks ought to include that of studying the amount of ventilation in the attic.

In the absence of ventilation, heat could damage the roofing structure. In the winter, an absence of ventilation could encourage formation of ice dams in the attic.

An expert on roofing ought to have some familiarity with all the different methods that homeowners can use, when seeking to ventilate a home’s attic. Hopefully, that expert’s familiarity with ventilation equipment would include some appreciation for the availability of solar-powered ventilators.