Strong Winds &, Heavy Rain: Roof Repair in Houston

Your roof is one of the most expensive home investments you'll ever make. Roofs also protect the rest of the house and the people living in it. Maintaining this roof is critical to maintaining the well-being of your home. Unfortunately, as a Houstonian, your job is harder than homeowners in other parts of the country. Along with snow, strong winds and heavy rain are the biggest contributing factors to a damaged roof.

Roof Repair: Houston, TX
Naturally, with our climate, the need for roof repair in Houston is common. To give you some idea, ServiceMagic tracks over 450 separate categories of home improvement projects, and asphalt shingle roofing repair is the 13th most common project requested through our site. And Houston roof repair is even more common that this nation-wide statistic.

The first sign that a roof has become damaged is usually a wet spot on the ceiling. Unfortunately, too many people don't take action during this early warning sign. Eventually, the wet spot makes it all the way through your drywall, and a small drip occurs during periods of rain. If you've waited this long, rot and mold and mildew may have infested your sub-roofing and more extensive repair will be needed to repair your roof. You should have your roof professionally inspected on a regular basis, or at the very least, safely get up there yourself and visually inspect your roof for signs of damage.

Heavy Rains, Extreme Weather, and Roof Repair
This is often how it goes. An unusual year for weather triggers an overflow of home improvement repair that stretches local contractors' ability to service customers and drives up the cost of roof repair. It's difficult as it is to find a reliable roofing contractor, and during times of heavy volume for home improvement repairs, the good contractors quickly have a backlog of work that forces you to choose between waiting weeks and weeks for a reliable contractor and taking a gamble on whomever's left. This is why contractors, real estate agents, insurance companies, and home improvement professionals urge homeowners to maintain their homes. When you have a problem, it may stem from the same factors that cause everybody to have a problem. And things are made exponentially worse.

If this isn't bad enough, when damage to your roof is noticed by the appearance of a wet or deteriorated ceiling, fixing your roof leak may be the least of your concerns. In order to reach the ceiling inside your home, water must not only enter your roof but work its way through the roof trusses, a layer of insulation, and then through the drywall. Often, by the time this has happened, dry rot or mold and mildew has begun to cause larger problems in areas of your sub-roofing and attic.

Houston Roof Repair: Average Cost and Length of Project
The national average for the cost of an asphalt shingle roof repair is $575. Our Houston numbers are slightly higher than this, most likely because Houston roof repair projects are sometimes more extensive due to water or storm damage. If your roof hasn't suffered serious structural damage and is caught before water saturates your subroofing, your repair project will probably cost less than $500. Roof repair for other types of roofing tend to be more expensive. Metal and slate roofing repairs, for example, are usually around $1,500. At the same time, these roofs (especially metal roofs) rarely need repair. If your current roof has suffered significant damage and is getting old, you might think about taking the money you'd spend on a roof repair and installing a new metal roof.

Houston Roof Repair for DIYers
Whether you want to save money or just think it'd be fun to do some handiwork on top of your house, many homeowners are interested in doing their own roof repair. This project is easy if you know what you're doing, but we wouldn't recommend it without some expertise in roofing. DIY roof repair involves locating the leak which is not necessarily above the wet spot on your ceiling, looking for further damage to your roof, and then fixing the leak.

Too many homeowners attempt a DIY project and when they encounter trouble, then call a professional. You may be able to repair your own roof, but your best plan is still to call a roofing contractor for a roof inspection. This will let you know where the leak or leaks are and if more extensive roof repair is needed. You can also ask the roofing contractor about fixing the leak yourself and get useful tips. This will still save you some money, compared to having a contractor do the entire repair, but will help prevent you from inadvertently making the situation worse.