Maintaining your home is not cheap. However, roof repair is generally less costly than an entirely new roof. Homeowners spend between $316 and $1,017 on average in order to mend leaks. It is important to handle these problems as they arise so that you don’t cause more damage to your home.
Finding Leaks and Their Causes
When you begin to see leaks in your home, you need first to determine what the problem is. There are many reasons that you suddenly have problems. Some of these problems may include missing shingles, leading pipe flashing, valleys, ice dams, or even a low slope to the incline of your roof. Any of these problems should be addressed by a specialist immediately to avoid significant damage to your structure.
If it is simply a leak, you will need to locate the spot quickly. Generally, dripping and water accumulation is easy to track from inside the home. Viewing your roof from a ladder, you should be able to see depressions where the wood underneath has been damaged.
However, if you are finding water coming into your home, and an inspection of the shingles shows no obvious damage, you may have a leak coming in from around your gutters, chimney, or even you venting pipes. An expert can find the exact location and suggest the necessary roof repair to stop the leak.
Common Roof Repair Costs
If you have experienced a recent storm with high winds, you could possibly have lost shingles, or some may have been damaged. This damage is obvious when you look at the top of your home. To resolve this problem, you need to replace the shingles as soon as possible. The cost runs approximately $30 per shingle. You should probably contact a professional in order to make the replacement to ensure any warranty you have is not void.
The flashing is metal strips that create a seal between the joints. If the flashing is old, or there have been extreme weather conditions, this barrier will crack. You need to remove the surrounding materials and strip. Replace it with a new metal strip and reseal it with roofing tar. The total cost is around $20.
Gutters have to be cleaned periodically. If they aren’t, the rainwater will build up within the gutters instead of running off efficiently. This pooling will eventually leak into your home. To solve this problem, you have to clean your home’s gutters every few months.
The venting boot seals your roof vents to prevent water from coming into your home. However, this booting can become cracked over time. You need to cut away the old boot and replace it with a new one, sealing it with caulk. The average cost is around $15.
Of course, if larger sections are damaged you will be looking at a greater cost. On average, roof repair for metal is about $300, asphalt shingles average $250 and slate averages $530. A professional should complete large jobs like this.