Roof repair in Alpharetta

Match the symptom to the cause

Alpharetta roofs are steep, cut-up and mostly 15 to 25 years old, so the same handful of failures come up over and over. Here is what the thing you noticed usually means.

The full price list is on the pricing page. If a limb came down with the shingles, skip this page and go to storm damage.

Why boots and flashing, not shingles

A shingle field on a 1990s Windward or Glen Abbey home rarely leaks in the middle. It leaks at the interruptions. A 3,000 sq ft house here has six or eight plumbing vents, a brick chimney, dormers, four valleys and often a skylight. Each is a hole sealed once, in 1997 or 2004, with a rubber collar, a bead of caulk, or aluminum tucked against brick. North Georgia sun cooks rubber and caulk in about a decade; the shingles around them are usually fine.

That is why a good roofer opens the attic hatch before quoting. The stain on your ceiling is where water landed after running down a rafter; the entry point is uphill from it, sometimes ten feet uphill. Guessing from the ground is how a roof gets "repaired" three times for the same leak.

Three Alpharetta-specific leaks

Stucco kick-out flashing. A lot of the hardcoat-stucco homes off Kimball Bridge and in Johns Creek were built without a kick-out at the bottom of the wall where it meets a lower roof. Water runs down inside the stucco for years and shows up as a rotted band of sheathing at the corner. The fix is a kick-out and a section of new step flashing, and the earlier it is done the less wall there is to open.

Valleys under pine needles. Loblolly needles pile in valleys and hold moisture against the shingles from October to April. For shingle roof repair, Alpharetta's valleys usually mean a re-lay: strip the valley, add ice-and-water membrane, weave or cut in new shingles, and blow the needles out of the gutter at the same time.

Skylights and chimneys. On skylight leak repair, Alpharetta's 1990s units usually need a new flashing kit rather than new glass — most skylight leaks are the flashing kit, not the glass. For chimney flashing repair, Alpharetta's brick two-stories need counter-flashing cut into the mortar joint instead of caulk smeared on the face. The posts on skylight leaks and chimney flashing and crickets go deeper.

How the visit usually goes

1. Attic first, with a flashlight, tracing water marks on the underside of the decking to their highest point.
2. Then the roof, checking every penetration within a few feet of that point and lifting shingles to see if the seal strips still hold.
3. If nothing is obvious, one person runs a hose on one section at a time while another watches from inside. It takes half an hour and finds most leaks.
4. Photos of the problem and a written price. Many repairs are finished the same trip.

If you want to look before you call, the post on finding a roof leak from inside shows what the trails look like.

When replacement makes more sense

Roof repair Alpharetta, GA homeowners ask for is worth doing on a roof with years left. It is not worth doing on one that is finished. Bald patches on the south slope, granules an inch deep in the gutters, shingles that crack when lifted, or soft decking in two different places all mean a repair is a season of borrowed time. The roof replacement page covers what comes next, and the post on repair versus replacement puts numbers on the decision.

Gutters and fascia

Gutter and roof repair Alpharetta homeowners need often turn out to be one job. A gutter overflowing behind a wall of pine needles rots the fascia and the first course of decking above it. Decking runs $90–$150 per sheet; the fascia gets rebuilt and the gutter re-hung so the repair holds. Black streaks on a north slope are algae, not a leak; a soft wash removes them.

What to note before you call

Five minutes of notes makes the visit shorter and the price more accurate.

• When it drips. During the rain, an hour after, or only when wind comes from the west? Wind-only leaks point to flashing on one side of the house.
• Where it shows. Which room, which corner, and how far from an outside wall. Snap a photo with a tape measure in the frame.
• How long. A fresh stain is dark and soft-edged. A ring with several tide lines has been coming and going for months, and the decking above it may be soft.
• The roof's history. The year it was installed or replaced, and any past repairs you know about. Old invoices help.
• What's above. A bathroom vent, the chimney, a skylight or a dormer wall sitting roughly over the stain.

Comparing two repair prices

Two written prices for the same leak can differ by a few hundred dollars and both be fair. Check that they describe the same work. One may replace a single pipe boot; the other may replace all six from the same year, which is often the smarter buy. One may caulk the chimney; the other cuts new counter-flashing into the mortar. Ask each roofer what they found, where, and what they'll do about it. Ask for before-and-after photos. A price with no description of the cause is a guess, and the cheapest guess can be the dearest one by spring.

Common repair mistakes

• Caulk as the fix. A bead of sealant on flashing buys a season in Georgia sun, then cracks.
• Patching the stain, not the source. New drywall over a leak that's still active.
• Waiting for dry weather to call. Fine for scheduling; not fine if the decking is getting wetter every week.
• Ignoring the gutters. A clogged gutter can push water under the first course and look exactly like a roof leak.

Areas covered

Windward, Glen Abbey, Downtown, Crabapple, and the Kimball Bridge, Webb Bridge and Haynes Bridge neighborhoods, plus Milton and Johns Creek. Estimate requests go to an independent local roofing contractor partner.