Why Columbus is differentWhy does Columbus inspect a re-roof in the middle of the job?
Because most roofing mistakes hide under the shingles. Columbus's residential re-roof procedure asks the contractor to call at least a day before starting so an inspector can see the work while it's underway. Photos are accepted only if the city can't get an inspector out, and then they have to show the bare decking, the ice and water barrier, the underlayment and the flashing on every side of the house.
The city's handout gives its reasons plainly: problems under the shingles can be caught before they're covered, photos are often inconclusive, and some contractors leave the area once the storm work is done, which makes corrections hard to get. That last line tells you what Columbus has seen after hail seasons. A contractor who has to schedule a mid-job inspection has to be on the roof, doing it right, while the inspector is there.
We already work that way. On every tear-off we photograph the empty deck on each plane, the ice and water barrier before underlayment covers it, the underlayment run to the edges, and every step flashing and dormer flashing. In Columbus that record goes to the inspector if needed, and to you either way.
Columbus roofs also take a lot of weather. The city is 96 percent rural by census count, with homes spread over nearly 48 square miles of fields, woods and wetlands, and NOAA storm reports show 2-inch hail near Columbus twice in 12 months, in August 2019 and July 2020. Open ground means wind reaches roofs at full strength, too.
