What we fix · Roof Leak Repair
Finding a Roof Leak, Then Fixing It
A ceiling stain tells you where water landed. It rarely tells you where water entered. Water runs along a truss, follows a wire, and drops through the first gap it finds — often ten or fifteen feet from the actual failure.
Photographs and a written scope. If the honest answer is that it can wait another season, you will get that answer.
67
Florida counties we are licensed to build in
HVHZ
Miami-Dade and Broward product approval, done properly
GC
A general contractor, so the structure below is our problem too
25%
The code rule that decides repair vs. replace
The problem
Why this goes wrong
This is why leak repair goes wrong so often. A crew patches the roof directly above the stain, the homeowner pays, and the leak returns with the next real rain. Nothing was fixed because nothing was found. The diagnosis is the job; the sealant is the easy part.
Recognise it
What it looks like
Drawn rather than photographed, so each one shows the mechanism instead of one particular roof.
The stain is not the leak
Water enters, runs along framing, and drops at the first opening. Patching above the stain fixes nothing.
Where a roof meets a wall
Flashing is the most common failure point on a South Florida house, and the one most often sealed over rather than replaced.
A soft spot underfoot
If the plywood has gone soft, the leak is old. That changes the job from a repair into a section of decking.
From the ground
Signs to look for
- A stain that grows after rain and dries between storms.
- Bubbling or peeling paint on a ceiling or a high wall.
- A musty smell in a closet or a corner that never quite goes.
- Daylight visible in the attic, or wet insulation in one spot.
- Drips that start hours after the rain stops, not during it.
Scope
What we actually do
- 01Interior first — where the water is showing, and what is above it.
- 02Attic inspection where there is access, following the run back uphill.
- 03Roof surface: penetrations, valleys, flashing and eaves, in that order.
- 04Moisture readings on the deck where the trail leads, not everywhere.
- 05Photographs of everything found, with the location marked.
- 06A written scope that says what failed, why, and what it will take.
Worth knowing
Most leaks we find are at a penetration, a valley, or where the roof meets a wall. Very few are in the open field of the roof, which is the part everybody looks at first. If a previous contractor sealed the field and the leak came back, that is not bad luck — it is a sign the diagnosis was skipped.
FAQ
Common questions
- Can you find a leak that only shows in heavy rain?
- Usually. Wind-driven rain enters differently from vertical rain, which is itself a clue — it points at flashing, siding intersections and penetrations rather than the field.
- Do you charge for the inspection?
- Ask when you call. What we will not do is give you a number over the phone for a leak nobody has looked at.
- How fast can you come out?
- Active leaks are triaged the same day where we can reach you. After a storm, everyone in the county calls at once and we will be honest about the queue.
- Will a repair void my roof warranty?
- It can, if the original installer or the manufacturer requires their own crew. Tell us who installed it and when; that is worth five minutes before anyone starts.
Areas served
Where we work
HVHZ
Fort Lauderdale
Our home city, and a genuine mix: barrel tile on the mainland, flat and low-slope on the mid-century houses near Victoria Park, and metal appearing steadily on the newer waterfront builds. Broward is HVHZ, so every product on your roof needs a Miami-Dade Notice of Acceptance.
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HVHZ
Wilton Manors
Compact lots and a large stock of 1950s and 1960s single-storey houses, which in practice means low-slope and shallow-pitch roofs rather than tile. Those roofs rely on membrane and flashing detail, so the failures here look different from the tile failures a mile east.
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HVHZ
Oakland Park
A lot of housing built either side of 1970, now reaching the point where an original underlayment has certainly been replaced once and may be due again. HVHZ rules apply, and Oakland Park permitting is generally straightforward compared with the barrier-island municipalities.
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HVHZ
Pompano Beach
Two different roofing markets in one city: older single-family inland, and a wave of oceanfront towers built in the last decade. The beachfront work is almost entirely low-slope with heavy salt exposure, which shortens the life of fasteners and terminations well before the membrane.
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HVHZ
Lighthouse Point
Canal-front houses with long-tenured owners, which is exactly the profile where a tile roof has looked fine for twenty-five years while the underlayment quietly reached the end of its life. Salt air on the canals is hard on exposed fasteners and metal trim.
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HVHZ
Deerfield Beach
The northern edge of Broward, and the last city before the HVHZ boundary — cross into Palm Beach County a mile north and the product approval rules change entirely. Large stock of 1970s and 1980s condominium with low-slope roofs held in common by the association.
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Next step
Find out what is actually wrong with it.
An inspection, photographs of what we found, and a written scope. If the honest answer is that it can wait another season, that is the answer you will get.