Cherry Hill Roofing brings more than 20 years in the trade to roofing in Darby, and the work here usually starts with a question owners do not expect to be asking: what will an inspector write about this roof? We repair and replace roofs on houses that are being sold and on houses that are being rented, and both moments can put a roof in front of a reviewer before a leak ever forces the issue.
That changes how we approach a visit. A leak call still gets the full trace, with one of us in the attic and one on the roof so the water is followed to the spot where it actually enters, but we also note the things a visual check would see from the street and the yard: loose flashing, open joints, a gutter pulling away, a downspout dumping onto the walk.
Nothing we do takes the place of the borough’s own inspection, and we make no promise about how an inspector will rate a roof. What we can give you is a straight answer on whether the roof can be repaired, a written scope you can compare line by line, and photographs of what we found.
The Roof Line on Darby’s Inspection Checklist
The Borough of Darby Department of Code Enforcement uses one inspection checklist for several kinds of inspection: a Transfer of Occupancy, a Yearly Rental Inspection and an apartment complex inspection. The roof has its own line on that form, and it is worth knowing exactly what the line says before anyone climbs a ladder.
What “Visual Damage to Roof” Covers
Exterior item 8 on the checklist is Visual Damage to Roof, rated Good, Bad or Failed. The note beside it spells out what the inspector is looking for: visual damage to the roof, missing bricks, or holes in the pointing that could cause water damage inside the house.
That wording matters because it is about what can be seen and what lets water in. A roof that is old but sound is a different case from a roof with a lifted seam or a cracked chimney joint, and the repairs we recommend follow that difference rather than the age of the shingles.
The Ceiling Line Inside
The same form carries an interior item, number 16, that reads Ceiling no damage, hole, leaks or cracks. A roof problem often shows up there first, as a brown ring on a top-floor ceiling, long before anything is visible from the sidewalk. That line sits on the interior side of the form, but the cause of a stained ceiling is often overhead.
When we trace a stain like that, we go into the attic or the space under the roof before we price anything. Water often travels along a rafter or the underside of the deck and drips well away from where it got in, so patching the spot directly above the stain can leave the real entry point open.
What the Checklist Does Not Say
The checklist names what is rated. It does not say what a failed roof item requires before a certificate or license is issued, and we will not guess at that for you; the Department of Code Enforcement is the office to ask. Our job is the roof, not the borough’s paperwork.
What we can tell you is what we see on the roof and what it would take to fix it. Sometimes that is a few slipped shingles and a new pipe boot. Sometimes it is a section of new flashing at a chimney. We say plainly which it is before replacement comes up at all.
Looking for roofing closer to Burlington? See Burlington Roofing.
Selling a Darby House: Transfer of Occupancy
A sale in the borough brings a Transfer of Occupancy inspection, and the separate Re-Sale Inspection Check List carries the same roof, downspout and ceiling items. For a seller, that means the roof gets a rating from someone other than the buyer’s home inspector. A roof that has been looked at, repaired where needed and photographed is easier to talk about once that rating is on paper.
Look Before You List
The useful time to have a roof checked is before the house goes on the market, not the week before settlement. Then a repair can be scheduled at an ordinary pace, and you are not choosing a contractor under a closing date.
On a pre-listing visit we walk the roof, look at every chimney and wall joint, check the gutters and downspouts, and go into the attic for staining, daylight or damp sheathing. You get photographs of each item, so you can see what we saw instead of taking our word for it.
Repair First, Replacement Only If It Is Needed
A seller rarely wants to put a new roof on a house they are leaving, and often there is no reason to. Many roofs that show visible damage need a targeted repair: a torn ridge cap, a loose run of step flashing, a cracked boot around a vent pipe.
When a roof truly is past repair, we say so and explain why, with photographs. Our written scope then lists tear-off, decking, underlayment, flashing, ventilation and gutters on separate lines, which also gives a buyer’s agent something concrete to read. If you are weighing two quotes, the line items make the comparison simple.
