Roof Maintenance in Madison, WI

Most leaks we find start at the flashing, not the shingles. Step flashing pulls away from a sidewall, a rubber pipe boot cracks around its collar, or a valley wears thin where two slopes send their water together. We trace the leak back to where water actually gets in, which is often several feet uphill from the stain on your ceiling. Then we replace the failed piece and check the decking underneath for soft spots.

An inspection means walking the roof, not looking at it from the driveway. We check shingles for granule loss, curling and exposed mat, then look at every flashing detail, vent and exposed nail head. In the attic we look for daylight through the deck, damp insulation and rusted nail tips. With about 36 inches of snow a year, the eaves get close attention. We photograph what we find so you see exactly what we saw.

Tear-off comes first. Laying new shingles over old ones hides rot and puts extra weight on the structure. The median home here was built in 1979, so the original sheathing has seen decades of weather, and we replace any that flexes or has delaminated. Then ice and water shield goes along the eaves and valleys, synthetic underlayment covers the rest, and new drip edge, flashing and ridge venting go in before the shingles.

For new construction and additions, we install asphalt shingles, standing seam metal and low-slope membranes. Shingles get four to six nails each, set in the manufacturer's nailing strip, because high nails are a common reason shingles blow off. Metal panels in 24 or 26 gauge sit on concealed clips so they can expand and contract. On flat sections we lay 60 mil TPO or EPDM over tapered insulation, so water drains off instead of ponding.

We start on the roof, not from the driveway. Every slope we can safely walk gets checked: flashing at chimneys and sidewalls, rubber boots around plumbing vents, and shingles that have curled, cracked or shed their granules. Then we go into the attic. Daylight showing through the decking, dark stains on the rafters or damp insulation tell us where water is getting in and roughly how long it has been at it.

Everything we found goes on paper. The estimate lists each repair by location, names the materials we plan to use, and notes what we would leave alone because it still has good years in it. Photos from the inspection come with it, so you can see the split pipe boot or lifted flashing for yourself. If a small repair solves the problem, the estimate says so plainly. Call for a free estimate.

Maintenance rarely means tearing off a whole roof. We remove only what has failed: brittle shingles around a leak, rusted step flashing, a cracked vent boot, old tar patches that trap water instead of shedding it. Tarps go down over plantings first. On a house built around 1979, we check whether an older layer of shingles sits underneath, because a buried layer hides deck damage and changes how new material gets fastened.

Soft spots underfoot almost always mean rotted sheathing. With the old material off, we probe the decking and cut out anything delaminated, stained through or spongy around the nails. New OSB or plywood is matched to the existing thickness so it sits flush and the shingles above it lie flat. Every sheet edge lands on a rafter. Where a rafter itself has cracked, we sister it with new lumber before any sheathing goes back.

Underlayment is the roof's second line of protection when water gets past the shingles. Madison sees about 36 inches of snow a year, and snow that melts on a warm roof can refreeze at the cold eave and push water uphill. So along eaves and in valleys we lay self-adhered ice and water membrane, which seals around each nail. Elsewhere, synthetic underlayment laps shingle-fashion, with drip edge set correctly at eave and rake.

New shingles are matched to the existing roof in profile and color as closely as current production allows. Exact matches on older shingles are rare, and we say so before the work starts rather than after. Each shingle is nailed in the manufacturer's nail zone, not high where wind can tear it loose. Step flashing goes in piece by piece with each course, and chimney counterflashing is cut into the mortar instead of glued on with sealant.

Before the ladders come down, we walk the finished work again. Every nail head should be covered, every flashing lap should shed water downhill, and every pipe boot should sit tight on its stack. Unsealed shingle tabs get sealed. Back in the attic, we look for daylight around anything we touched. You get photos of the finished repairs alongside the ones from the start, so the work is on record and not just our word.

Roofing leaves nails where nobody expects them. We run a magnetic sweeper over the driveway, lawn, beds and walkways, then again along the drip line where most of them fall. Old shingles, flashing and packaging leave with us, not in your trash bin. Gutters get cleared of the granules and debris the work knocked loose. The job is done when the yard looks the way it did before we arrived, with nothing left behind but the repair.