The repairs we get called for most
- Leaks around chimneys, vents and skylights. Far and away the most common. Water almost never comes through the middle of a shingle field; it comes in where something penetrates the roof and the flashing has failed.
- Lifted or missing flashing. Step flashing where a roof meets a wall, and counter-flashing at a chimney, both work loose over time. Re-sealing tired flashing with caulk is a temporary fix; replacing it properly is not much more work.
- Blown-off shingles. After a wind event, usually along a rake edge or the ridge where the seal strip let go.
- Valley failures. Valleys carry the most water on a roof, so they wear first.
- Ice dam damage. Water backs up under the shingles at the eaves, then shows up on a ceiling in February. The fix is often as much about attic venting as it is about the roof.
- Nail pops and exposed fasteners. Small, cheap, and worth catching before they become a leak.
How Justin finds a leak
The wet patch on your ceiling is almost never directly under the hole. Water gets in at a penetration, runs along a rafter or the underside of the deck, and drops somewhere else entirely. So the first job is tracing it back to the entry point rather than sealing the nearest suspicious spot and hoping.
That usually means getting into the attic to look at the underside of the deck for staining and tracking it uphill, then getting on the roof to confirm. It's why Justin goes up himself rather than quoting a leak from the driveway. If a photo helps, text one to (905) 599-4441 before he comes out.
Storm and wind damage
After a big blow across Halton, the calls are usually shingles off a rake edge or a ridge, lifted flashing, or a branch strike. Two things matter in that first day or two:
Stop the water first. If shingles are gone and rain is coming, a tarp or a quick seal protects the house until the full repair can be booked properly. That's a legitimate first step, not an upsell.
Document it before it's fixed. If you're going to make an insurance claim, photos of the damage as it happened matter. Justin will write up what he found and what it took to fix, which is generally what an adjuster wants to see.
Repairs in winter
Yes, we do them. Justin has repaired roofs in January with snow and ice still on them. Winter work has real limits — asphalt shingles won't seal down properly in the cold until things warm up, and some work genuinely should wait for spring — but a roof actively letting water into a house should not wait five months.
The honest answer on a January call is usually a split one: here's what we can do now to stop the damage, and here's what should be done properly once it's warmer. You'll get told which is which.
What drives the price of a roof repair
Finding it versus fixing it
On a straightforward leak most of the visit is diagnosis. Once the entry point is known, the actual repair is often quick.
Where it is on the roof
A repair reachable from a ladder near the eaves is quicker than one at the ridge of a steep two-storey that needs staging and fall protection set up first.
How far the damage has spread
A leak caught early is shingles and flashing. A leak that's been running for two winters may have soaked the deck, which turns a repair into a small section rebuild.
Matching existing shingles
On an older roof an exact colour match may not exist any more. Justin will tell you honestly whether a patch is going to be visible from the street.
If a repair on a roof this old isn't worth the money, you'll hear that too — see the repair-or-replace comparison, or read about full roof replacement.
