Roof repair · Metro Vancouver & the Fraser Valley
Roof repair in Metro Vancouver: what fails first, and how to read the symptom
Almost every roof repair on a Lower Mainland house starts in one of three places: a flashing detail, a cheap underlayment, or a roof that was never ventilated properly. Those are the three things we find behind other roofers' work more than anything else, and they fail in that order. Shingles themselves are usually the last thing to give out.
So the useful question is not what a roof repair costs. It is what your roof is actually doing, because the symptom tells you where to look.
The failure order
What actually fails on roofs here, in the order it happens.
A roof is not one product. It is a field of shingles or membrane, plus a dozen places where that field has to stop and meet something else. Nearly all roofing repairs happen at the stops.
- 1. Flashing details. Chimneys, walls, skylight curbs, valleys, vent stacks, dormer sides, the junction where a low-slope addition meets the main roof. Flashing is the metal that carries water across those joints. When it is cut short, reused from the old roof, replaced with a single continuous strip where individual step pieces belong, or substituted with a bead of caulk, it fails — and it fails first. This is the single most common corner cut we find on roofs installed by somebody else.
- 2. Underlayment. The layer between the deck and the shingles is the roof's second line of defence, and it is invisible from the ground, which is exactly why it gets cheapened. Thin felt wrinkles when it gets wet, tears around fasteners, and goes brittle. By the time the shingles above it lift in a windstorm, there is nothing underneath holding the line. We use synthetic underlayment as standard, with peel-and-stick membrane at every penetration.
- 3. Ventilation. A roof with too little intake and exhaust traps warm, wet household air against the underside of the sheathing. In winter that condenses; over a few seasons the plywood darkens, delaminates and softens. In summer the same trapped heat ages the shingles from below. Homeowners read the result as a leak, but nothing is leaking. Correct ventilation means vents sized to the roof rather than whatever happened to be there — roughly one per five squares, using Duraflo 50 vents, plus new plumbing and HVAC flashings.
- 4. Moss, debris and drainage. Moss holds water against the shingle edge and lifts the tabs. Fir needles fill gutters and flat-roof drains until water backs up under the roof edge. Both are maintenance problems that become repair problems.
- 5. Age. A roof in this region typically runs about twenty-five years. Granules in the gutters, bald patches, curled or cupped tabs and brittle edges mean the material is at the end of its service life, and repairs on a roof in that state are a holding action.
Diagnosis
Read the symptom before you price the repair.
Where the water shows up inside a house is rarely where it entered the roof. But when it shows up, and what it looks like, narrows the search quickly. Here is how we work backwards from what you are seeing.
A stain on the ceiling near an outside wall or a chimney
Step flashing or counter-flashing. Water is getting behind the metal where the roof meets a vertical surface, running down the wall framing, and appearing at the first horizontal thing it meets. Caulk at a chimney is a symptom, not a repair — it means somebody has already tried to seal what should have been flashed.
A stain in the middle of a room, under a bathroom or kitchen
A penetration. Plumbing stacks, bath fan outlets and range hood caps all pass straight through the roof, and their collars are the shortest-lived component up there. This is also where we find rot on roughly one tear-off in ten.
It only leaks in a hard southeast wind
Wind-driven rain is being pushed sideways and up, under shingle courses and behind wall flashing or siding. A roof that is fine through weeks of drizzle and wets through in one storm has a vertical-surface problem, not a hole in a slope.
Water appears over a door or window on a flat section
A blocked drain or scupper, or the wall transition where the low-slope roof ties into the main one. On flat roofs, the field of the membrane is almost never the problem. Drainage and the details at the perimeter are.
Damp, musty air and frost on nail tips in winter, but no drip
That is condensation, not a leak, and it is a ventilation repair. Sealing the ceiling or patching the roof above it will do nothing, because the water is coming from inside the house.
