Roof leak repair in Madison

Madison leaks run on a calendar

The first calls come in March, when a week of 40-degree afternoons melts the ice on the eaves and the water finally finds the ceiling. The second wave is late May through July, after thunderstorms that roll in from Iowa County drop hail and take shingles off west-facing slopes. The third is the first hard cold in November, when frost on the nail tips of an unvented attic melts on a sunny day and drips like a leak. Roof repair Madison WI homeowners call about is usually one of those three, and the fix is different for each.

Three kinds of house, three kinds of leak

Isthmus and near-west houses, 1900s–1930s

Tenney-Lapham, the Marquette neighborhood, Vilas, Regent and University Heights. Steep pitches, 1950s dormers, brick chimneys, plank decking. These roofs leak at the chimney, where the counter-flashing was mortared in once and caulked every decade since, and at dormer sidewalls where the step flashing is two inches short. Chimney flashing repair Madison's old houses need is a rebuild — step flashing under the shingles, counter-flashing let into a fresh mortar joint, a cricket behind wide chimneys — at $600–$1,500. A dormer wall re-flash is $450–$1,100.

Postwar ranches, 1950s–60s

Westmorland, Nakoma, Midvale Heights, Eastmorland, Lake Edge. Pitches of 4/12 or less, shallow attics, six inches of tired fiberglass. The leak shows up in March as a stain within three feet of an outside wall, and it's the eave: shingles lifted by ice, underlayment torn, sometimes the first foot of decking gone soft. Eave repair is $400–$1,500. If the attic isn't fixed at the same time, the ice dam page explains why you'll see us again next spring.

Subdivisions, 1995–2010

Blackhawk, Hawks Landing, the Junction Road corridor, Grandview Commons, Reston Heights, and on out to Sun Prairie and Verona. The house is fine; the details the builder skipped are not. Rubber pipe boots split at 12–15 years ($250–$450). Kickout flashing was never installed where a roof runs into a wall above the garage, so water has been running behind the siding for a decade. Skylight leak repair Madison two-stories need is almost always the flashing kit rather than the glass: $400–$900, or $1,200–$2,500 if the unit has fogged and needs replacing. And wind. Shingle roof repair Madison crews do after a June storm — a dozen creased or missing shingles on the slope that faced it — is $300–$800; a whole creased slope is a hail and wind claim, not a repair.

Finding it before we price it

We don't quote a leak from the driveway. The order is:

1. Attic first. Water leaves a trail on the underside of the decking and runs down the rafter, so the drip is usually several feet downhill of the hole. We follow the stain uphill.
2. Roof second. We walk the slope above the trail and check every boot, flashing and nail pop within reach.
3. Hose test if it's still hiding. One person on the roof wetting sections in order, one in the attic with a flashlight. Thirty minutes, and it finds nearly everything.
4. Frost check in winter. If the nail tips are white and the underside of the deck is damp everywhere, that isn't a leak; it's condensation from a bath fan or an unsealed attic hatch, and a shingle repair won't touch it.

You get the photos and a written price. Most roof repair Madison homeowners need lands between $300 and $1,500 and is finished in one visit.

When we'll tell you to stop patching

A repair makes sense on a roof with years left and a problem in one place. It stops making sense when granules are washing into the gutters on every slope, when there are two layers at the drip edge, or when the third repair in two years is somewhere new. Then a patch buys a season and you're having the replacement conversation anyway. Our post on repair versus replacement puts numbers on it, and signs a Madison roof is near the end is the checklist to run before you call anyone.

Gutters, fascia and the edge of the roof

Gutter and roof repair Madison houses need often starts with a silver maple. Its seeds pack the gutter in May, it overflows all summer, and the fascia and first course of decking rot. We replace decking at $90–$150 per sheet, rebuild the fascia, and re-hang the gutter with a proper pitch so the fix lasts.

Where we repair roofs

All of Madison, isthmus to Junction Road to past Stoughton Road, plus Middleton, Sun Prairie, Fitchburg, Verona, Monona, McFarland and Waunakee. The Middleton and Sun Prairie pages go street by street.