Roof repair and leaks
Roof leak repair in Rancho Cordova, CA
Same-day tarping when water is coming in, and honest triage after. Most leaks we find are a twenty-dollar part and two hours, not a new roof.
Water coming in right now?
Three things, in this order, while we are on the way.
-
Move what is under it
Furniture, electronics, anything on the floor. Bucket down, towel in the bucket so it does not drum all night.
-
Poke the bulge
A sagging or bubbling ceiling is holding water. Put a small hole in the low point and let it drain into the bucket. It feels wrong and it saves the whole ceiling.
-
Call, do not climb
A wet composition roof is the most dangerous surface on your property. Ring (916) 555-0148.
Where the water is usually getting in
After seventeen years, the list is short and it is nearly always on it. The roof field itself is rarely the culprit.
- Pipe bootsThe rubber collar around a plumbing vent. It perishes in Sacramento sun in ten to fifteen years, long before the shingles. The most common leak we find, and the cheapest to fix.
- ValleysWhere two slopes meet, all the water on the roof funnels through one channel. Debris dams it, the metal corrodes, and it backs up under the shingles.
- Wall intersectionsStep flashing behind siding where a roof runs into a wall. Frequently done badly on additions, and the damage shows up inside a room that has no roof above it.
- ChimneysCounter flashing pulls out of the mortar joint as the chimney moves. A wide stain on the ceiling near the chimney chase is nearly always this.
- SkylightsThe unit itself usually outlives its seal. If the skylight is older than the roof around it, replace it during a re-roof rather than after.
- Swamp coolersStill on plenty of roofs around here. The curb flashing and the water line into it both leak, and it is often not the roof at all.
What a repair visit looks like
Attic first
Where we can get in, we look from underneath. Wet framing, stains on the sheathing and daylight tell us more in ten minutes than an hour on the roof.
Then the roof
We trace uphill from the wet spot, because water runs along rafters before it drops. The entry point is often several feet away and higher up.
Fix and photograph
Most repairs are done the same visit. You get photographs of the cause and the fix, whether you are standing there or at work.
The honest verdict
If the roof has five years left, we say five years. If a repair is throwing money at something finished, we say that too, and we would rather lose the repair than sell you one.
When a repair stops being the right answer
There is a point where patching costs more over five years than replacing would have. We will tell you when you have reached it, and the test is not complicated: if the shingles around the repair snap instead of bending, every fix creates the next leak, and you are paying us to chase the roof around itself.
Short of that, a repair is a repair, and the fact that we also sell roof replacements is not a reason for you to buy one.
Leaking today?
Call rather than filling in the form — the form is for quotes, the phone is for water.