Granules in the gutters and bald, shiny patches on the slope
Wear, not damage. The mineral surface that protects the asphalt is gone in those spots. One or two patches on a young roof can be repaired; granule loss across the whole south and west slopes is the roof telling you its age.
Shingles lifted, creased or missing after a storm
Wind damage. Creased shingles matter as much as missing ones: a crease breaks the mat even though the shingle is still up there, and that course will leak in the next storm. This is the failure most worth photographing the day it happens, because it is also the kind most likely to be a straightforward insurance conversation.
A green carpet of moss, especially on the north slope
Moss lifts shingle tabs and holds moisture against the edges. It is treatable while the shingles underneath are sound, and a reason for replacement once they are not. It is also the most common condition on shaded roofs anywhere between the North Shore and the Fraser Valley.
Ceiling bulging or sagging, water running visibly
That is not a diagnosis question. See what to do in an emergency roof repair and call.
The honest test
Repair, or replace?
There is no age at which a roof automatically stops being worth repairing. There is a point at which repairing it stops being the cheaper option, and three questions find it.
How many separate things are failing? One detail on an otherwise sound roof is a repair, full stop. Three or more unrelated failures — a valley, a vent collar and a wall flashing, say — mean the roof is failing as a system rather than at a point.
What is the shingle or membrane doing away from the failure? If the field is sound, repair it. If the shingles two metres from the leak are curling and shedding granules, you are about to do this again somewhere else.
What is under it? Soft spots underfoot, or sheathing that has darkened from below, change the arithmetic completely, because that plywood has to come off either way.
When a repair is clearly right
- Storm damage to a defined area of a roof with years left
- One failed flashing, penetration or valley
- A flat-roof drain, curb or seam problem on sound membrane
- Moss and debris on shingles that are otherwise intact
When replacement is the cheaper answer
- The third repair in two years on the same roof
- Shingles at or near the twenty-five years they normally last here
- Failures in several unrelated places at once
- Sheathing that is soft, delaminated or rotted beyond a few sheets
If you are weighing the two, the numbers matter more than the opinion. Our guide to roof replacement cost in Metro Vancouver sets out what a new roof involves, by material and by house size, so you can compare it against the repair in front of you.
How we repair
A repair built the way the roof should have been.
A repair is only worth doing if it outlives the rest of the roof. That means fixing the cause, in the same materials and to the same standard we would use on a full replacement.
We find the entry point, not the stain
Free inspection of all accessible roof surfaces — slopes, hips, ridges, valleys, flashings, penetrations and the drainage system — photographed as we go, so you see what we saw.
You get one fixed written price
Itemised, not a range, and not a number that moves once work starts. If opening the roof could reveal something underneath, that is stated in writing before we begin.
We rebuild the detail properly
Custom 26-gauge flashings bent for the job rather than pulled off a shelf, peel-and-stick at every penetration, synthetic underlayment, and vents sized to the roof instead of whatever was there.
We clean up and warrant the work
Debris removed, magnet sweep for nails, and the workmanship warranty in writing: ten years on shingle, metal, cedar and composite, five on torch-on and flat membrane.
Two things we will not do, because both are how repairs come back. We do not smear roofing cement over a flashing joint and call it sealed — cement shrinks, cracks and hides the joint from the next person to look at it. And we do not patch in an incompatible material, because a patch that cannot bond to what surrounds it is a seam waiting to open. A repair should be indistinguishable in quality from new work, only smaller.
If a repair turns out to be the wrong answer, we will say so on site rather than sell you one. The cheapest roof repair in the Lower Mainland is the one that is never needed twice.
Where we work
Residential roof repair near you, from West Vancouver to Chilliwack.
Rain is not one number across this region, and neither is roof wear. Environment and Climate Change Canada's published climate normals put Richmond near 1,160 mm of precipitation a year, Vancouver Harbour around 1,537, Chilliwack Airport near 1,668, and the Capilano station in North Vancouver above 2,500.
