Do you need to be home for a roof inspection?

The outside of a roof tells most of the story, and none of it needs a person standing in your hall. A ladder at the eaves, a camera raised on a pole, or images flown over the garden each give a view of the slates or tiles, the ridge and hip lines, the verges, the lead round the chimney and the gutters below.

What the visit does need is a way to the outside walls. A side passage with a locked gate, a rear garden reached only through the house, or a shared alley with a neighbour's bins parked across it can stop a ladder going up. If the roof sits behind a flat or a garage, say so when you book, because we may need a second approach from another side.

If you are away and everything outside is open, the exterior part of the inspection can usually go ahead on its own. The photographs and the written note then cover what could be seen from outside, and we say plainly what could not.

The underside of the roof shows things the outside hides. Daylight through a gap between slates, a dark tidemark on a rafter, damp felt, a wet patch round a chimney breast and droppings or nesting material all show up from the loft far better than from the ridge. The hatch is inside, usually on a landing, so someone has to open the door.

Lofts also vary. Some have a fixed ladder and boarding. Others have a hatch above a stairwell, a push-up panel in a bathroom ceiling or a space so crowded with boxes that nobody can reach the eaves. A clear route of a metre or so to the hatch, and a torch-friendly floor, makes the check shorter. If the roof has no loft at all, as with many flat roofs and some top-floor flats, there is nothing to open.

You do not need to empty the loft, and we do not expect you to. Just let us know if it has been converted into a room, or if the hatch is padlocked or painted shut.

Plenty of surveys happen for people who live elsewhere, such as landlords with a rented terrace, owners of an inherited house, or buyers looking at a property before exchange. In those cases the usual options are simple. A tenant or neighbour holds the key and is told the day. A managing agent meets us at the door. Or you agree that we complete the outside check alone and book the loft for another time.

Tell us in advance who will be there and how to contact them. Give us a phone number that is answered on the day, and say whether any pets are loose. Dogs in a back garden are the commonest reason a ladder cannot go up.

Leasehold flats add a layer, since the roof usually belongs to the freeholder and access may need their consent. Our page on who is responsible for the roof of a leasehold flat explains who normally holds that decision.

Access is not only about doors. Wet slates and gusty wind change what can safely be done from a ladder, and a roofer may choose to check the loft first and leave the outside for a drier hour. Rain is also useful, though, because it shows water in the places it actually gets in, and some faults only appear in a downpour. We cover that trade-off in more detail in our page on inspecting a roof in the rain.

If conditions make a part of the inspection unsafe, we do not push on. We note what was checked, what was not, and why. A roofer who pretends to have seen a slope he could not reach is giving you a worse report than one who says so.

Where you live also shapes access. A tight railway terrace may mean carrying the ladder through the house, a village cottage may sit above a sloping, uneven lawn, and a rear extension can hide the lower slope from every angle at ground level. These are ordinary problems and it helps to mention them at the start.

A little preparation does more than a long chat on the doorstep. Make the hatch easy to reach and tell us where the loft light switch is. Open the side gate and shift bins, bikes and spare ladders. Mention any leak, stain or noise you have noticed, and where. A remark that a bedroom ceiling went brown after the last storm tells the roofer which slope to look at first.

Older paperwork helps as well, such as a previous roofer's invoice, a guarantee or the report from your purchase. It shows what has already been done, and it saves guessing about repairs made long before you arrived.

Being present has another benefit. You can see pictures as they are taken, ask about anything odd, and hear which items press and which can wait. If you cannot be there, the findings reach you afterwards and you can talk them through by phone or WhatsApp.

Whoever lets us in, the outcome is the same: a set of images from your roof and a price on paper, sent once the visit is done. That lets you decide at the kitchen table, not on the drive. Where something needs mending we size the job to the fault, and a 10-year workmanship guarantee, in writing, covers work we carry out.

If you are weighing up what a report should contain, our guide to roof condition reports sets out what a useful one looks like. For loft worries such as old timber or insects, see when roof timbers need a specialist look. The wider service is described under roof inspections and surveys.

To book, ring 01793 626096 or drop us a line on WhatsApp. Give the address, say who can open the loft, and mention anything already noticed.