Roof leak repair in Madison

Madison leaks run on a calendar

The first leaks show up in March, when a week of 40-degree afternoons melts the ice on the eaves and the water finally finds the ceiling. The second wave is late May through July, after thunderstorms that roll in from Iowa County drop hail and take shingles off west-facing slopes. The third is the first hard cold in November, when frost on the nail tips of an unvented attic melts on a sunny day and drips like a leak. When it comes to roof repair, Madison, WI houses mostly leak in one of those three ways, and the fix is different for each.

Three kinds of house, three kinds of leak

Isthmus and near-west houses, 1900s–1930s

Tenney-Lapham, the Marquette neighborhood, Vilas, Regent and University Heights. Steep pitches, 1950s dormers, brick chimneys, plank decking. These roofs leak at the chimney, where the counter-flashing was mortared in once and caulked every decade since, and at dormer sidewalls where the step flashing is two inches short. For chimney flashing repair, Madison's old houses need a rebuild — step flashing under the shingles, counter-flashing let into a fresh mortar joint, a cricket behind wide chimneys — at $600–$1,500. A dormer wall re-flash is $450–$1,100.

Postwar ranches, 1950s–60s

Westmorland, Nakoma, Midvale Heights, Eastmorland, Lake Edge. Pitches of 4/12 or less, shallow attics, six inches of tired fiberglass. The leak shows up in March as a stain within three feet of an outside wall, and it's the eave: shingles lifted by ice, underlayment torn, sometimes the first foot of decking gone soft. Eave repair is $400–$1,500. If the attic isn't fixed at the same time, the ice dam page explains why the leak comes back next spring.

Subdivisions, 1995–2010

Blackhawk, Hawks Landing, the Junction Road corridor, Grandview Commons, Reston Heights, and on out to Sun Prairie and Verona. The house is fine; the details the builder skipped are not. Rubber pipe boots split at 10–15 years ($250–$450). Kickout flashing was never installed where a roof runs into a wall above the garage, so water has been running behind the siding for a decade. A skylight leak repair, Madison two-story or ranch, is almost always the flashing kit rather than the glass: $400–$900, or $1,200–$2,500 if the unit has fogged and needs replacing. And wind. For a shingle roof repair, Madison prices after a June storm — a dozen creased or missing shingles on the slope that faced it — run $300–$800; a whole creased slope is a hail and wind question for your insurer, not a repair.

How a roofer finds the leak

A good roofer doesn't quote a leak from the driveway. The order is:

1. Attic first. Water leaves a trail on the underside of the decking and runs down the rafter, so the drip is usually several feet downhill of the hole. A careful roofer follows the stain uphill.
2. Roof second. Then they walk the slope above the trail and check every boot, flashing and nail pop within reach.
3. Hose test if it's still hiding. One person on the roof wetting sections in order, one in the attic with a flashlight. Thirty minutes, and it finds nearly everything.
4. Frost check in winter. If the nail tips are white and the underside of the deck is damp everywhere, that isn't a leak; it's condensation from a bath fan or an unsealed attic hatch, and a shingle repair won't touch it.

You should get photos and a written price. Most of these jobs land between $300 and $1,500 and are finished in one visit, whether you call it a leaking roof, a leaky ceiling or a drip in the attic.

Emergency roof repair in Madison: what to expect

Emergency roof repair, Madison or suburbs, starts with you, not the roofer. Move valuables and furniture away from the drip, put a bucket under it, and photograph everything with a time stamp. If water is near a light fixture, turn off that breaker. Then call or request an estimate.

The night of a storm, the only roofing job is a tarp, and nobody should be on a wet roof after dark. A tarp on most roofs runs $300–$700. The permanent repair waits for a dry roof. No one can honestly promise same-day service during storm week, so ask how soon a roofer can come out and whether they'll tarp first. Most policies expect you to prevent further damage; ask your insurer whether the tarp is covered, and keep the receipt.

When a repair stops making sense

A repair makes sense on a roof with years left and a problem in one place. It stops making sense when granules are washing into the gutters on every slope, when there are two layers at the drip edge, or when the third repair in two years is somewhere new. Then a patch buys a season and you're having the replacement conversation anyway. Our post on repair versus replacement puts numbers on it, and signs your roof is near the end is the checklist to run before you call anyone.

Gutters, fascia and the edge of the roof

Gutter and roof repair, Madison-wide, often starts with a silver maple. Its seeds pack the gutter in May, it overflows all summer, and the fascia and first course of decking rot. Decking runs $90–$150 per sheet; the fascia gets rebuilt and the gutter re-hung with a proper pitch so the fix lasts.

Before you call: four things to note

• When it drips. During rain, only in a thaw, or on sunny winter mornings. Each one points somewhere different.
• Where the stain sits relative to the outside walls, the chimney and any skylight.
• How old the roof is, and whether anyone has patched that spot before.
• Photos of the stain and, from the ground, of the slope above it.

Those notes save a return trip, and they let you check that the written estimate deals with the spot you saw. Ask the roofer to name the cause in plain words — "split boot on the kitchen vent stack," not "fix leak" — and to say what will be replaced and what will only be sealed. A job that lists new flashing and hand-sealed shingles is different from one that lists a tube of sealant, even when the prices look close.

Areas this guide covers

All of Madison, isthmus to Junction Road to past Stoughton Road, plus Middleton, Sun Prairie, Fitchburg, Verona, Monona, McFarland and Waunakee. The Middleton and Sun Prairie pages go street by street. Storefronts and small apartment buildings with membrane roofs have their own guide to flat-roof leaks and repairs.