Bring Two Winters of Utility Bills to a Roof Inspection

Before the ladder goes up, most homeowners have a roof on their mind and a utility bill in a kitchen drawer. The bill often says more about the attic than the roof does. If your heating or cooling cost rose in a year when the thermostat stayed put and the household stayed the same size, air may be moving through the ceiling where it should not. That movement is worth bringing to a roof inspection, because the roof, the attic floor and the vents all share the same space. The bills do not diagnose anything on their own. They give the inspector a timeline to check against what is happening under the deck.

Inspection

An inspector standing on the roof sees shingles, flashing, vent caps and the gutter line. The attic is where warm and cold air actually move. A bathroom fan that discharges into the attic instead of outdoors, a gap around a plumbing stack, a recessed light without a sealed cover, or an attic hatch with no weatherstripping can all push moist air up into the space under the roof deck. In St. Louis winters, that moisture condenses on cold sheathing and nails, and over several seasons it shows up as staining, frost on the underside of the deck, or soft spots near the eave. None of that is visible from the driveway.

Ask the inspector to go into the attic during the walk and to look at the deck underside above the rooms you care about. Ask whether the decking shows dark staining on the nail tips or frost-like residue, and whether the insulation sits level or has been pushed aside. Those answers tie the bill to a physical condition. They also tell you whether the problem is the roof covering, the ventilation, or the air leak, and those three call for different work. A bill can point to any of them, which is why the attic check matters.

Reading the bills yourself

Pull the monthly totals for at least two heating seasons and one cooling season. Gas and electric usage are usually listed separately, so write each one down by month. Mark any month where usage rose more than the other months did, and note whether anything changed in the house that month: a new appliance, a guest room, a different thermostat setting, a moved dryer, or work in the attic. A single high month rarely means much. A pattern that repeats every winter, with the same rooms running cold or warm, is worth reporting.

Keep the list short. The inspector does not need a spreadsheet. A one-page sheet with three years of monthly totals, the thermostat settings you use, and two or three rooms that feel wrong is enough. Bring it to the walk, hand a copy to the inspector, and ask that the written report note which observations match the pattern and which do not. If a match turns up, the report should say which part of the house it came from.

Ice at the eave deserves a mention here too. In a St. Louis winter, a warm attic can melt snow on the upper slope, and that water refreezes at the cold overhang. If you have seen that pattern, write down the dates it happened and whether it followed a heavy snow or a stretch of warm days. The eave is one of the first places an inspector will check, and dates give that check a starting point. Dates from the bill and dates from the ice together tell a clearer story than either one alone.

What it costs

Reviewing your own bills costs nothing but an hour at the kitchen table. The inspection itself is a separate line, and Keys Roofing should give you that price in writing before anyone is scheduled. The price should say what the inspection includes, whether the attic walk is part of it, and whether photographs and measurements come with the written scope. If the attic check is an add-on, ask for that price separately so you can decide whether the bills justify it. To ask for a quote, call (314) 220-2333.

Do not expect the bill review to lower the inspection price. The utility history is information for the inspector, not a discount. What it changes is the scope. A visit that includes the attic and the bathroom fan terminations is more useful than a roof-only walk when the bills point inside the house.

What to ask

Bring these questions to the call or the walk:

1. Does the inspection include an attic walk, and will the inspector photograph the underside of the deck above the rooms I flagged?
2. Will the written scope list each attic air path that was found, such as a fan, a plumbing penetration, or an uncovered hatch?
3. Will the report separate roof covering problems from ventilation and air leak findings?
4. If the attic shows moisture, will the photos and measurements be included in the written scope I receive?
5. What is the inspection price in writing, and does it change if the attic work takes longer than the roof walk?

Ask each question, and write down the answer. A clear answer is one you can check against the report when it arrives. If an answer is vague, ask for it in writing before the walk.