What is a drone roof inspection? Should I get one?

Roofs are one of the most important components of the home's structure. They can also be the most costly to repair. Here in the midwest, most homes are built with an asphalt shingle roof covering. Well maintained asphalt shingle roofs typically last anywhere from 20-30 years before needing replacement. Therefore, it's likely that during the your tenure in a home, you'll have to repair or replace your roof covering.

During a home inspection every effort should be made to walk upon the roof covering in order to look for major and minor defects. However, the standards of practice home inspectors follow do not require that every roof (or any roof for that matter) be walked upon. There are a number of reasons why a home inspector will not walk a roof, including but not limited to the pitch of the roof, height of the roof, weather conditions, and inspectors' abilities. This is where drones come into play.

Drones have revolutionized many industries since the turn of the century. Home inspections are no exception. They allow us (as inspectors) to see the highest and hardest to reach points of a roof's surface very clearly without endangering ourselves or diminishing the life of the roof itself. This is especially important if the roof covering is concrete, clay, or slate tile which can be very easily damaged by someone walking upon it.

So what other reasons would you get a drone inspection of your roof covering? Well, it's important to maintain your roof covering in order to prolong its life. Therefore, you should get it inspected every once in a while if you are not able to clearly see the entirety of the roof from the ground or a ladder. This will drastically improve your knowledge of the condition of the roof covering and alert you to any potential future expenses that might arise because of its condition.

Here in the midwest we tend to get a lot of tornados. I've heard it said that this is the reason we mostly use asphalt shingle roofs. Although they don't last as long as a concrete, clay, slate tile, or even a metal standing seam roof, they are easy and cost effective to replace. In the event that you have a natural disaster near you, a drone inspection can not only provide peace of mind that your roof is not harmed, but also be very important in providing insurance agencies with photo evidence of the damage that may have occurred.

Now, there are important details to note when looking for someone to provide you with this service. The first is that not just anyone who has a drone can legally provide you with an inspection. The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) has very strict guidelines on who can provide this service, when, and even where it can happen. Take it from a Private Pilot and UAV Pilot (unmanned aerial vehicle or drone), there can be serious consequences to someone providing a drone service without the proper authority to do so.

Without delving into the weeds of the federal regulations, you should know and look for the following when choosing your inspector:

• they are UAV (Drone) certified through the FAA. This is different than the 2 hour course that you must take to simply fly your drone for fun.

• they have registered their drone with the FAA. The registration number should be identifiable somewhere on the drone itself.

• they are knowledgeable about the area's airspace requirements. Homes next to or within the vicinity of airports may have more stringent airspace requirements.

• they are knowledgeable about the weather conditions and how they will affect quality photos of the roof covering. This could mean rescheduling the inspection for the sake of quality service.

So should you get a drone roof inspection? The answer is yes. There is no good reason not to regularly have your roof inspected. We offer drone inspections for free with any full home inspection if our inspectors can't reach certain parts of the roof. By the way, this includes the chimney as well. As with many other parts of the home, taking good care of your roof will provide you with peace of mind and certainly less costly repairs down the road. In this case an 'out of sight out of mind' attitude could mean a significant blow to your finances in the future. Do it! You will be happy that you did.