A brown ring turns up on a bedroom ceiling and it wasn’t there in the spring. Within a day or two the question narrows to one thing: is this an afternoon’s work or is this a roof? Most of the time the answer comes down to how old the roof is and whether the trouble is in one place or spread out, and you can work out a fair bit of that before anybody gets a ladder off the truck.
Key Takeaways
- Deal with the water first, then leave the roof alone. The leak is almost never directly above the stain.
- Age decides most of these. A roof with life left and one failure is a repair. A roof near the end is a different calculation.
- Damage in one place has a cause. Damage everywhere is the roof wearing out.
- If the roof is coming off anyway, that’s the cheapest time to build it to the FORTIFIED standard.
Roof leak: what to do first
Move whatever’s underneath, get a bucket down and keep anything electrical well clear of the drip. Photograph the stain with the date on it, because if this turns into an insurance claim later that photo does real work for you. If the ceiling is sagging or you can see it holding water, don’t stand under it and call us before you do anything else.
Then leave the roof alone, particularly if it’s wet.
The instinct is to climb up and look directly above the stain. That’s almost never where the water got in. It comes through a flashing detail or an old nail hole somewhere else, runs along the top of a rafter until it finds somewhere to fall off, and lands wherever gravity decided. Which is why chasing a leak from inside the house rarely works, and why a tarp over the nearest suspicious patch usually does nothing.
Roof age: the deciding factor
If the roof has years left in it, one failure is a repair. Replace the boot, redo the flashing, get on with your week.
If it’s near the end, the same failure turns into a decision about money, because now you’re weighing a repair on a roof you’re about to tear off against putting the same money toward the replacement. Sometimes the repair is still right. If you need three more years out of the house and it buys them cheaply, take it, and we’ll say so when that’s the situation.
The awkward ones sit in the middle. Those we’d rather climb up and look at than guess about.
Isolated damage vs general wear
The other half of it is whether the trouble has a cause you can point at.
A cracked pipe boot has one. So does a lifted piece of step flashing beside a dormer, or a valley somebody shingled wrong the first time around. We can go to those, fix them and leave the rest of the roof where it is.
Granule loss across every slope doesn’t have a cause you can point at. Neither do tabs curling at the edges or nail pops coming up in a dozen places. That isn’t damage, it’s a roof finishing its life on schedule, and patching one corner doesn’t change what the other three are doing.
Under all of it sits the decking, which nobody can judge from the driveway. If it’s gone soft, what’s lying on top of it stops mattering much.
When a repair costs you twice
Picture an older roof with one leaking valley. The repair really is cheaper this month. It can still be the wrong call.
You pay for the access, the materials and a crew’s day. You get a patch that doesn’t match the shingles around it, because nothing matches a sun-faded roof. Then the whole thing comes off a couple of winters later and that work goes in the dumpster with everything else up there.
We’d rather say so up front than take the easy job.
What a roof inspection covers
Somebody gets on the roof. Ask whoever quotes you whether they did, because plenty of numbers get written from the driveway.
We check the field of the shingles for granule loss, bruising and curling. Then most of the visit goes on the details, since that’s where roofs actually leak: valleys, flashing at chimneys and walls, step flashing beside dormers, pipe boots, skylight curbs, the roof edge. We look at the decking wherever it’s visible and feel for soft spots underfoot.
Then you get the photos and a straight answer.
Inspections are free and nothing is attached to them. Call (251) 725-0036 or book one online.
Roof replacement: what to expect
One to two days on most houses. Size and pitch move that around, weather moves it, and a roof that’s been layered over before can add a day once the tear-off shows what’s been hiding under the top layer.
We install TAMKO Titan XT shingles as a Platinum Pro contractor, rated for 160 MPH winds with a Class 3 impact rating. Qualifying residential re-roofs carry our lifetime workmanship warranty.
And if the deck is going to be exposed anyway, that’s the cheapest time you’ll ever get to build the roof to the FORTIFIED standard, because the sealed deck and the heavier fastening both happen while everything’s already open. Do it later and you’re paying somebody to take a good roof back off to reach the same layer.
Call (251) 725-0036, or come see us at 3710 Halls Mill Rd in Mobile.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I repair or replace my roof?
Repair when the roof has plenty of life left and the damage is isolated to one area or one detail. Replace when the roof is near the end of its life, the wear is spread across multiple slopes, or the decking underneath has gone soft. A roof that’s already been repaired two or three times is usually telling you which one it is.
Where do roof leaks usually start?
At the details rather than in the middle of a slope. Valleys, flashing at chimneys and walls, step flashing beside dormers, cracked pipe boots and skylight curbs account for most of the leaks we chase. The stain on the ceiling is often a long way from the entry point.
How long does a roof replacement take?
One to two days for most houses. Size, pitch and weather all move it, and a roof that’s been layered over before can add a day once the tear-off reveals the condition of the decking underneath.
Can I just put a new roof over the old one?
You can in some cases, and it’s usually worth thinking twice about. Layering hides whatever the decking is doing, adds weight, and makes the next tear-off more expensive. It also means nobody has looked at the deck, which is the part that decides how long the new roof lasts.
Is a roof inspection free?
Yes. Inspections and estimates are free with no obligation. You get the photographs and a straight answer on repair versus replacement either way.