Metal roofing
Architectural shingles
Tile roofing
GAF
Owens Corning
Flat & low-slopeFree roof inspection with deck photos before we talk money - GAF and Owens Corning certified installation
Fast, Reliable Roof Inspection Across Los Altos
A roof inspection in Los Altos typically costs between $250 and $600 for a standard single-family home, with larger estate properties from the 1950s – 70s running $450 to $900 when core sampling and detailed decking evaluation are required. Most inspections in Los Altos are completed in under two hours, and we provide a written report with photos and our specific repair recommendations before we leave the property. If you need a roof inspection in Los Altos, call (669) 238-2101 and we’ll schedule a time that works for you.
Los Altos is not a town where you guess about your roof. The homes here were built with real materials, real craftsmanship, and real architectural intent. When we inspect a roof in Los Altos, we are not doing a drive-by. We are walking the ridges, lifting shake where it counts, checking flashing at every transition, and looking at what the oak trees have been doing to your decking for the past forty years. That is the inspection you need, and it is the inspection we do.
Why Brennan Roofing Co San Jose Is Los Altos’s Preferred Roof Inspection Company
We work inside a defined, named standard: the Garrison Standard. For an inspection, that means a fixed written price before any work starts. You know the number before we arrive. The price does not move at the door. Our technicians are background-checked and show up in uniform, so when you open your door to someone who will be climbing onto your roof, you know exactly who they are and why they are there.
Our local reputation in Los Altos is built on telling homeowners the truth about their roofs, even when that truth is not what they hoped to hear. Many inspection companies in Los Altos will hand you a one-page checklist and a vague suggestion to “keep an eye on it.” We do not work that way. When we inspect a roof in Los Altos, you get measurements, moisture readings, photos of problem areas, and a plain-English explanation of what needs attention now, what can wait, and what will fail before the next winter storm.
Travis Oakley leads our team, and he holds every report to the same standard: if it is not specific enough to act on, it is not finished. That is why Los Altos homeowners who have been burned by no-show roofers or door-shifting pricing trust us to tell them straight. When we serve Los Altos, our crews come from our San Francisco Bay Area office, coordinated so we can reach Los Altos homes quickly and with the equipment needed for the inspection.
Every inspection is backed by the 365-Day Done Right Promise. If our inspection missed something we should have caught, and that missed item leads to a leak or failure within one full year, we come back and make it right in writing, at no charge. We put that on paper because we stand behind the work. Not many roof inspectors in Los Altos will do that.
Styles & brands we work with
Commercial Roof Inspection in Los Altos
Commercial Roof Inspection in Los Altos covers the low-slope and flat roof assemblies common on the area’s older office buildings and masonry-clad storefronts, where standing water and failed membrane seams create leaks that a quick visual pass will not catch. Brennan Roofing sends an inspector who works through a defined protocol on every commercial inspection in Los Altos: review the membrane condition, check all penetrations and pitch pans, verify drainage paths, and document any ponding areas with photos and measurements. A commercial roof inspection in Los Altos typically runs $550 to $1,400 depending on building size and roof access, and the report includes our written recommendation for repairs or replacement with materials from manufacturer lines such as GAF and CertainTeed.
When Los Altos building owners call us about a commercial inspection, they are usually chasing a leak that has reappeared after another company “fixed” it. Our job is to find the actual source, not just caulk over the symptom. The inspection report we provide is detailed enough to hand to a property manager or file with an insurance claim.
When to Schedule a Commercial Inspection in Los Altos
If you own or manage a commercial property in Los Altos with a roof that is ten years old or older, schedule an inspection before the rainy season. The wet winters here expose seams and flashing failures that stay hidden through the dry summer. Catching those failures in September or October gives you time to budget and complete repairs before water gets into the building.
We also recommend a commercial inspection after any significant storm event, particularly the atmospheric-river systems that push heavy rain through the South Bay. Wind-driven rain exposes weaknesses at membrane seams and at the corners of rooftop equipment curbs.
What the Report Includes
Every commercial inspection report from Brennan Roofing includes the written price for any recommended repair work, itemized before you commit to anything. You will see membrane condition, seam integrity, drainage performance, and our specific repair or replacement recommendation, all supported by photos and moisture readings. The report is written in plain English, not roofing jargon.
