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Two different inspections get called the same thing in Jefferson County, and this page keeps them apart. A contractor's inspection tells you the condition of the roof. Only a TDI-appointed inspector or a Texas-licensed engineer can inspect for a WPI-8. A homeowner selling a house in the West End may need both, in that order.
Every slope walked, the attic looked at from inside, edges and flashing checked, the age of the shingle estimated from granule loss and brittleness, decking sounded for soft spots, and the whole thing photographed and written down. On a pier-and-beam house that includes the porch and carport roofs, which are usually older than they look. The result is a condition report with a repair-or-replace opinion and a price for either, and it is what a buyer, a seller or a homeowner facing a renewal questionnaire actually needs first.
It is not a windstorm inspection, and no contractor's report substitutes for one.
TDI's website has a search for WPI-8 and WPI-8-E certificates, and TWIA keeps its own lookup for the WPI-8-Cs it issued from January 1, 2017 to May 31, 2020. TDI also answers by phone at 800-248-6032, option 3. That search is the first thing to do before listing a Jefferson County house or buying one: a roof installed after Rita with no certificate on file is a roof somebody will ask about.
If there is no certificate for the current roof, a Texas-licensed engineer can inspect a completed roof and TDI can issue a WPI-8-E for completed improvements, where the work can be shown to meet the specification. Whether it can is the engineer's call, not the contractor's and not this site's. If the roof cannot be certified as it stands, the choice is a re-roof built to the current specification, which the replacement page covers.
Applies in Beaumont, Port Arthur, Nederland, Port Neches and Groves. In Vidor, Orange, Bridge City and Lumberton there is no windstorm inspection requirement; see those city pages.
A condition report and a certificate on file answer the buyer's inspector before the question is asked. A roof with neither is a negotiation.
The general home inspector looks at the roof from a ladder. A roofing contractor walks it. On a 1950s house in Old Town the difference is the decking.
A questionnaire asks the roof's age and material. If you do not know, an inspection answers it, and the certificate search answers the other question.
The contractor's condition inspection that this site arranges is free and comes with a written estimate. A TDI windstorm inspection is a separate matter: TDI's fact sheet describes its own inspectors as complimentary and says TDI does not regulate what private engineers and appointed inspectors charge.
Possibly a WPI-8-E, which TDI issues for completed improvements after an engineer inspects. Whether a particular roof qualifies is the engineer's decision. Start with the certificate search.
Around twenty years for composition shingle, and the storm count matters as much as the calendar. A roof from just after Rita is at the end; one from after Ike is close.
Say whether it is a sale, a purchase or a renewal, and which city. A contractor who inspects older Jefferson County roofs calls back.
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