Roof repair
Roof repair in Somerset County, before it becomes a replacement
Most leaks here are a flashing joint, a valley or a few dozen tired shingles, not a roof at the end of its life. We find where the water actually gets in, show you the photographs, and fix that. Active leaks come first.
A written photo report on every visit · NJ licence #13VH11268000
About seven in ten roofs called finished are not
Industry inspection data covering more than 5,000 roofs found that roughly 70 percent of the roofs recommended for replacement could instead have been repaired, and would have gone on serving for another eight to twelve years.
We say that on our own website, on the page where we would rather sell you the bigger job, because it is the single most useful thing a homeowner around here can know. A roof that leaks is not the same as a roof that is finished. Plenty of the roofs we are called out to condemn have most of a decade left in them, and the honest job that day is a repair.
When a roof genuinely is done, we will say that too, and show you the photographs that make the case. What we will not do is use one leak as the reason to quote you a whole roof.
What actually makes roofs leak in New Jersey
Six things account for nearly every leak we are called to in Somerset, Mercer and Middlesex counties. Only one of them is weather, and it is the one that matters least on a roof in good condition.
The joints, not the shingles
Chimneys, wall abutments, skylights and vent pipes. A roof almost never leaks in the middle of a slope — it leaks where it meets something else, and that is a flashing job, not a new roof.
Ice dams and freeze thaw
The New Jersey wear story. Meltwater runs down, refreezes at the cold eave and backs up under the shingles. Every winter, freeze and thaw prises small cracks a little wider.
The sealant strip letting go
Shingles are held down by a heat activated glue strip. Past roughly twelve to fifteen years it loses grip, edges lift, and ordinary wind gets underneath them. This is quiet, gradual, and the single most common thing we find.
Valleys, gutters and debris
Where two slopes meet carries more water than anywhere else on the roof. Leaves and grit sit in it, hold moisture against the shingles and push water sideways under them.
Perished boots and old patches
The rubber collar around a vent pipe hardens and splits, usually before the roof around it is worn out at all. Previous repairs done cheaply are the other reliable culprit — they fail first, and they fail early.
Wind, on a roof already tired
Gusts of 25 to 50 mph are ordinary here from October through April. They do nothing to a sound roof. On one that has lost its seal they lift shingles, crease them, and leave gaps that show up as a stain on your ceiling weeks later.
About storms, honestly
Roofing advertising in this country is built around hail, because in much of the country hail is what wrecks roofs. Central New Jersey gets very little of it. If a company is selling you a hail story here, they imported it from somewhere else.
Our weather event is wind, and specifically the nor’easters that run from October through April, with sustained winds of 40 to 60 mph and gusts past 70. Sustained wind around 60 mph and above is the range insurers generally treat as a damaging, claimable event. Below that, wind mostly does not damage a healthy roof at all — it finds the shingles that had already lost their seal, which is a repair, and usually not a claim.
So most of the year, in most of the calls we take, the storm is not the story. The roof was tired and the wind simply got there first. If a real storm has just come through and you think you may have a claim, that is a different conversation and it has its own page: storm and wind damage.
How a repair visit goes
1
Water first, if it is actively leaking
An active leak goes ahead of the quotes and the checkups, including a tarp over it when the weather will not wait. Nothing gets discussed until the water has somewhere else to go.
2
Find where it actually gets in
Water runs along rafters and decking before it drops, so the hole is rarely above the stain. We trace it properly instead of patching the ceiling side and hoping.
3
Photos, and a straight recommendation
You get pictures of what we found and one clear answer: repair it, replace it, or leave it alone for now. All three are real answers and we give whichever one is true.
4
The repair, and what the roof has left
We fix the cause rather than the symptom, then tell you roughly how many years the rest of the roof still has, so the next decision is not a surprise.
If it does turn out to be the whole roof
Then you will have the photographs to see why, and no obligation to buy it from us. How long a roof lasts here covers the ages and the warning signs, roof replacement sets out exactly what a full job includes, and what it costs publishes our ranges with no form to fill in first.
Book a free inspectionRoof repair by county
What leaks, and why, is not the same in a county of 1950s houses as in one built in the 1990s. These go into what we actually find on roofs in each:
Roof repair questions, answered plainly
There is a stain on my ceiling but the roof looks fine from the ground. What now?
That is the normal case, and it is why guessing from the driveway does not work. Water enters at a joint or a lifted shingle, then travels along the decking and the rafters before it finds a spot to drop through. The stain can sit several feet from the actual entry point, and the entry point is often something the size of a coin. Finding it is most of the work in a leak repair.
Does homeowners insurance cover a roof leak?
Usually not, and this is the thing that surprises people most. Policies cover sudden accidental damage from a covered event, such as a storm or a falling limb. They exclude wear, age and long term leaks, which is what the large majority of leaks in this area actually are. Nationally, insurance funded only about 18 percent of what homeowners spent replacing exteriors. If your damage does look sudden and storm related we document it properly and say so, but we will not tell you a worn out flashing is a claim.
Can you repair one section, or does the whole slope have to be redone?
One section, in most cases. A flashing rebuild, a valley, a vent boot or a patch of lifted shingles are all self contained jobs. The times a whole slope is genuinely the right call are when the shingles across it have lost their seal or their granules, because then a patch just moves the next leak a few feet along.
Will the new shingles match the old ones?
Close, but honestly, rarely exact. Shingles fade in sun and rain, and colour lines change over the years, so a repair patch on a fifteen year old roof will usually be visible if you go looking for it. We use the nearest current match and put it where it shows least. Anyone promising you an invisible repair on an aged roof is guessing.
How long does a roof repair take?
Most leak repairs are a few hours, and many are done the same visit as the diagnosis. Larger work like rebuilding chimney flashing or reworking a valley can run to a full day. Weather is the real variable, because a repair done onto a wet deck is a repair that fails.
My roof is old. Is repairing it throwing good money after bad?
Sometimes, and we will tell you when it is. But industry inspection data covering more than 5,000 roofs found roughly 70 percent of the roofs recommended for replacement could have been repaired and gone on serving for another eight to twelve years. A few hundred or a few thousand dollars that buys you those years, on a date you pick rather than the week the roof forces your hand, is usually the better trade. What we will not do is sell you a repair on a roof that genuinely needs replacing.
Our Certifications
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Leak, stain, or a shingle in the yard?
We find where the water is really getting in, photograph it, and tell you whether it is a repair or a roof. Active leaks come first.