Reading Your Own Roof
Lesson 8. How Old Is My Roof
You can usually find your roof's true age in public permit records in about ten minutes, and it is free.
At a Glance
- Permit records are public and searchable
- The seller disclosure from your purchase often states it
- A roof over twenty years old should be inspected yearly
- In Davenport, the median house was built in 1966
Six Places to Look
- Your closing paperwork. The seller disclosure usually names the roof age
- The city or county building permit record, which is public
- A home inspection report from when you bought it
- Previous owners, if you can reach them
- The attic, where roofers sometimes write the date and company on a rafter
- An old homeowners insurance claim, which will have a date on it
Reading the Roof Itself
If none of that works, the roof will tell you roughly. A shingle roof moves through recognizable stages.
| Age | What You See |
|---|---|
| 0 to 8 years | Flat, uniform, granules dense and even |
| 8 to 15 years | Slight color fade, a little granule in the gutters |
| 15 to 22 years | Edges lifting, visible granule loss, some cracking |
| 22 years and up | Curling, bare patches, brittle underfoot, repairs stop holding |
Why It Matters More Here Than Elsewhere
Housing in this area is old. Across Davenport the median year a housing unit was built is 1966, and seven in ten homes in the city predate 1980. An asphalt roof lasts twenty to thirty years.
That arithmetic means most homes here are on their second or third roof, and a great many are overdue without anybody having noticed. Our roof age report has the real Census figures town by town.