Roof Leak Repair in St. Louis
A leak shows up on your ceiling a long way from where the water actually got in.
Water travels before it drips
Water enters at a failure, runs along the underside of the decking or down a rafter until it meets something that stops it, and only then soaks through. A stain in the middle of a bedroom ceiling can easily originate several feet uphill, at a pipe boot or a length of step flashing. This is why patching where the drip appears usually fails: the patch is nowhere near the hole.
Where roofs in this area actually leak
- Pipe boots. The rubber collar around a plumbing vent perishes in Missouri sun and splits, and it does so long before the shingles are finished. Probably the most common leak in the metro.
- Step flashing. Where a roof meets a wall or a chimney. Often failed because it was installed wrong years ago rather than because it wore out.
- Valleys. Everything the roof sheds funnels through them, so any weakness there gets found quickly.
- Nail pops. Freeze-thaw backs a fastener out, it tents the shingle above it, and the hole it left is now open.
- Ice dams. A cold snap after a thaw refreezes meltwater at the eave and pushes water backwards, uphill, under the shingles.
Tracing the actual entry point takes getting on the roof and often getting into the attic. It is slower than guessing and it is the only thing that works.
What Keys actually does
Three things, and deliberately only three: roofing, gutters and downspouts. No siding, no windows, no general contracting. Shingle work is Atlas and Malarkey.
- Full roof replacement and tear-off, with decking replaced where it has gone soft
- Repairs, leak tracing, flashing, pipe boots and valley work
- Roof inspections with photographs and a written scope
- Seamless gutters formed on site, guards, repairs and realignment
- Downspouts, reroutes, extensions and underground drainage that carries water away from the foundation rather than dumping it beside it
That last line is the one most roofing companies in St. Louis do not offer at all. A roof that sheds water perfectly into gutters that discharge against the foundation has relocated the problem, not solved it.
Call Keys Roofing at (314) 220-2333
Straight through to the office. Roofing, gutters and downspouts only, across greater St. Louis.
Get the leak traced
Tell us where it shows and we will find where it starts.
How to judge whoever you call
Four questions separate roofing companies faster than any review score. Are the crews employees or subcontracted day labour, and will the person selling the job ever be on site while it is done? Is there a written scope before a signature, listing what happens if the decking underneath turns out to be soft? What is the warranty on the workmanship as opposed to the manufacturer's warranty on the shingle, and who honours it in four years? And is the company insured for the crew on your roof, not merely licensed?
A company that answers all four plainly is telling you how it operates. One that changes the subject to a discount or a deadline is telling you something as well.
Questions people actually ask
The stain is in the middle of the room. Is the hole above it?
Usually not. Water enters at a failure, travels along the decking or a rafter, and soaks through wherever something stops it. Patching directly above the stain is the most common way to spend money and still have a leak.
What leaks most often on St. Louis roofs?
Pipe boots. The rubber collar around a plumbing vent perishes in the sun and splits long before the shingles are finished. Step flashing at walls and chimneys is a close second, often because it was installed wrong years earlier.
Can a leak be repaired, or does the roof need replacing?
Frequently repaired, if the roof has life left and the failure is a detail rather than the field. A roof at the end of its service life is a different conversation and should be described as one.