Roof Repair in St. Louis

Where roofs actually leak

The Department of Energy's Building America guidance calls every vent, flue, chimney and skylight a weak spot in the roof's water control layer. ARMA, the asphalt shingle industry's association, tells owners to check the flashing points hardest, because that is where a roof is weakest. Repairs end up in the same places:

• Pipe boots. The rubber collar around a plumbing vent splits with age, often well before the shingles around it wear out. Owens Corning's shingle warranty excludes leaks through pipe boots, flashing and other parts it did not make, so a new roof does not protect you from this one.
• Chimneys. A sound chimney joint has three metal parts: base flashing, step flashing up the sides and counterflashing set into the mortar joints, plus a cricket on the uphill side to steer water around it. Loose or cracked mortar lets water in through the chimney itself, and Owens Corning lists that among leaks its warranty does not cover.
• Roof-to-wall joints. Where a slope runs into a dormer or a second-story wall, the code calls for step flashing (R905.2.8.3), and missing or rusted pieces leak into the wall below.
• Valleys. Two slopes empty into one channel. The lining goes under the shingles (R905.2.8.2), and leaves that pile up there hold water against it.
• Skylights and exhaust vents. Each is a framed hole, and each depends on flashing woven into the shingle courses.
• Wind damage. Lifted, creased or missing shingles after a strong blow.

What to do while water is coming in

1. Keep clear of wet electrical. If water is near a light fixture, an outlet or the panel, stay away from it. Ready.gov warns against handling wet electrical gear, or anything electrical while you stand in water, and says to cut the power only if that can be done safely.
2. Catch the water and move your things. Buckets and towels under the drip; furniture, electronics and rugs out of the way.
3. Take pictures. The ceiling and walls, the attic if you can get there safely, and anything that came down outside: shingle pieces, a fallen limb, flashing in the yard.
4. Stay on the ground. ARMA's guidance is that property owners should never climb onto a roof, and a wet one is worse.
5. If a storm did it, call your insurer. Missouri's Department of Commerce and Insurance tells homeowners to make the temporary repairs that prevent more damage and keep the receipts, but to hold off on permanent repairs until the insurance company has inspected, because a claim can be denied otherwise. The storm damage page walks through the claim.
6. Get it covered. Then call us about a tarp.

Emergency tarping

When water is coming in and the permanent fix cannot happen today, the job is to stop more damage first. That is what our emergency tarping is for: keeping the next rain out of the house while the repair is scheduled, the adjuster comes out, or the materials arrive. A tarp buys time. It is not the repair, and it should come off once the real fix is in.

There is also a money reason to tarp quickly. Missouri's insurance department says a hole in a roof should be covered with a tarp or other material, and that damage a homeowner could have prevented this way will likely not be covered. Keep the receipt with the rest of your claim paperwork.

Two state rules touch emergency work. In Missouri, if your insurer denies a claim and you cancel the contractor's contract under RSMo 407.725, the contractor can still be paid the reasonable value of emergency services you acknowledged in writing as necessary. In Illinois, the roofing license law reserves roof repair and maintenance for licensed contractors (225 ILCS 335, Section 9).

How a leak gets traced

Finding the entry point is most of a repair. The work usually starts inside. ARMA suggests looking at the underside of the roof deck from the attic, paying closest attention around every flashing, for stains or wet wood. Then the roof itself: the shingles and metal uphill of the stain, the boots, the nails, the valley above it.

When the leak shows up matters as much as where. A leak that only appears in wind-driven rain from one direction often points to a wall or chimney joint on that side. One that drips in every storm more often means a split boot or an open seam. And a damp spot that appears in cold weather with no rain at all may not be a leak: ARMA notes that in cooler climates, stains in an attic can come from condensation caused by poor ventilation, with moist house air condensing on the cold deck and nails. That problem is fixed in the attic, not on the shingles; the roof ventilation page explains it.

Winter leaks and ice dams

An ice dam starts with a warm roof deck under snow, usually warmed by house heat leaking into the attic. The snow melts, the water runs down to the cold overhang and freezes, and the ridge of ice holds back the next melt, which can work up under the shingles. The Department of Energy's Building America guidance adds that dams also form in valleys and around chimneys, where the deck runs warmer.

They are less common here than farther north. That same DOE guidance treats ice dams as likely where the ground snow load tops 30 pounds per square foot; the St. Louis design figure is 20 (see the roofing code guide), and Lambert airport averages 16.6 inches of snow a year in NOAA's 1991-2020 normals. In line with that, neither St. Peters' design table nor St. Louis County's checklist requires an ice barrier. But a house that leaks heat through recessed lights, an attic hatch or ducts in the attic can still dam its eaves after a heavy snow. The lasting fix is air sealing, insulation and ventilation, and a winter leak is often the first sign the attic needs work.

When a repair stops making sense

A repair is the right call when the damage is in one place and the rest of the roof is sound: one boot, one chimney, a few wind-lifted shingles. It stops making sense when you are paying to chase leaks in several places at once, when the deck is soft in more than one spot, when shingles are curling or shedding granules across every slope, or when the roof is close to the roughly 25-year useful life Missouri's insurance department describes. A patch on an older roof also rarely matches the color of the weathered shingles around it.

Permits can tip the decision. In St. Louis City, a like-material job needs no permit until more than a quarter of the sheathing gets replaced, and St. Louis County's checklist draws the same 25% line. On the Illinois side, the roofing license law requires a licensed contractor for any repair, and the written contract must state the approximate cost based on the damage known when you sign.

If you are on the fence, a free roof inspection gives you photos of every slope and a straight answer. If replacement is the answer, the roof replacement page covers what comes next.

What a repair costs

We do not publish a price list for repairs, because the same leak can cost very different amounts to fix. What moves the number:

• What failed. Swapping a pipe boot is a small job; rebuilding chimney flashing with new counterflashing cut into the mortar is a bigger one.
• What the water did. Rotted decking under the leak has to be cut out and replaced before the roofing goes back.
• Height and pitch. A steep two-story roof takes more setup and more time than a low ranch.
• Matching. Older shingle colors and styles are not always still made, which can widen a repair.
• Timing. An emergency tarp is a separate visit from the permanent repair.

Either way, you get the inspection photos and one written price before any work starts.

Common questions about roof repair in St. Louis

Where we work

Roof repair across greater St. Louis, from the city and St. Louis County out to St. Charles, Jefferson and Franklin Counties and across the river into the Metro East. Each city has its own page with the permit rule and code edition that apply there: