7 signs it might be time for a new roof.

The seven signs

A roof rarely fails all at once — it tells you it's getting close. These are the seven tells we look for, from what you can spot from the ground to what we check up close. None is a verdict on its own; together, they tell the story.

• ✓ 1. Age — Most asphalt roofs have a service window, and once a roof is well into it (often around the 12-to-15-year mark in our market), shingles get brittle and problems multiply. Age alone is reason enough to get it looked at.
• ✓ 2. Shingles curling, cracking, or lifting — When shingles stop lying flat, they've lost the ability to shed water reliably, and they're easy targets for the next windstorm.
• ✓ 3. Bald spots and granule loss — Granules are the shingle's sunscreen. Bare patches — and granules collecting in your gutters — mean the asphalt underneath is exposed and aging fast.
• ✓ 4. Visible storm damage — Blown-off, creased, or lifted shingles after a wind event, or the small displaced-granule impact marks that hail leaves behind.
• ✓ 5. Loss of seal — The factory strip that bonds each shingle to the one below is what holds a roof together in wind. Once it's broken, a shingle can look fine from the ground and still be unsealed and vulnerable.
• ✓ 6. Leaks, attic moisture, or daylight through the decking — Water stains on the ceiling, a damp or musty attic, or any light coming through the roof deck means water is already getting where it shouldn't.
• ✓ 7. A roof that's been patched and patched — At some point repairs stop being economical, and good money keeps going after a roof that's fundamentally at the end of its life.

And what the other side of it looks like

The roof above is the same house as the one at the top of this page, photographed after we rebuilt it. If several of the seven signs sound like your roof, this is the outcome you are actually deciding about — not just new shingles, but the underlayment, flashing, and ventilation underneath them.