Roof Leak Repair in McKinney
Leak traced and repaired: $350 to $1,500
A roof leak is two jobs: find where the water gets in, then fix that spot so it stays dry. Most failed leak repairs skip the first job. Someone smears roof cement over the shingle above the stain, it holds for a month, and the stain comes back because the water was never getting in there.
How a leak gets traced
- Attic first. The roofer follows the water trail on the underside of the deck, the rafters and the insulation back uphill to where it starts. Wet wood, rusty nail tips and stained felt show the path.
- Then the roof. That spot gets checked from above: pipe boots, vents, flashing at walls and chimneys, valleys, nail pops, skylights, and any mount drilled through the shingles.
- Water test when it is not obvious. A garden hose run on one section at a time, low on the roof first and working up, with someone watching in the attic.
- Photos of the source and the damage, before and after.
The usual sources
- Cracked rubber pipe boots around plumbing vents.
- Step flashing missing, short or rusted where a slope meets a wall.
- Chimney flashing sealed with caulk instead of counter flashing cut into the mortar.
- Nail pops and exposed nails on ridge caps and vents.
- Lifted or missing shingles after wind.
- Hail bruises that have broken through the mat.
- Valleys where the shingles were cut wrong or the metal has rusted.
- Gutters backing up under the drip edge.
Emergency tarping
When water is coming in now, the first step is a tarp. It goes on over the leak area, past the ridge so water cannot run under it, fastened to boards rather than nailed through the face of good shingles. An emergency tarp runs $175 to $700. Keep the receipt and the photos; if the leak came from storm damage, your insurer will want both.
What it costs
Most leaks traced and repaired run $350 to $1,500. A pipe boot is the low end. Wall and chimney flashing, or a leak that has rotted a section of decking, is the high end. Decking is priced by the sheet and shown to you before it is replaced.
What not to do
Do not go on a wet roof. Do not caulk over the stain area from the top and call it fixed. Do poke a small hole in a bulging ceiling so the water drains into a bucket instead of bringing the drywall down.
Water on the ceiling does not wait for a convenient day. Call (469) 457-4804 for leak repair in McKinney and across Collin County.