Buyers Reading the Roof
If you are buying in Darby, the checklist gives you a fair list of questions to ask about the roof before settlement. We can look at a house you are under contract on and tell you what we see, in writing, so the conversation with the seller is about specifics.
Our report is our own assessment of the roof. It is not the borough’s rating, and it does not stand in for the Transfer of Occupancy inspection. Any decision about what the borough needs from a seller stays between you, the seller and the Department of Code Enforcement.
Rental Houses and the Yearly Rental Inspection
Half of Darby’s occupied homes are rented: 2,000 of 3,992, according to the Census Bureau’s 2024 five-year estimates, and 1,206 of those rentals are one-unit attached houses. The borough licenses single-family and apartment rentals, and the same checklist is used for the Yearly Rental Inspection.
A Roof Is Part of Keeping a Rental
For a landlord, the roof is a line the borough’s checklist rates, not only something a tenant calls about. A small defect that would be easy to live with for a season can become an awkward line on a rental inspection form.
Tenants sometimes report a leak late, once a ceiling is already marked. We ask landlords to let us look before that point, and when a tenant does call, we coordinate access with you so the trace in the attic and on the roof happens in one visit.
Several Units, One Owner
Some landlords own more than one rental. When that is the case, we can look at each roof in turn and give you a written scope for each, so you can decide which work is urgent and which can wait. A rental with a minor problem and a rental with an active leak should not be priced as if they were the same job.
Because every scope separates the same items, the numbers line up across properties. If decking turns out to be damaged once an old roof comes off, we photograph it and show you before it is replaced, at the per-sheet price already set in the contract, so a rental budget does not move without your say.
Working Around Tenants
A roof job on an occupied rental has to respect the people living under it. We give you the schedule in advance so you can notify tenants before the crew arrives. If solar panels sit on the roof, their removal and reinstall go into that schedule from the start rather than turning up on the day.
At the end of each work day the yard, the walk and the gutters are cleaned, and a magnet is run over the ground for roofing nails. On a street where children and neighbors share the sidewalk, that daily sweep is not optional.
Gutters, Downspouts, Pointing and Attached Rooflines
Two notes on the checklist reach past the shingles. One concerns where the water goes once it leaves the roof, and the other concerns the masonry that a roof meets. Both are usually modest repairs compared with the interior damage they can lead to.
Downspouts That Discharge onto Grass or Dirt
Note 5 on the checklist says downspouts and gutters must be properly installed and secured to the property, discharging onto a grassy or dirt area. A leader that ends on a concrete walk or a paved driveway does not match that wording, whatever shape the roof above it is in.
We reset loose gutter hangers, replace sagging runs with seamless aluminum gutters where the old ones are beyond saving, and extend or redirect leaders so they release onto soil or lawn. On a tight lot that sometimes takes a little planning, and we talk the route through with you before we cut anything.
Missing Bricks and Open Pointing
The roof note on the checklist names missing bricks and holes in the pointing alongside roof damage. In our experience that pairing makes sense: water that gets into a chimney or parapet joint can end up inside the house as easily as water through a shingle.
When we redo a roof, the step flashing and counter flashing at chimneys and walls are replaced, not smeared with caulk, and a chimney wide enough to hold water behind it gets a cricket. Open pointing above the flashing line is something we point out and photograph so you can have the masonry addressed at the same time.
Roofs on Darby’s Attached Houses
Most of Darby’s housing is attached: 2,906 of 4,545 units are one-unit attached houses, against 542 detached, in the same Census estimates. On a block of joined houses, a new roof sits in plain view beside its neighbors, so we hold shingle samples up against the brick or siding of your actual house before a color is chosen.
Darby also sits along Darby Creek, about five miles southwest of Center City Philadelphia, and the borough has flooded badly, after Hurricane Floyd in 1999 and again during Tropical Storm Isaias in August 2020. That history is about the creek, not the roofs above it, and we do not treat it as a roofing issue. When storm wind does damage a roof here, we photograph it and write it up for your own claim, and we will meet the adjuster on site if you ask.
- 20+ Years on Local Roofs
- Repair-First Advice
- Itemized Written Scopes
