Roof repair or replacement? How we decide

A lot of roofing companies make their money on full replacements, so that’s what they recommend. We do plenty of replacements too. But if a repair is the right answer, that’s what we’ll tell you. Here’s what goes into that call.

When a repair usually makes sense

• The leak is from one detail. A cracked pipe boot, a bad flashing at a wall or chimney, a vent that wasn’t sealed, a nail that backed out. Those are repairs.
• The shingles are still healthy. They’re flexible, they still have most of their granules, and they lie flat.
• The damage is limited. A few blown-off shingles after a windstorm, or a small area hit by a falling limb.
• The roof is relatively young. A roof with plenty of life left is worth fixing.

When replacement is the better money

• The shingles are brittle. If they crack when you lift them, every repair breaks more shingles than it fixes.
• Granules are gone. Bald spots, granules piling up in the gutters, and the asphalt mat showing through.
• It’s leaking in several places. Multiple leaks usually mean the whole system is wearing out.
• The decking is soft or rotted. If you can feel spongy spots when you walk the roof, there’s wood damage underneath that a shingle repair won’t touch.
• There’s widespread hail damage. If an insurance claim covers the roof, replacement is often the outcome.
• You keep paying for repairs. If you’ve paid for three repairs in two years, add them up.

Why leaks are hard to find

Water travels. It gets in at one spot, runs along the decking or a rafter, and drips somewhere else. That’s why the stain on your ceiling is often several feet from the actual hole, and why so many “repairs” don’t fix anything. Somebody put caulk on the shingles above the stain, and the real problem was a pipe boot ten feet uphill.

A good repair starts in the attic when possible and works back to the entry point.

What about roof age?

Age matters, but it’s not the whole story. In North Texas, heat, sun and hail all take years off a roof. Attic ventilation makes a big difference too. A poorly ventilated attic bakes the shingles from underneath. We’ve seen fifteen-year-old roofs in great shape and eight-year-old roofs that were done.

A middle option: targeted replacement

Sometimes one slope or one section is in bad shape and the rest is fine, like a south-facing slope that gets hammered by sun. Replacing that section can make sense, as long as the shingles can be matched reasonably well and the rest of the roof has years left.