Roof Inspection for Illinois Homes

A roof inspection is the cheapest thing you will ever do to a roof, and it is the only step that tells you whether the next thing costs four hundred dollars or fourteen thousand. We inspect roofs across the north and northwest Chicago suburbs, and the inspection itself is free — there is no obligation attached to it and no charge if the answer is that your roof is fine.

What this page covers is the part homeowners actually ask about when they call: which kind of inspection you need, what you are holding when we leave, how a storm inspection differs from an ordinary one, and when booking an inspection is simply not worth your afternoon. If you want the full walk-through of the inspection itself — every pass, in order — that is written up separately in what a free roof inspection should cover.

The three reasons people book a roof inspection

Nearly every inspection we schedule comes from one of three situations, and each one needs a different thing from us.

Why you are calling	What the inspection has to produce	Timing that matters
After a storm — hail, straight-line wind, a branch	Evidence: dated photographs, measurements, a written scope of the damage	Policies carry their own reporting deadlines — check yours rather than waiting for spring
Buying or selling a house	A condition assessment in writing that a third party can read	Before the inspection contingency expires, not after
Age, a leak, or routine maintenance	A plain answer on remaining life and what to fix first	Spring and fall, and after any winter with heavy ice

Telling us which of the three you are in changes what we bring and how long we are there. A storm inspection is a documentation job; a maintenance inspection is a triage job. They are not the same visit.

What you get in writing

An inspection that leaves you with an opinion and no paperwork is not an inspection. When we finish, you should be holding a written assessment with dated photographs of anything we flagged, the location of each problem described so you can find it again, and a plain statement of what needs doing now, what can wait a season, and what does not need doing at all.

If the roof needs work, the scope and the estimate are separate documents from the inspection findings, and you are under no obligation to use us for the repair. A homeowner who takes our photographs to another contractor for a second price has done exactly the sensible thing.

One honest caution about paperwork. If a lender, buyer or insurance carrier has told you they need a "roof certification," ask them for the actual form or the exact wording they require before you book anything. That term means different things to different companies — some want a stated number of years of remaining life, some want a specific form filled in, some only want a licensed contractor's condition report. We would rather see what is being asked for than hand you a document that does not satisfy it.

What we actually look at

The inspection runs in passes, from the outside in, because a lot of what ends a roof is visible from the ground and most of what proves it is visible from the attic.

• From the ground. Sightlines along the ridges and planes for sag or waviness, granules collecting in the gutters and at the downspout outlets, gutter pitch and separation, and the condition of the fascia, soffit and any exposed flashing.
• On the roof. Field shingles for granule loss, bruising, cracking and lifted tabs; hail impacts counted per square where a storm is the reason for the visit; the fasteners and nail line where wind has lifted courses; and the condition of the ridge and hip caps.
• The details. Valleys, chimney and wall flashing, step flashing, pipe boots, skylight curbs and every other penetration. This is where the majority of the leaks we get called to actually are — not out in the open field of the roof.
• The attic. Decking from underneath for staining, delamination and daylight, insulation for compression and moisture, and whether the intake and exhaust ventilation are anywhere near balanced. An attic tells you whether a stain on the ceiling is a live leak or a dried-out one from two winters ago, and nothing on the outside of the roof can tell you that.

If the roof is unsafe to walk — steep pitch, ice, a failing deck — we say so and document it from a ladder and from the edge instead. Nobody gets a better report out of someone taking a risk on wet slate.

A storm inspection is a different job

When hail or wind is the reason for the call, the inspection stops being an opinion about your roof and starts being evidence about a specific event. That changes how it is done: impacts are counted in test squares, the date and direction of the storm matter, collateral damage to soft metals — gutters, downspouts, vents, the air conditioner fins — gets photographed because it corroborates the roof damage, and everything is written into a code-compliant estimate of what it costs to put the roof back.

What we will not do is tell you how your claim will end. The carrier decides what is covered and what it pays — any contractor who promises you an approval is selling you something. Our job is narrower and more useful: make sure the damage that exists is on paper accurately and completely, so the decision is made on the real condition of the roof rather than on a fifteen-minute look from a ladder.

If you want someone representing the claim itself, our partner State Adjusting Services is a licensed public adjuster and that is their work, not ours. The insurance claim page explains how the two halves fit together.

When an inspection is not worth your time

We would rather tell you this on the phone than after we have parked in your driveway.

• Your roof was properly inspected in the last twelve months and nothing has happened since. Roofs do not change quickly in the absence of an event. Book it after the next storm, not on a schedule.
• Water is coming in right now. That is a repair call, not an inspection. Get the leak stopped, then look at the whole roof once it is dry.
• You have already decided to replace the roof. Then what you need is a measurement and a scope, and we can do that in the same visit — you do not need a diagnostic exercise to confirm a decision you have made.
• Someone knocked on your door claiming your neighbourhood has storm damage and they are inspecting for free. Get a second look before signing anything, and never sign a document that assigns your insurance benefits to a contractor you met that morning.

There is also the outcome nobody advertises: sometimes the roof is fine. That is a legitimate result of an inspection, it costs you nothing, and you should be suspicious of any company whose inspections never produce it.

Booking an inspection with us

State Restoration Services is a family-owned roofing and exterior restoration contractor working across the Chicago suburbs, licensed in Illinois as roofing contractor No. 104.018671. The inspection is free, there is no obligation to buy anything from it, and we will tell you plainly if the answer is that your roof has years left in it.

When you book, tell us which of the three situations above you are in and roughly how old the roof is — that is enough for us to schedule the right length of visit. If it is storm related, the date of the storm helps too.

Schedule an inspection, or contact us with a question first. You can see the kind of work the inspections lead to in our project gallery, and the rest of what we do on the services page.