Roof leak repair in Fort Collins

Where Fort Collins roofs actually leak

Water almost never comes through the middle of a shingle field. It comes in where something interrupts the shingles, and in this climate a few spots fail over and over.

Pipe boots. The rubber collar around every plumbing vent is the first thing the sun at 5,000 feet destroys. Cracked, split, curled back — after 8–12 years here they're done, and the stain shows up in a bathroom or kitchen ceiling. This is the roof leak repair Fort Collins homeowners call about most. $250–$450 with a new boot and the shingles around it, and we use lead or silicone boots that outlast the roof.

Chimney flashing. The brick chimneys on Old Town and Sheely-area houses were often flashed with a bent strip of galvanized and a bead of caulk. Once the caulk lets go, water runs behind the brick. Chimney flashing repair Fort Collins crews should be doing means step flashing woven into the shingles and counter-flashing cut into the mortar joint — $600–$1,500 depending on chimney size and whether the mortar needs work too.

Valleys. Two slopes meeting carry more water and more melting snow than anywhere else on the roof, and hail hits harder where shingles lie flat. A valley re-lay with ice-and-water membrane underneath is $500–$1,200.

Skylights. The 1990s skylights in Miramont, Clarendon Hills and English Ranch are leaking at the flashing kit, not the glass. Skylight leak repair Fort Collins homeowners pay for is usually a new kit at $400–$900; a failed seal or cracked dome means a new unit at $1,200–$2,500 installed.

Wind damage. Chinook winds come off the foothills at 60–80 mph a few times a winter, and they lift the leading edge of any shingle whose seal strip has let go. Shingle roof repair Fort Collins crews do after a wind night runs $300–$800 for a patch of matched shingles. If a whole slope is creased, that is a storm damage claim.

Hail hits and cracked ridge caps. Ridge caps take hail on both faces and crack first. A ridge cap replacement is $400–$900. If we find bruises across the field shingles too, it's time to talk to your insurer before you pay for a repair.

Ice-dam leaks at the eaves. After a heavy wet spring snow, water backs up behind ice at the gutter line and comes in over the top plate. If the roof has no ice-and-water shield at the eaves — common on anything roofed before the early 2000s — the fix is a membrane strip at the eaves and, usually, attic insulation and ventilation work.

How we find the leak

1. We start in the attic with a flashlight, tracing the water trail on the underside of the decking. Water runs along rafters, so the stain on the ceiling is rarely under the entry point.
2. We walk the roof above that spot and check every penetration and flashing within six feet.
3. If it isn't obvious, we run a hose on sections of the roof in order while someone watches from inside. Thirty minutes finds almost everything.
4. You get photos and a written price.

Our post on finding a roof leak from inside shows the attic side, if you want to look before you call.

Emergency roof repair in Fort Collins

Emergency roof repair Fort Collins wide is triaged by water coming in. A tarp on exposed decking is $300–$700 and holds until the permanent fix. If water is coming through a light fixture, turn off that breaker before anything else.

Repair or replace?

Most roof repair Fort Collins homeowners need is at one or two spots on a roof with years left, and that's when we repair. We say so when it doesn't: if the shingles are losing granules across the whole roof, if the roof is already on a second layer, or if hail has bruised every slope, a repair buys a year and a replacement conversation anyway. The roof replacement page walks through that decision, and our post on repair versus replacement has the numbers.

Gutters, decking and the edges of the roof

Gutter and roof repair Fort Collins homeowners book usually go together. A gutter that has been dented flat by hail and overflowing for two seasons rots the fascia and the first course of decking behind it. We replace rotted decking at $90–$150 per sheet, rebuild fascia, and re-hang or replace the gutter run so the fix holds. See the post on deck, fascia and soffit rot for what that looks like before it gets expensive.

Neighborhoods we repair roofs in

Old Town, Campus West, Rolland Moore, Parkwood, Warren Shores, Miramont, English Ranch, Fossil Creek, Rigden Farm, Maple Hill and the rest of Fort Collins; Loveland, Windsor, Timnath, Wellington and Laporte. See the Loveland and Windsor pages for detail.