Most roof leaks and storm damage in Calgary can be repaired without replacing the roof. We get on the roof, find where the water or damage actually starts, photograph it, and give you one written price for the fix. Most repairs are done within 2 business days of starting.
What's broken, how much of it, and how hard it is to reach. You get one itemized price after someone has seen it, and most repairs take no deposit.
Most roof problems are local. A vent boot (the rubber seal around a pipe) cracks, a valley (where two slopes meet) lets go, flashing (the metal that seals the joints around chimneys and walls) pulls away, or wind takes a handful of shingles off one slope. The rest of the roof can have years left in it, and a repair is the right call.
The stain on the ceiling is often not under the leak. Water runs along the wood under the shingles before it drops, which is why the repair starts on the roof, not in the bedroom.
Shingles that have let go where two slopes meet, which is where the most water runs.
Metal that has pulled away, rusted or been sealed over one too many times.
Rusted vents and cracked boots, the roof openings that leak most often.
Where a slope runs into a wall and the old sealant has given up.
Traced back to where the water actually gets in, which is often not above the stain.
Missing shingles and dented metal after wind or hail, photographed before anything is fixed.
It comes down to how much of the roof is failing and how old the rest of it is. One damaged area on a sound roof is a repair. When problems keep turning up in different places, the shingles are brittle across every slope, or the decking (the wood under the shingles) is soft in more than one spot, patching one area doesn't stop the next one. You'll see the photos that show which one you're looking at.
The written price is the whole job for the section we're repairing: labour, materials and clean-up, itemized so you can see what you're paying for. Most repairs take nothing up front and are invoiced when the work is done. A larger repair can take a 30% deposit, and the proposal says so before you sign. If we open something up and find damage nobody could see from outside, we stop, photograph it and price it as a signed change order before going further.
A repair is matched to your existing roof as closely as the material allows. Shingles weather over the years, so new stock won't match an older roof exactly, even in the same colour. You'll see the closest option before we start.
A repair carries a 1-year workmanship warranty on the work we did, in the area we worked on, plus the manufacturer's warranty on any parts we supply. It doesn't extend or replace any warranty on the rest of the roof. It is stated on your final invoice.
The stain on your ceiling is where the water landed, not where it got in: water runs along the roof boards and rafters first, so the real entry point is usually higher up, at a pipe boot, flashing, a valley or a skylight. Look from the attic and the ground, never from a wet or icy roof, and in a Calgary winter rule out melting attic frost first, because it looks exactly like a leak.
Most roof maintenance is looking, and you can do nearly all of it from the ground and the attic: clean eavestroughs in spring and late fall, check the attic for frost after cold snaps and for stains after heavy rain, and trim branches off the roof. In Calgary, add a look after every hail or wind storm, and call a pro for anything that means walking on the roof.
Wind damage shows up as creased, torn, lifted or missing shingles, most often at the eaves, edges and ridges where uplift is strongest. A few missing shingles often means the ones beside them have lost their seal too, so photograph the damage, have the slope checked and read your policy before deciding whether to claim.
Hail leaves a random scatter of hits, often soft bruises that still have granules in them, and it usually dents gutters, vents and other soft metal on the house too. Blisters, even granule loss, scuffs along a walking path and popped nails come from age, manufacturing or installation instead, and that difference decides what your insurance covers.
An ice dam is a ridge of ice along the roof edge that forms when heat leaking into the attic melts the snow and the water refreezes at the cold eaves, then backs up under the shingles. Calgary's chinooks run that melt-and-freeze cycle many times a winter, and the lasting fix is in the attic, with air sealing, insulation and ventilation, not on the roof.
A sloped roof is a stack of layers, each with one job: the wood deck carries the load and holds the nails, underlayment and ice and water shield back up the shingles, flashing seals the joints, the shingles shed water, and vents keep air moving underneath. Most leaks start at the joints and edges, not in the open field of shingles.
It depends on what's broken, how much of it, and how hard it is to reach, so every repair is priced after someone has seen it. A cracked pipe seal and a failed valley are very different jobs. You get one written, itemized price before anything starts, and the repair cost guide explains what moves the number.
Work starts within 3 weeks of signing, and most repairs are done within 2 business days of starting, weather permitting. If water is coming in right now, start with emergency roof repair.
Yes. Every repair price comes after someone has been on the roof and photographed the problem. A price given sight-unseen is a guess, and guesses change once the work starts.
Usually not. Most repairs are invoiced when the work is done. A larger repair can take a 30% deposit, and your proposal states it before you sign.
We stop and show you. Anything outside the agreed scope is photographed, priced and approved in writing as a change order before we continue.
Yes. Report the damage to your insurer first. We document it slope by slope and meet your adjuster on site if that helps.
Tell us what's going on. A leak, missing shingles, a stain on the ceiling. We'll get eyes on it and give you one written price.
