Signs You Need a New Roof: A Plano Roofer’s Checklist

The signs you need a new roof are age past twenty years, granule loss across several slopes, curling or cracked shingles in the open field, a sagging ridge line, and leaks that keep coming back in the same place. One of those on its own is usually a repair. Two or three together is a roof at the end of its life.

We have been on North Texas roofs since 2000, and no question comes up more often than this one. The checklist below is the one we actually run on an inspection, in the order we run it.

What are the signs you need a new roof?

Five things move a roof from the repair column to the replacement column: age, widespread granule loss, shingles failing in the open field rather than at a detail, movement in the roof line, and repeat leaks.

Take them in order:

• Age past twenty years. Asphalt shingles here last roughly twenty to twenty five years. Our summers cook them and our springs beat on them.
• Granule loss across three or more slopes. Granules are the shingle’s sunscreen. Once they are gone in quantity, the asphalt underneath ages fast.
• Curling, cupping, or cracking in the middle of a slope. Damage at a flashing is a detail problem. Damage in the open field is a material problem.
• A dip or wave in the ridge or along a slope. That is the decking, not the shingles, and it means water has been getting in for a while.
• The same leak returning after two repairs. At that point you are paying for the same fix over and over.

None of these are automatic. All of them are worth a look.

How old is too old for a North Texas roof?

Twenty years is where we start judging a roof differently, and twenty five is where most builder-grade shingle roofs around here are done.

North Texas is hard on roofs in two directions. Attic temperatures push past 140 degrees in July and August, which drives the volatile oils out of asphalt shingles and makes them brittle. Then spring comes and hail works on that brittle surface. NOAA logged twenty one major hail events in Collin County in 2025 alone. A roof does not have to fail dramatically to be finished. It usually just gets tired.

Age by itself is not a reason to tear a roof off. What age changes is the math. On a twelve year old roof, a repair buys you a decade. On a twenty three year old roof, the same repair buys you eighteen months and you pay for the tear off anyway.

What can you see from the ground?

Most of the warning signs are visible from your driveway if you know what you are looking at.

Stand across the street and look at the roof in flat light, early morning or late afternoon rather than noon. You are looking for color changes first. Dark patches where the granules have worn off read as shadows even when there is no shadow. Then look along the ridge and the eaves for a line that is not straight. A roof deck that has taken on water sags in a slow curve, and once you see it you cannot unsee it.

Walk the perimeter after that. Grit collecting where the downspout empties tells you the shingles are shedding. Shingle fragments in the flower beds after a storm tell you something let go. Inside, look at ceilings near exterior walls and around any chimney for brown rings.

If you want the detailed version of what storm damage looks like versus normal wear, we broke that down in hail damage vs roof wear.

What do we look for in the attic?

The attic tells the truth faster than the roof surface does, so it is the first place we go on an inspection.

We are looking for four things. Daylight through the decking, which means a hole. Dark staining or streaking on the underside of the deck, which means water has been sitting. Decking that flexes under hand pressure, which means the plywood has softened. And damp or matted insulation, which means water is arriving in quantity, not in drips.

Soft decking is the one that settles the argument. Shingles can be replaced on a good deck. Once the deck itself has gone soft across multiple bays, you are rebuilding the roof, and at that point a roof replacement is the honest answer rather than a patch.

When is a repair still the right call?

When the roof is under fifteen years old, the problem is in one place, and it is the first time that place has failed.

That covers a lot of what we see. A wind-lifted section of shingles, a pipe boot that dried and split, flashing that pulled away from a chimney, a valley that was sealed badly by whoever did it last. These are all fixable without touching the rest of the roof, and a roof repair is a fraction of the cost of a replacement.

We say this plainly because it costs us work: about half our inspections end with us telling the homeowner the roof is fine. That is a poor sales strategy and we do it anyway, because we are a family business that has been in Plano since 2000 and we would rather get the call back in five years. If you are weighing the two options against each other, we walk through the whole decision in repair or replace your roof.

When replacement genuinely is the answer, we put it in writing with itemized line items before anything comes off the roof, our own crews do the work, and we run a magnetic nail sweep across the yard and driveway at cleanup. No same-day pressure. You take the quote home.

FAQ

What are the biggest signs you need a new roof? Age past twenty years, heavy granule loss across several slopes, shingles curling or cracking in the open field, soft or stained decking in the attic, and leaks that return in the same spot. Two or more together usually means replacement.

How old does a roof have to be before it needs replacing? Asphalt shingles here typically last twenty to twenty five years. Age alone does not condemn a roof, but past twenty years every new problem should be judged against the roof’s remaining life.

Can I tell if I need a new roof from the ground? You can spot most of the signs from the driveway: bald dark patches, curling shingles, a sagging ridge line, and grit at the downspout. Confirming what they mean takes a look on the roof and in the attic.

Does one leak mean I need a whole new roof? Usually not. A single leak at a flashing or pipe boot is repairable. Three leaks in unrelated places, or the same leak back for a third time, is a different conversation.

Not sure which column your roof falls in? Call Jackson Roofing at (469) 323-4626 or book a free, no-obligation roof inspection. We go up, take photos, and tell you straight whether you are looking at a repair, a replacement, or nothing at all.

Chris Jackson, owner, Jackson Roofing. Family-run in Plano TX since 2000.