Roof Inspection Services in Los Altos
Roof Inspection Services in Los Altos cover what homes in this specific housing stock actually require: a methodical evaluation of shake or composition shingles, flashing, decking, underlayment, drip edge, and attic ventilation. A standard single-family home inspection in Los Altos runs $250 to $600, and for the area’s larger estate homes with complex rooflines, original cedar shake, and significant overhangs, expect $450 to $900. Our inspectors walk the entire roof surface, not just the easy sections. We look at what the trees have been doing, where water is channeling, and what is happening underneath the visible surface.
Homes in Los Altos were built in an era when builders used skip sheathing, meaning the boards under the shingles have gaps between them. An inspector who only looks at the surface will miss rot that is quietly eating through those boards underneath moss or in shaded northern slope areas. We check that. We also verify the starter strip and drip edge at the eaves, because on low-pitch sections, wind-driven rain travels sideways and gets behind gutters if those details were installed wrong or have deteriorated.
Pre-Purchase Inspection for Los Altos Buyers
If you are buying a home in Los Altos, order the roof inspection as part of your due diligence. This market moves fast, and too many buyers waive the inspection contingency to make an offer competitive. That is a risk on a 1960s estate home with original cedar shake. We can work with your real estate agent’s timeline and deliver the written report the same day, so you know before you close what the roof will need in the next five years.
Annual Maintenance Inspection for Existing Los Altos Homeowners
For homeowners who already live in Los Altos, a once-a-year inspection catches small failures before they become interior leaks. The expansion and contraction from Los Altos’s wet winters and long, dry summers loosens fasteners and flashing over time. An annual check costs less than a single interior drywall repair, and we document everything so you have a record of roof condition over the years.
What happens when you call
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A real person answersNo phone trees - you reach a local pro.
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You get an upfront price rangeHonest numbers before anyone is dispatched.
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A background-checked tech heads outLicensed & insured, dispatched right away.
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You approve before work beginsNothing starts until you say go.
Trusted Brands We Service in Los Altos
We service and evaluate roofs built with materials from all the major manufacturer lines, including GAF, CertainTeed, and Owens Corning. When a Los Altos home has a specific shingle profile, underlayment system, or ventilation product, we know how that material fails and what to look for during the inspection. That matters because a CertainTeed Presidential Shake roof fails differently than a GAF Timberline roof, and a Los Altos homeowner deserves an inspector who knows the difference. We stock common replacement components for these brands so if the inspection finds a section of damaged ridge cap or flashing, we can often quote the repair the same day.
See the difference
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AfterCommon Roof Inspection Problems We See in Los Altos Homes
- Hidden decking rot under moss on shaded northern slopes. The mature oak and redwood canopy in Los Altos keeps large roof sections in permanent shade. Moss builds up, holds moisture against the shake or shingle surface, and rots the skip sheathing underneath. A surface-only inspection misses this entirely.
- Original skip sheathing that was never brought up to code. Many Los Altos roofs from the 1950s – 70s still have their original gap-spaced boards. When a previous homeowner reroofed, the contractor may have installed new shingles over boards that were already compromised, and the gaps mean standard nailing patterns do not hold. We flag this so you are not surprised later.
- Missing or failed ice and water shield in valleys. Los Altos valley intersections channel heavy winter rain into concentrated streams. If the ice and water shield under the valley flashing was never installed or has deteriorated, water works its way under the shingles and into the sheathing. We check valleys as a matter of course.
- Wind-driven rain entering at eaves on low-pitch sections. Many Los Altos estate homes have low-pitch additions or original sections where the slope is too shallow for a standard shingle installation. Without proper starter strip and drip edge, rain blows sideways under the first course and leaks behind the gutters. We verify those details at every inspection.
Pricing for Roof Inspection in Los Altos, CA
A standard roof inspection in Los Altos for a typical single-family home runs $250 to $600. Estate properties with steep pitches, cedar shake, multiple levels, and complex rooflines run $450 to $900 because the inspection takes longer and includes core sampling where moss or age raises concerns. Commercial roof inspection in Los Altos runs $550 to $1,400 depending on building size and access. The factors that move the price within these ranges are roof size, pitch, material type, and whether we need to lift shake or take core samples to evaluate decking condition. Our price is always on paper before the inspection starts. You will know the number, and it will not change at the door. Call (669) 238-2101 to schedule your free estimate for any inspection in Los Altos.
