Storm Damage Roof Repair

If water is coming in right now

1. Get everything out from under it and put a bin where it is landing. A ceiling that is holding water will let go all at once.
2. If a ceiling is bulging, pierce it on purpose at the lowest point with something long, standing to the side. A controlled hole into a bucket beats the whole sheet coming down.
3. Kill the power to that area at the panel if water is anywhere near a light, a fan or an outlet.
4. Photograph everything before you move it. This is the part people skip and regret, and the claims page below explains why.
5. Call us. 604-728-0146, or text the same number. Send a photo with it if you can.

What we will not do is tell you to climb up and look. A wet roof after a windstorm is the single most dangerous surface in this trade, and a fall from a one storey house kills people every year in this province.

What storm damage actually looks like

• Lifted or missing shingles. The obvious one. What matters more is the row above the gap, because once the seal breaks the wind gets underneath and keeps working.
• Creased shingles. A shingle that lifted and slapped back down looks fine from the ground and has a fold across it. That fold is a crack that has not finished opening yet.
• Granules in the gutters and at the downpipe outlets. A heavy load of granules after a hailstorm or a wind event means the surface took a beating even where nothing is missing.
• Flashing pulled at a wall or chimney. Wind gets into a loose edge and peels it. This is the one that leaks quietly for months.
• Ridge cap gone. The ridge takes the most wind of anywhere on the roof and the caps are the first thing off.
• A limb strike. Even where it did not puncture, the impact can break the decking under the shingles without showing on top.

Tarping, and when it is the wrong answer

A tarp buys time and nothing else. Done properly it is anchored above the damage so water runs over it rather than under it, and that means fixing it to sound roof, which usually means battens. A tarp weighted with blocks is a sail waiting for the next gust.

We would rather repair it than tarp it where the weather allows, because a tarp over a small repair is two visits billed instead of one. Where the damage is big, or the weather is not going to let anyone work for days, tarping first is the right call and we will say so.

Repair, or is this a replacement

Storm damage on a roof with years left is a repair, and a repair that matches is the goal. Be aware that shingles discontinue, and an exact colour match on a ten year old roof is often not possible. We will tell you what we can get before you decide.

Storm damage on a roof that was already near the end is the storm finishing an argument the roof was losing anyway. That is a different conversation, and often an insurance one. Our roof replacement page carries the real price ranges, published, so you are not finding out on a doorstep.

Before you phone your insurer

Read the insurance claims page first. Storm damage is one of the few roof problems a BC home policy usually does cover, and the difference between a paid claim and a denied one is very often documentation that had to be gathered on the day, not a week later.

Who turns up

Kory and Johnny Peters, brothers, Red Seal Journeyman Boilermakers and members of Local 280. Fraser Roofing Ltd. is registered and in good standing with WorkSafeBC, account 201893485, and carries $2,000,000 commercial general liability through HUB International.

That matters after a storm more than at any other time, because storms bring people to the valley who are not from here, knocking on doors with a clipboard. Ask anyone who turns up unsolicited for a WorkSafeBC clearance letter and a certificate of insurance. We hand ours over without being asked.

The inspection is free, including the one where we get up, look, and tell you the roof is fine and the water is coming from somewhere else. We photograph what we find, the sound parts included, so you are deciding on evidence. Repairs carry our 10 year labour warranty. We start at 06:00 and we cover Chilliwack, Sardis, Cultus Lake, Rosedale, Agassiz, Harrison Hot Springs, Hope, Yale, Mission and Abbotsford.