Roof Inspection in the Triangle

It depends on whether the rest of the roof has the life to justify the repair. A sound roof with one failed detail, a cracked pipe boot or failed step flashing, is a repair measured in hundreds. A roof with general granule loss and shingles that crack when lifted is at the end of its life, and patching it buys months rather than years. A roof inspection produces a written report that answers this properly, and we quote a good many repairs for people who expected to be told they needed a replacement.

Because nobody can price one honestly without standing on the roof. Four things move the number by thousands and none are visible from an address: the area in squares and how steep it is, how many planes and valleys there are, how many existing layers have to come off, and how much decking has rotted underneath. Book a roof inspection instead, which is bookable online and flat-priced, and the replacement quote is built from it.

Flashing, not shingles. Flashing is the sheet metal sealing every place the roof meets something else: a chimney, a wall, a valley, a vent pipe or a skylight. On the roofs we inspect across the Triangle, failed flashing and cracked plastic pipe boots account for the large majority of active leaks, and field shingle failure is well down the list. That is good news, because a flashing repair is far cheaper than a roof.

Almost certainly not directly above it. Water enters at a failed detail, runs along a rafter or a decking seam, and drops somewhere else entirely, often several feet away and sometimes a floor down. That is why tracing the leak is a real piece of work rather than a formality, and why we water test when the source is not obvious rather than opening holes until one is in the right place.

Yes, on the first visit. Stopping more water getting in comes before the repair itself, because tarping buys you a dry night and stops a ceiling collapsing while we wait for weather good enough to work in. An active leak into the house is emergency-eligible and covered around the clock, so call the emergency line rather than booking online.

We do not, and we would advise against anyone who offers to. Roofing over an existing layer is legal in some circumstances and it is always a false economy: you cannot inspect the decking underneath, the new shingles sit on an uneven surface, and the whole assembly runs hotter, which shortens its life. Every replacement we do is a full tear-off.

Our quote states a decking allowance, and anything beyond it is itemised at cost rather than absorbed or hidden. How much of the deck has rotted is genuinely not fully knowable until the old roof is off, so a quote that promises a fixed total with no allowance is either padded or about to be revised. We show you the rotten sheets before they go in the skip.

Yes, and it is the part most often missed. Air should enter at the soffit, travel under the deck, and leave at the ridge vent. If the soffit has no vents, or they were painted shut, or insulation has blocked the eaves, the ridge vent has nothing to pull and the system does not work. The result is an attic that cooks in August, shingles ageing early from underneath, and condensation on the deck in winter that people mistake for a leak. Most manufacturer warranties are void without adequate ventilation.

Usually yes, and it costs less than doing it later. The crew and the access are already there, the drip edge and the gutter interact, and fascia rot found behind an old gutter is much cheaper to address while the roof edge is open. Gutters are quoted separately rather than bundled invisibly, so you can see what each part costs and decline one.

Six inch if you have a spot that sheets over the front edge in a heavy downpour, five inch is fine otherwise. Six inch carries roughly forty percent more water and pairs with a larger downspout. On a house with a steep roof, a large single plane, or valleys dumping into one run, five inch simply overflows no matter how clean it is, and cleaning will never fix a capacity problem.

They reduce cleaning; they do not eliminate it, and anyone telling you otherwise is selling. Under Triangle pines in particular, needles bridge most guard designs and shingle grit still settles. A good guard turns an annual clean into a check every few years, which is genuinely worth paying for on a three-storey where getting a ladder up is difficult, and less compelling on a single-storey ranch you can reach with a step ladder.

Call a certified arborist first and us second. We do not remove trees or limbs, and nothing can be assessed or repaired while the load is still on the structure. Once the tree is off we will tarp the opening to stop further water getting in, then survey the damage. If this is a storm event you intend to claim for, document everything before any repair beyond emergency tarping.

Most visits carry a two hour arrival window, and roofing and construction visits carry three. We quote a window rather than an exact time because a trades crew genuinely cannot promise a minute, and we would rather be accurate than optimistic. We text you when the crew is on the way.

Yes. The diagnostic fee covers the technician's time and a written fault report, and it is waived when you approve the repair. Installation and replacement quotes carry no diagnostic fee at all, because nothing is being diagnosed on an estimate visit.

Not quite. A request is not a held slot. We confirm within 30 minutes during dispatch hours, and first thing the next dispatch day if you request outside them. The availability shown on the site reflects how full a day usually is rather than a live view of the dispatch board.

We accept Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, ACH bank transfer, and financing on qualifying projects. Payment is due on completion for service work, and on a staged schedule set out in the quote for larger projects. There are two payment methods we cannot take, which are covered in our billing questions.