We inspected a 1962 cedar shake roof on a home near Foothill Expressway, where moss hid rot over compromised skip sheathing. Our tech lifted shakes, measured decking moisture, and flagged valleys where ice and water shield was missing, so the owner could budget a full reroof before the next winter storm. That is the kind of inspection that saves a Los Altos homeowner from a five-figure surprise later.
We Also Serve Cities Near Los Altos
Brennan Roofing serves Los Altos and the surrounding communities along the Peninsula. When you call us for a Roof Inspection in Los Altos, you are getting the same Garrison Standard we apply in Stanford, Palo Alto, Portola Valley, and Sunnyvale. Each of those cities has its own housing stock and its own failure patterns, but the standard is the same: written price before any work starts, a background-checked uniformed technician on your roof, and a one-year written guarantee on every report and repair.
Serving Los Altos, CA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Los Altos area and know this community well. Use the map below to see our service coverage - if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
FAQs About Roof Inspection in Los Altos
We inspect skip sheathing by lifting individual shakes or shingles in representative locations and taking core samples where moisture readings are elevated or moss covers the surface. We do not need to strip the roof to evaluate decking condition. Lifting a few shakes lets us see whether the gaps between boards have amplified rot, and a core sample from the decking tells us whether the wood is sound enough to hold new fasteners. In many cases, we find that the sheathing is fine in sunny areas and compromised only on shaded slopes. The report maps that for you. Call (669) 238-2101 for an exact quote for a skip-sheathing inspection on your Los Altos home; estimates are free.
Yes. We do not need to remove all the moss to identify underlying rot. We clear small sections at representative points, usually at the eave edge, the valley intersections, and the ridge on the shaded side, and we probe the decking beneath. Moss acts as a sponge, and in Los Altos’s coastal-influenced climate it can stay wet for months at a time. Where the decking under the moss has been continuously damp, rot follows. We check those zones and map the results. If the decking is compromised, our report tells you exactly how much replacement is needed and what it will cost. Call (669) 238-2101 to schedule a Los Altos cedar shake inspection.
Low-pitch roofs demand a slower, more careful inspection because the failure points are different and more numerous. On a steep roof, water runs off quickly. On a low-pitch section of a Los Altos home, water travels slowly, gets pushed sideways by wind, and finds its way behind flashings, under the starter strip, and into the sheathing. Our inspector spends more time on these sections, checking the drip edge, the starter course, the underlayment condition, and the flashing details at every transition. That additional time and the more detailed report that follows are why the price is higher. Call (669) 238-2101 and we will give you a written price for your specific Los Altos roof before any work starts.
Yes. Attic ventilation is part of every roof inspection we do in Los Altos, because the original 1950s and 1960s homes in this area were often built with inadequate intake and exhaust ventilation by modern standards. During the long dry summers Los Altos experiences, a poorly ventilated attic cooks the underside of the decking and accelerates shingle aging. In the winter, that same trapped moisture leads to condensation and sheathing rot. We evaluate ridge vents, gable vents, soffit vents, and any powered units, and we include a ventilation assessment in every report. If your Los Altos attic is not moving enough air, we will tell you exactly what needs to change and what it costs. Free estimates at (669) 238-2101.
Yes. Code compliance is built into our Los Altos inspection protocol. We check that your roof assembly, from the decking up through the underlayment and the top surface, meets the current wind and fire requirements for this area. For wind, we verify fastener patterns, roof-to-wall connections, and edge metal attachment. For fire, we check the classification of the surface material against current defensible-space and ember-resistance standards, because many original Los Altos homes have shake roofs that predate modern fire code. If your roof does not meet current code, we document the specific deficiencies and quote the correction in writing. Call (669) 238-2101 for a free estimate on a code-compliance roof inspection in Los Altos.
Written by Travis Oakley, Owner at Brennan Roofing Co San Jose, serving Los Altos under the Garrison Standard. Call (669) 238-2101 to schedule your roof inspection; a live person answers, and the price is on paper before any work starts.