Roof Leak Repair

We tarp the affected area within 24-48 hours of your call during business days, often same-day if the call comes in before noon. The tarp is properly battened, not just weighted — it survives wind events without flying off, which is unfortunately what happens to many DIY emergency tarps within 24 hours.

Tarp installation is fast — usually 30-60 minutes on a typical residential roof. The crew secures the tarp over the affected area with battens nailed through the existing roof material into solid sheathing, sealed at the perimeter with roofing cement to prevent water from getting under the tarp. The penetrations from the battens are filled and sealed when the permanent repair is done.

The tarp service stops the bleeding so we can do the permanent repair on a dry day, properly, instead of racing in the rain. Tarps stay on for as long as needed — sometimes a few days, sometimes a few weeks if the weather window for permanent work is far out. We do not rush permanent material work in the rain because that is when permanent repairs go wrong.

Tarp service is $300-500 standalone. The full amount is credited against the subsequent permanent repair invoice — so if you only do the tarp and decide later to skip the permanent repair (sometimes the leak is from a specific event that does not recur), you owe only the tarp fee. If you proceed with permanent repair, the tarp fee is included in the project total.

Once weather permits we do a full diagnostic — most leaks are flashing, vent boot, or skylight curb failures, not field-shingle problems. The diagnostic is photographed, written up, and shared before any permanent material work begins so you understand exactly what is wrong and what we are fixing.

We apply the permanent fix per the playbook in our Roof Repair documentation. New vent boot collar instead of cement over the cracked one. Re-flashed skylight curb instead of caulk over the leaking seal. Replaced valley metal section instead of patching over the corroded one. The right fix the first time means the leak does not recur.

Permanent repair is documented with before/after photographs and signed off at completion. We register the work with the manufacturer (when material warranty applies), credit the tarp fee, and issue the warranty certificate. Most repairs are warrantied for 5 years on labour; manufacturer warranties on materials apply per product.

Sudden-cause leaks (storm, hail, fallen tree, vandalism) are typically covered by homeowner insurance. Slow-cause leaks (deferred maintenance, age) are typically not. The difference matters and is the first thing to establish.

We document the damage with detailed photographs and a written report on every emergency call, regardless of whether you intend to file a claim. The documentation is yours — useful for an insurance claim if you decide to file, useful for property-sale disclosure if relevant, useful as a baseline if anything similar happens again.

If you decide to file a claim, we meet your adjuster on the roof and walk through the damage and the repair scope. We do not bill more than the insurer pays for the covered scope — you are only responsible for your deductible. Adjuster appointments typically schedule 5-15 days post-claim depending on insurer; we tarp during that window so the damage does not compound.

After 800+ leak calls in the Sacramento area over the past decade, the same five sources account for roughly 70% of what we find. The diagnostic process below is what an experienced foreman runs through in the first 10 minutes on the roof.