That spread shows up on roofs. A north-facing slope in North Vancouver grows moss in a fraction of the time the same roof takes in Tsawwassen. A flat roof in Abbotsford spends more of the year holding water than one in Richmond. So the repair that is routine in one municipality is premature in another, and a roofer who quotes the same fix everywhere is not looking.
We repair roofs across Vancouver, Burnaby, Surrey, Richmond, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, North and West Vancouver, New Westminster, Langley, Delta, Tsawwassen, White Rock, Maple Ridge, Pitt Meadows, Abbotsford, Mission, Chilliwack and Anmore. We are WorkSafeBC registered, carry five million dollars of liability insurance, are GAF certified, and belong to the ICBA and the BBB.
Questions
Roof repair, plainly answered.
What are the most common roof repairs in Vancouver?
Flashing repairs come first by a wide margin: chimneys, wall and step flashings, skylight curbs, valleys and pipe penetrations. After that come repairs caused by cheap or failed underlayment, and damage traced back to insufficient attic ventilation. Moss, blocked gutters and wind-lifted shingles fill out the rest. Very few residential roof repairs start in the open middle of a roof slope.
How do I know if my roof needs repair or replacement?
Look at three things together: the age of the roof, how many separate places are failing, and the condition of what is under the shingles. One failed detail on a roof with years left is a repair. Three or more separate failures, a deck that feels soft underfoot, or shingles close to the twenty-five years a roof typically lasts in this climate usually means the repair is buying months, not years. A roofer should show you photographs of the reasoning, not just state a conclusion.
Can a roof be repaired in the rain?
A leak can be stopped temporarily in the rain, and often has to be. Permanent work is different: adhesives, peel-and-stick membrane and torch-on all need a dry surface to bond to, so the lasting repair waits for a dry window. Anyone who promises a permanent shingle or membrane repair in a November downpour is promising something the materials cannot do.
How long does a roof repair take?
Most single-detail repairs are a few hours to a day. Work that involves opening the roof up, replacing sheathing or re-flashing a chimney properly can run longer. For comparison, a full replacement on a standard home is one to three days, and two to four for larger, steeper, cedar, re-deck or winter work.
Why does my roof only leak in heavy wind?
Because the failure is at a vertical surface rather than on the slope. Wind-driven rain is pushed sideways and upward, under shingle courses and behind wall flashing and siding, in a way that vertical rain never is. A roof that is dry through weeks of steady drizzle and wets through in one southeast storm almost always has a flashing or wall-junction problem, not a hole.
Do you repair flat and torch-on roofs as well as shingles?
Yes. Flat-roof repairs are a different craft, and most of them turn out to be a blocked drain, a failed seal at a vent curb, or a wall flashing that was never lapped high enough. A torch-on patch is bonded the same way the original membrane was, which is why flat repairs made with roofing cement rarely last.
What warranty comes with a roof repair?
Our workmanship warranty runs ten years on shingle, metal, cedar and composite work and five years on torch-on and flat membrane work. Manufacturer warranties on the materials run separately and longer, on their own terms, and we register them in your name rather than merging the two numbers into one figure.
Is the roof inspection free?
Yes. The inspection and the written estimate are free, and the estimate is fixed rather than a range once we have been up there. That is the only way to price a repair honestly, because what is wrong with a roof is rarely visible from the driveway.
Will a roof repair void my manufacturer warranty?
Done properly, no. Repairs made with matching materials, installed to the manufacturer's instructions by a certified contractor, are what those warranties contemplate. What does cause trouble is a smear of roofing cement over a flashing joint, or a patch in an incompatible material, because neither one is an installation the manufacturer ever approved.
Next
Find out what your roof needs, and what it costs.
Type your address and we measure the roof from satellite imagery, then price the work against what is up there now. If it turns out to be a repair rather than a replacement, we will tell you that too — and the inspection that confirms it is free either way.