The short answer
Often, yes. Spray foam lives on the inside face of the roof, and what it clings to is the roofer's own material: tiles, felt, battens and rafters. A roofer can judge how to free the foam without harming those parts, can see the outside of the roof at the same time and can repair whatever turns up. Not every job needs one, but many do.
Foam removal looks like an insulation job. In practice it is a roof job, because the roof is what the foam is stuck to.
Which parts of the roof hold the foam
When foam is sprayed on, it grips the surface it lands on. In a pitched roof, that surface is a mixture of rafters, battens, underlay and, in some lofts, the undersides of the tiles and slates themselves. Rafters are the sloping timbers, battens are the small laths the covering is fixed to, and underlay is the waterproof sheet below the tiles.
Why does it matter who removes it?
Because freeing foam from those materials is different for each. A timber can take a blade across its surface if the cut is shallow and with the grain. A sheet of old underlay tears if it is pulled. A tile or slate may lift, crack or slip when rigid foam is levered from its back, and a cracked slate is hard to spot from inside the loft.
A roofer handles those materials every week and knows when each one is about to give. That knowledge shows up as fewer broken tiles, fewer torn sheets and less gouged timber. A firm that normally works with insulation alone may be very good at taking foam off. It simply may not know what to do when a tile comes away with it.
Reading the roof from both sides
A roofer can work from the loft and from outside. Foam removal is rarely a loft-only job, because the covering above has to be checked as the foam comes away. Slipped tiles, rusted nails and cracked valleys all show up from the slope, and those are the faults the foam may have been hiding.
What does the roofer look at outside?
We walk the roof, or inspect it from a ladder or scaffold, checking the ridge, the hips, the valleys, the flashing round the chimney and the line of the eaves. We compare what we see outside with what the loft shows from within. A stain in the loft that sits right under a cracked flashing tells you where the water got in.
That joined-up reading is what a roofer brings to the job, and it is hard to learn from the loft alone. It is also why a loft-only visit can miss the cause of a problem that the foam only concealed. Our page on spray foam and roof leaks goes into how leaks and foam interact, and why the covering should be checked first.
Repairs once the timbers show
When the foam is off, the real work often begins. Bare rafters get inspected, battens are tested, and the back of the underlay is read. If a batten is soft or the underlay has torn, someone has to fix it before insulation goes back in.
Who repairs what the foam was hiding?
If the person who removed the foam is not a roofer, the finding has to be passed to one, and the loft may be left open while that happens. With a roofer on the job, the repair happens as part of the same visit. Damaged battens are replaced and fixed, a torn sheet is patched or replaced, and slipped tiles are put back. Nothing waits on a second contractor.
Where the damage runs further, say along a whole slope, we tell you with photographs, and you choose between repairs and a re-roof of that area. Either way, the decision is yours, made on evidence from your own roof. You can read more about the repair side in spray foam and re-roofing.
When another trade may be enough
Not every foam job needs a roofer. If the foam is a thin coat of soft open-cell between rafters, over timbers that have been checked and a covering in good order, a competent insulation contractor may manage it. The roof beneath is not a worry in those cases.
How do I know which kind of job I have?
You usually do not, until someone has looked. That is why a survey is the first step. From the hatch and from outside, we can tell which kind of foam it is, what it is bonded to and whether the covering shows signs of trouble. If your job is a simple one, you hear that from us.
If the survey points to bonded rigid foam, slipped tiles or doubtful timbers, a roofer is the right person. Ask any contractor you are considering what they would do if a tile cracks or a batten is soft, and how they would put it right. Our spray foam insulation removal page describes the work from beginning to end, and one written total comes after the survey.
More on choosing who removes it
What should I ask a contractor before they start?
Ask how they free foam from tiles and felt without damage, who repairs any timber or covering found beneath, and how waste is taken away. Ask too for photographs of the bare roof afterwards, taken before any new insulation covers it. A clear answer to each of these shows the contractor has thought about what lies under the foam.
Can the original spraying firm take the foam out?
It may offer to, and it is worth hearing what it says. Judge any offer by the same questions: how the foam comes away, who mends the roof underneath and what you receive in writing. If the original firm was the reason you want it out, you may prefer someone independent.
The full picture: Spray foam insulation removal in Taunton ยท More short answers