Checking it yourself
Can you inspect your own roof safely?
The short answer
You can check a good deal of your roof without climbing onto it, and that is the safe way to do it. From the garden and the loft you can spot slipped tiles, sagging gutters, stained ceilings and pin-points of light in the loft. Stepping onto the roof is a different matter. Tiles crack underfoot, moss makes slopes slippery and some sheeting gives way without warning, so leave the surface to someone equipped for it.
A ground-level routine you can do after every gale, what the loft will show you, and where the line sits between looking and climbing.
A slow lap of the house with binoculars
Pick a dry, bright day and walk the full outline of the house, pausing at each corner. Look along the ridge, the highest line, for a dip or a tile that has shifted. Check the verges, the sloping edges at the gable ends, for gaps where mortar has dropped away. Then look at the chimney stack and the leadwork at its base, the hips if the roof has them, and the valleys where two slopes meet.
A pair of binoculars, or a phone held at full zoom, brings slipped and cracked tiles into view from the pavement or garden. Take a few photographs from the same spots each time, so you can compare them after the next storm. Note moss patches, fascias with peeling paint and gutters that sag or drip at the joints. Write down what you see and where, because a clear description saves time if you do call someone out, and it lets a roofer judge how urgent the problem is before arriving.
What the loft tells you with a torch and no ladder outside
The loft shows what is happening under the covering without any exposure to the weather. Switch the light off on a bright day and look for pin-points of daylight, which mark a missing or cracked tile. Run a torch over the rafters and the underside of the felt for dark patches or drips, and press the insulation gently to see whether it is wet. A musty smell, or beads of moisture on timbers and nail tips, suggests damp air is not escaping.
Put your weight on the joists, or on a board spanning several of them, and never on the plasterboard between; keep a hand free for balance. Tell someone you are going up, and do not go into a loft on your own if you feel unsteady. Our answer on how to check a roof from the loft goes through the signs in order. If the loft is damp but the tiles look sound, the cause may be airflow, not a hole, which is a separate question from a leak.
Why the roof surface is where inspections go wrong
The risk is on the roof itself. Concrete and clay tiles can snap under a boot, and a tile you crack while looking is a new leak you have made. Moss and algae turn a pitched slope into a slide when damp. Our page on walking on roof tiles explains how roofers spread their weight and why even they avoid it where they can.
Fragile materials are the sharpest danger. HSE's guidance on fragile roofs names fibre cement sheeting and rooflights, and its asbestos advice adds that such roofs are always fragile. A garage, outbuilding or old extension roof of sheeting may appear sound yet fail without warning, and it is not one to step onto. If you are unsure what a roof is made of, treat it as fragile and stay off, because no leak is worth an injury.
Gutters, flat roofs and other jobs that tempt people up a ladder
Gutters are the usual reason people climb. A leaning ladder pressed against plastic guttering can crack it or slip, and reaching sideways from a ladder pushes the limits of balance. Wherever possible, watch the gutters from the ground during heavy rain: an overflow at one point shows a blockage or a joint that has dropped out of line, and you can report the position exactly.
For flat roofs, look from a first-floor window or the neighbour's boundary if you can do so safely. Standing water that remains a day after rain, blisters, cracks in the covering and loose edge trims are all visible from there, and you can photograph them without leaving the room. Where height is the obstacle, a drone view can replace the ladder, and our comparison of drone and ladder inspections sets out what each shows.
When to stop looking and ask a roofer to take over
Stop at the point where the next step needs a ladder onto the covering, or where something looks wrong but you cannot tell what. A slipped tile, a lifted ridge, a loose flashing, a stain that grows or a ceiling that feels damp should go to a person equipped to reach it and explain what it means. Do not scrape, drill or clean old sheeting, soffits or boards on a house put up or refurbished before 2000, because HSE cautions that asbestos may well be somewhere in the fabric of such buildings.
When we inspect, you get photographs of the problem areas, a clear call on whether to mend, hold or renew the roof, and a quote in writing after the visit. If the roof is fine, the report says that too, and you have lost nothing but a little time. How often to look is covered in our answer on how often to inspect a roof, and the roof inspections and surveys hub shows the visits available.
Related questions
Checking from the ground
What should I photograph before I phone a roofer?
Start with wide shots of each side of the house, then close-ups of anything that looks wrong, noting which elevation it is on. Add pictures of ceiling stains, daylight in the loft and overflowing gutters. A short, dated set lets the person you call judge how urgent the job is before the visit.
Is it safe to look at an extension roof from an upstairs window?
Leaning out is only safe if the window opens fully and you can keep both feet on the floor. Do not climb out onto the roof to get a better view. If you cannot see enough from inside, a drone or a ground-level survey is a safer way to get the same pictures.