Roof Repair or Replacement?

Roof Repair or Full Replacement: Which Do You Need?

 After a Colorado storm, one of the first questions homeowners ask is whether they need a simple repair or a whole new roof. The honest answer is that it depends on the extent of the damage, and getting that call right saves you money and headaches.

When a Repair Makes Sense

If the damage is localized, a leak around a single penetration, a few wind torn shingles, or a small problem area, a proper repair is often the right move. The key word is proper, and we will come back to that.

When Replacement Is the Better Path

Given Colorado's severe weather, widespread hail or wind damage across the roof usually calls for a full replacement, and in many cases that replacement is covered by insurance for the cost of your deductible. When a storm has compromised the roof across multiple slopes, patching it piece by piece is throwing good money after bad.

Beware the Caulk Job

Here is where homeowners get burned. The running joke in the industry is the roofer who climbs up, squeezes a glob of caulking onto the problem, and hopes it holds. That is not a repair. It is a delay.

A proper repair means diagnosing where the water is actually getting in, pulling up the shingles, redoing the underlayment, addressing flashing and valleys as needed, and fixing any interior damage. That takes a crew that knows what it is doing. Good repairs are actually harder to find than good replacements, because fewer companies invest in a real repair department. It is worth seeking one out, because nothing is worse than hiring one contractor who cannot find the leak, then another who cannot either, and ending up four contractors deep before the problem is finally solved.

Do Not File a Claim Smaller Than Your Deductible

This is a critical point that an honest roofer will tell you and a dishonest one will not. Across Colorado, wind and hail deductibles are commonly one to two percent of your home's dwelling coverage, which can mean a deductible of two, five, or more thousand dollars. If your actual repair only costs around nine hundred dollars, filing a claim makes no sense, because you would pay more out of pocket in deductible than the repair itself costs. Do not let a roofer talk you into filing a claim for something cheaper than your deductible. Get the repair priced first, then decide.

Get It Fixed Right the First Time

The theme through all of this is simple. A quality repair done once, by a company with the experience to diagnose the real problem, beats a cheap fix that fails and sends you back to square one.

At Excel Roofing, we have a full repair department and have been diagnosing and fixing Colorado and Wyoming roofs across the Denver metro, Colorado Springs, Casper, and Sheridan since 1993. We will tell you straight whether you need a repair or a replacement. We're On Top Of It. You Don't Pay A Cent Until You're Content.

SOURCES

•  Bill Ragan Roofing, The Most Common Roof Leaks: https://www.billraganroofing.com/blog/most-common-roof-leaks

•  Abraham Benson Roofing, Denver Roof Insurance Deductible Guide: https://abrahambensonroofing.com/denver-roof-insurance-deductible-guide/