Roof Repair in Leaside

Yes. Where original copper flashing is still sound we repair it, and where it has worn through we form and install new copper to match the original profile. Copper should not sit in contact with galvanized steel or aluminium, so we check what other metals are on the roof before any new piece goes in.

Yes. We replace broken or slipped slates one at a time, matching size, thickness, and colour as closely as the stone allows, and secure them with copper so the repair lasts as long as the slate around it. On Leaside houses slate is usually a porch, bay, or dormer rather than the whole roof, which makes a careful match all the more visible.

We plan material staging to avoid landscaping, use drop cloths, and clean up thoroughly. We take this seriously.

Always, and never by phone. We look at the roof first, trace the leak to its source, and then give you a written estimate setting out what failed, what we propose to do about it, and what it will cost, with dated photos so you can see the problem for yourself before you decide.

2 to 3 days for most Leaside homes, depending on size and complexity. A house with an addition, a flat section, or chimneys that need their flashing rebuilt takes longer, and if sheathing has to be replaced once the old layers are off, the written estimate explains how that affects the schedule.

Because that junction is the hardest detail on the whole roof and it is usually the one done in the greatest hurry. When an addition was built the new roof had to be tied into existing wall or roof, and the correct detail is step flashing woven into the courses with counterflashing let into the masonry above it. What frequently happened instead was a run of sealant or a strip of membrane surface-mounted over the joint. That holds for a few years, then the two structures move against each other through a winter and it opens. Repairing it properly means taking the covering back on both sides and rebuilding the flashing rather than resealing the surface.

You have to maintain it or remove it, because doing neither is what causes the leak. An unused masonry chimney no longer gets warmed and dried by flue gas, so it holds moisture, the mortar joints deteriorate faster, and the freeze thaw cycles take the joints apart from the top down. Once those joints go, the counterflashing set into them has nothing to grip and water enters at the roof line. On a Leaside house where a chimney serves nothing, taking it down to below the roof line and closing the opening properly is often cheaper than repointing, recapping, and reflashing something you will never use.

Two is the practical and code limit, and on most of these houses the honest answer is that the next roof should be a strip rather than an overlay. Many Leaside homes are on their second or third covering, and each layer added weight, buried the condition of the deck, and made every flashing detail sit progressively higher and shallower relative to the surface. Stripping to the deck costs more up front. It is also the one point at which the boards can be inspected, the flashing reset at the right height, and self-adhering membrane run along the eaves and down each valley.

Less by falling on it than by filling it. Leaside's canopy of mature maples and oaks drops a heavy load of leaf litter and seed into valleys and behind chimneys every autumn. That debris keeps the valley soaked for days after a storm, and once winter arrives it turns into a frozen barrier that forces meltwater back beneath the shingles. The damage looks like a roofing failure and is really a drainage failure. Overhanging limbs also abrade the surface with every wind, which wears the granule off a slope years early.

Yes, and on this housing stock they come up constantly. Rear additions, dormer cheeks, porch roofs, and second storey extensions frequently include a low sloped or flat section, and a flat roof membrane fails on a completely different schedule from the sloped roof it adjoins. For a porch, bay, or small addition whose pitch is too low for shingles, a metal roof is often the better choice, and we install it. The junction between the flat or metal section and the adjacent slope is another detail we expect to inspect closely.