Keep a Roof Log Between Inspections, and Start It With the Date

Most homeowners get a roof inspection once, usually after something has already gone wrong. The report goes into a drawer, and the next time anyone looks at the roof is after a storm, a stain on the ceiling, or a neighbor mentions a shingle in the yard. A short roof log kept between inspections fixes that gap. It does not need to be detailed. It needs to be dated, consistent, and kept in one place, so that whoever inspects the roof next can see what was true on each date.

The log is yours. It is not a claim file, and it is not a contract. Keys documents damage and puts a written scope with photos and measurements in your hands, and a log like this is the same kind of record you can keep yourself. If you have questions about what your roof needs now, the office can be reached at (314) 220-2333.

What goes in each entry

Each entry should answer the same few questions, in the same order, so that the entries can be compared side by side. Keep them short. A line or two per item is enough.

• Date and weather: the date, and whether it followed rain, wind, hail, a hard freeze, or a warm stretch.
• Where you stood: the ground, the deck, the attic, or the yard, and whether you looked from a ladder or from the ground with binoculars.
• What you saw: granule loss in the gutters, lifted tabs, a dark streak on one slope, a soft spot underfoot, daylight showing through a vent.
• What you did: cleared a gutter, trimmed a limb, called someone, or did nothing.
• Photo file names: the names of the photos you took that day, so the photos and the entry can be matched later.

Leave out guesses about cause unless you are sure of them. A line that says the north slope looks worse than in March is useful. A line that says the north slope was damaged by hail last April is a conclusion, and a later inspector will want to decide that for themselves from the photos.

Date each entry the same way

Use the full date, written the same way every time, such as 2026-10-22. Do not mix formats, and do not write only the month, because a log that says Oct and then Nov cannot show how many weeks passed between two looks at the same valley. If you check the roof after a storm, write the storm date in the entry as well as the day you looked. The gap between the two is often the most useful number in the log, because it shows how long water or debris sat before anyone checked.

If you cannot get onto the roof for a while, write that down too. A line that says roof not walked, viewed from the yard only, keeps the gap honest and keeps you from assuming a quiet month meant a quiet roof.

Photograph the same spots every time

The most useful photographs in a roof log are the ones that repeat. Pick the same five or six positions on the house and take the same shot from each one, at roughly the same height, with the same framing. A photo from the street corner in March and the same photo in October can show a slope that has shifted, a gutter that has sagged, or a ridge line that now sits lower than it did. Photos taken at random angles cannot be compared, even when they are sharp.

Good repeat positions on most St. Louis houses include the front elevation from the sidewalk, the back corner where the two main slopes meet, the valley closest to the largest tree, each chimney from the yard, and the gutter run at the lowest point. Add the attic hatch, the nearest wall of the attic, and any dormer cheek if you can reach it safely. Keep the phone level and note the time of day, because low afternoon sun on the shingles can make a good roof look worn and the reverse is also true.

Freeze and thaw notes

St. Louis winters move water in and out of the roof edge more than most people expect. A roof that gets a warm afternoon followed by a hard night can build ice at the eave, and the water that backs up from that ice does not always show on the ceiling right away. A line in your log for each freeze and thaw cycle, with the low temperature if you know it, helps an inspector understand why a stain appeared on a date that does not match a rain.

Also note any icicles, any ice ridge along the gutter, and any gutter that looks full after a thaw. Those notes do not prove a leak, but they tell the inspector where to look first and where the water had a chance to sit.

What the log is good for at the next visit

When an inspector arrives, the log tells them where to start. It shows which slope was walked and when, which spots changed, and which photos to compare against the new ones. An inspection that starts from a dated record usually spends less time reconstructing history and more time looking at what is there now. You can also hand the log over at the start of the visit. Ask the inspector to note whether the log matched what they found, and to say so in the written report, so the two stay together.

The log also helps with the decision you are making. A roof that looks the same across six entries over two winters is different from one that has shed a little more granule every fall. Neither case is a verdict by itself. Both are easier to judge when the dates are on the page.

Paper, phone, or both

A paper notebook kept in the garage works for many households, and so does a notes app on a phone, as long as the entries stay in one place and the photos are backed up somewhere else. Pick the method you will still use in the spring. A log that stops in February is less useful than a plain one that runs for three years. If you use a phone, keep the photos in their original form and do not crop them, because a crop can hide the edge of the frame that the next inspector needs to see.

Give a copy of the log, with the photos, to whoever inspects the roof next. Keep the original. If you ever need to show what the roof looked like on a given date, a clean dated record kept by you is worth more than a memory of it, and it is the one thing every roof owner can make for free before the next storm arrives.