Give us 24 hours notice and there is no charge. One call or one text is enough to reschedule, and we would much rather move you than charge you. Cancelling inside that window, or nobody being home when the crew arrives, carries a no-show fee.

There is a no-show fee, and it is the same figure as the late cancellation fee. It covers the slot another customer could have used and the crew's drive. If you are running late rather than absent, call us and we will usually wait or come back later the same day at no charge.

A technician arrives inside the arrival window, diagnoses the fault, tells you the repair price before touching anything, and completes the work if you approve it. You get a written report either way. Nothing is added to the invoice without your approval first, and we do not carry out extra work while you are out of the room.

The office is open Monday to Friday from 07:30, and Saturday mornings. Crews dispatch on a wider window, from 07:00 to 19:00 on weekdays and 08:00 to 16:00 on Saturday. There is no scheduled dispatch on Sunday. Emergency coverage runs 24 hours a day, every day, including holidays.

We cover Raleigh, Durham, Cary and the wider Triangle, with coverage recorded city by city because it is not uniform. Most cities have every trade and no travel fee, two have a limited set of trades and a travel fee, one is emergency coverage only, and some adjacent zip codes are outside the service radius entirely. Enter your zip code on our service areas page for a definitive answer.

No. We are residential only, including multifamily buildings up to four units. A four-unit building is the ceiling and it is a real one rather than a preference: our crews, our insurance and our licences are all sized for residential work. For anything larger, or for any commercial or industrial property, you need a commercial general contractor.

No to all three, and we will point you at the right trade for each. Pool and spa equipment sits under a separate licence, so you need a pool service company. Septic systems need a licensed septic contractor, and Wake County keeps a list of permitted installers. Solar needs a solar installer, though we will happily reroof around an existing array. We publish the full list of work we do not take on rather than making you ask.

Yes, Monday through Friday. We do not staff Spanish-speaking crews at weekends. If you need one, ask when you book and we will schedule you on a weekday rather than send someone who cannot explain the work to you.

Yes. We hold five North Carolina licences covering HVAC, general contracting, roofing, plumbing and electrical, and every licence number is published on our site rather than available on request. We carry general liability cover and workers compensation cover, and we are bonded. Certificates go to your adjuster or your HOA the same day you ask.

Twelve months on labour and parts is the standard, and several services carry considerably longer. Roof replacements carry ten years on workmanship, repiping ten years, structural repair five years, and cabinetry five years. Manufacturer warranties on equipment run separately and are often longer still, and we register them in your name before we leave.

We come back and put it right at no charge. There is no time limit on a workmanship complaint about a repair we performed. Call the office rather than the crew directly, so it gets logged and scheduled rather than depending on one person remembering.

Secure them away from the work area before we arrive. This is genuinely for their safety rather than ours: crews prop doors open, carry sharp and heavy things through the house, and use tools that frighten animals. Tell us when you book if you have a dog that needs handling carefully, and we will note it on the job.

For most visits, no, provided we can get in and reach the work. Inspections, maintenance visits and outdoor work frequently happen with nobody home. You do need to be there for anything where we will be quoting work, making decisions with you, or entering occupied rooms. We will tell you which yours is when you book.

A clear path to the work area, clear parking for a van near the house, and unlocked side gates where the job is round the back. Roofing and outdoor work need the driveway, sometimes for a skip. If parking is difficult where you are, tell us when you book, because a crew circling for twenty minutes is time on your job.

Two separate operations with separate rules. Scheduled work runs inside published dispatch hours, is booked into an arrival window, and carries the ordinary diagnostic fee. Emergency work runs around the clock on a fixed shortlist of eight services, targets a 90 minute response, and carries a call-out fee on top. Ringing the emergency line about something outside that shortlist does not upgrade it; you get booked into the next ordinary window instead. Our emergency questions list exactly which eight services qualify and set out what to do while you wait.

Thirty days from the date on it. Beyond that we will re-price rather than honour a figure that no longer covers the materials, and material prices on roofing and lumber in particular move enough that a quarter-old quote is not meaningful. Re-pricing an expired quote is quick, because the survey work is already done.

It depends on how much work you expect to need. The plans bundle seasonal visits with priority dispatch and a standing discount on repairs, billed monthly, and the discount alone pays for the cheapest tier if you have one significant repair a year. If you rarely call anyone out, paying per visit is the better arithmetic and we will say so.

No. Cedarline Home Services is a fictional company used for demos. Every price, policy, licence number and phone number on this site is invented for that purpose, and none of it should be relied on as a real quotation or a real business record.