Roof Leak Repair in Lawnside, NJ

Proving it rather than guessing it

Where a leak is not obvious, one of us goes into the loft with a light and the other goes on the roof with a hose. We wet a small area at the bottom of the suspected run, wait, then move up a section at a time until the person underneath says stop. It is slow and it looks faintly ridiculous from the street. It is also the difference between fixing the leak and fixing something near the leak.

Where they usually turn out to start

• Above the stain by a long way

  Water tracks along a rafter and drops where the timber ends or a nail interrupts it.

• Chimney and sidewall junctions

  More leaks begin here than anywhere else on a shingle roof.

• A valley carrying too much

  Especially where an old repair laid covering across the metal instead of into it.

• Split collars

  A fine crack in perished rubber, invisible from the ground and obvious under a hose.

• Old fixing holes

  Left by an aerial or a satellite bracket, sealed once years ago.

• Not a leak at all

  A cold deck sweating. It looks identical from below and needs an entirely different answer.

What helps before we arrive

Photograph the stain while it is wet, note roughly how long after the rain started it appeared, and if you can get into the loft safely, look for a damp line rather than a damp patch. Where plaster has started to sag, a deliberate hole at the lowest point with a bucket under it saves a ceiling. It feels wrong and it is the right thing to do.

Knowing the repair held

A dried stain does not disappear, so growth is the test. Pencil round the edge of it and watch across two heavy spells of weather. If the mark creeps past your line, ring us. We come back, keep looking and charge nothing further for the second visit.