Roof Sealing in Madison, WI

Most repair calls start with a brown ring on a ceiling. We trace the water back to where it actually gets in, usually a split pipe boot, lifted flashing at a chimney, or an open seam on a flat section, not the spot above the stain. We fix that point: a new boot, flashing reset and sealed with polyurethane, or the seam cleaned, primed and covered with reinforced tape and coating. Sealant over a leak we have not found is not a repair.

A proper inspection happens on the roof and in the attic. Up top we check every sealed joint: flashing at walls and chimneys, pipe boots, skylight curbs, and the seams on any flat or low-slope section. We look for sealant that has cracked, pulled away from one side, or gone hard and chalky. In the attic we look for daylight, wet sheathing and stained rafters. We photograph what we find and tell you plainly whether sealing will do the job.

Sealing buys time on a sound roof. It does not rescue a worn-out one. The median home here was built in 1979, and a house that age can be carrying a roof well past its useful life. When shingles are curling and shedding granules across whole slopes, or the decking goes soft underfoot, a coating only hides the problem. That is when we tear off to the deck, replace bad sheathing, and start over with underlayment and new flashing.

Good sealing starts at installation, since most sealing jobs later are joints done badly the first time. On pitched roofs we lay self-adhered ice and water membrane at the eaves, valleys and around penetrations, then synthetic underlayment, then shingles or metal panels. Flat sections get a fully adhered membrane with primed, taped seams. Flashing is bent and fitted, not caulked into place, so the sealant is a backup rather than the only thing keeping water out.

We walk the whole roof, not just the spot that drips. On a low-slope roof we probe seams, press for soft decking, and look at every pipe boot, curb and drain. Ponding marks, alligatored coating and open laps show where water has been sitting. Inside, we check the attic or ceiling for stains that don't line up with the leak you noticed. A roof seal only works on a roof that can still hold one.

Everything we found goes on paper. The estimate names the coating (silicone, acrylic or a rubber-based sealant), the area to be cleaned and primed, which seams get reinforcing fabric, and any decking we expect to replace. If sealing won't hold on your roof, the estimate says so plainly and lays out a repair or replacement instead. Nothing on it is vague, so you can compare it line by line against anyone else's.

Coating does not stick to dirt, chalky residue or a sealant that's already letting go. We scrape off peeling coating, cut out blisters, pull dried caulk from around vents and remove flashing that has pulled away from the wall. Then the surface gets a pressure wash and time to dry fully. The median home here was built in 1979, and roofs that age often carry layers of old patches that have to come off first.

Wherever the inspection turned up soft spots, we open the roof and look at the deck itself. Wet OSB or plywood that has delaminated gets cut back to sound wood and replaced with new sheathing of matching thickness, fastened to the rafters. Sealing over a rotted deck just traps water underneath, and the coating fails first at exactly those spots. Structural damage past the sheathing gets shown to you before we go further.

Any section of new decking gets a base layer before coating: a self-adhered ice and water membrane, lapped the way water runs. Across the rest of the roof, the underlayment is the reinforcement itself. Polyester fabric is set into wet base coat at every seam, penetration and change in plane. That fabric keeps the coating from splitting as the roof expands and contracts, and it is the step most rushed jobs skip.

The sealant goes on by roller or spray in a base coat and a top coat, and we check film thickness with a wet-mil gauge as we go instead of guessing. On metal roofs, fastener heads and laps get sealed first. Flashing at chimneys and walls gets new termination bar and sealant. With about 36 inches of snow a year here, we give extra attention to drains and edges where meltwater collects.

Once the top coat cures, we walk the roof again with the estimate in hand. We look for pinholes, thin spots, fabric edges showing through, and any lap that didn't bed down. Drains get flushed to confirm water leaves the roof instead of pooling. You're welcome up the ladder with us, or we go through photos of each area, before and after, so you can see what the work covered.

Scraped coating, old caulk, cut-out decking and fabric scraps all leave with us. We tarp landscaping and walkways before removal starts, so most debris never reaches the ground. At the end we run a magnet across the lawn and driveway for nails and screws, rinse overspray off siding and gutters, and clear the downspouts we worked around. The only sign we were there should be a roof that sheds water again.