Water coming in? Here's the next 60 minutes.
Emergency tarping · leak tracing · permanent repair.
An active leak is a race against elapsed time, not a storm date. Contain it, document it, then call — we'll tell you when we can be there, get a tarp on if weather is still coming, and trace the water to where it actually enters. Two Michigan offices, family-owned since 1984.
Get your free estimate
Tell us what you see and where the water is showing up. A local expert calls you back.
The 20-second check.
Three kinds of leak, three different clocks. Find yours.
Water is actively coming in.
Dripping or pouring, a ceiling that's sagging or bulging, water near lights or outlets, or more than one room wet.
- Kill power to affected fixtures
- Contain, then call
It only shows up in hard rain.
A stain that darkens during storms and dries between them. It's urgent — every storm adds water — but it's schedulable.
- Photograph it wet and dry
- Note the wind direction that day
An old stain that isn't growing.
Dry to the touch, same size for months. Could be a past leak that was fixed, or a slow one waiting for the next big rain.
- Mark its edge with a pencil
- Get it looked at before winter
What to do, and what we do, hour by hour.
The damage a leak does is a function of time. Here is how the first week actually goes.
Contain it.
Stop the water from spreading before you do anything else.
- Bucket or bin under the drip; plastic or towels on the floor
- Move furniture, electronics, rugs, and anything on the walls
- Ceiling bulging? Poke a small hole at the low point and drain it into a bucket — a controlled drip beats a collapse
- Kill the breaker to any fixture or outlet the water is near
- Don't go on the roof in the rain — ever
- Don't start tearing out drywall before it's photographed
Build the record. Start the drying.
Everything you photograph now is what makes an insurance claim work later — and everything you dry now is mold that never starts.
- Photos: the drip, the ceiling, the attic if you can reach it safely, the outside from the ground
- Screenshot the weather and note when it started
- Fans on, dehumidifier running, closet doors open
- Soaked insulation comes out — it will not dry in place
- Call us. Tell us what you see; we'll tell you when we can be there and what to do until then
- Call your carrier if the cause was sudden — wind, hail, a limb, ice
The tarp goes on. To a standard.
A tarp is a bridge, not a repair — but a bad tarp is worse than none. Ours is done the same way every time.
- Heavy poly run from above the damage over the ridge, at least four feet past it on every side
- Edges rolled around furring strips and screwed into rafters — never held by grommets alone
- Fastener locations recorded so the permanent repair closes every hole
- Itemized invoice for your insurance file
- If it's raining, we can still dry it in; the permanent work waits for a dry deck
Trace it, then fix it for good.
The patch stops the bleeding. The diagnosis ends it. We find where the water enters — not just where it exits — and repair the failed part properly.
- Attic trace uphill from the wet spot; hose test on a dry day if needed
- Replace the failed component: boot, flashing, valley, chimney counterflashing, skylight seal, backed-out nails
- Shingles and underlayment around it, ice-and-water shield where the eave was involved
- Interior: drywall, paint, insulation — with photos, on the same estimate
- Honest verdict if the roof is at end of life: repair what leaks, or stop paying for patches
What the stain is telling you.
Color, shape, and feel say how old the leak is and how urgent it is.
Light yellow, soft edge
Fresh. One or two wettings. The water is still finding its way — and the source is probably new.
UrgentDark brown, defined edge
Weeks to months of wetting. Minerals and tannins have concentrated. The leak has been active through several rains.
This weekRings inside rings
Repeated wet-and-dry cycles. A leak that comes with certain storms — usually tied to wind direction or a specific flashing.
Trace the patternWet, soft, or bulging
Active right now. Drywall is holding water. Drain it, contain it, and call — this is the one that comes down.
Call nowLeaks start at the transitions, not the middle of the roof.
Pipe boots
The rubber collar around a plumbing vent cracks from sun after roughly a decade. Symptom: a stain near a bathroom or kitchen. Fix: a new boot, a quick job.
Valleys
Two slopes dump water into one channel. Worn or debris-packed valleys leak in heavy rain. Symptom: a stain below where two rooflines meet. Fix: rebuild the valley with ice-and-water shield.
Step and wall flashing
Where a roof meets a wall or dormer, every course needs its own piece of flashing. Symptom: a stain along an upper wall. Fix: re-flash under the siding, not caulk over it.
Chimneys
Counterflashing pulls out of the mortar, crickets are missing, crowns crack. Symptom: a stain beside the fireplace. Fix: new counterflashing cut into the mortar joint.
Skylights
Seals age, flashing kits are installed wrong, condensation reads as a leak. Symptom: water at the skylight corners. Fix: re-flash or replace the unit.
Nail pops and field damage
Nails that missed the rafter back out and lift the shingle above them. Symptom: a stain in the open field, often after wind. Fix: reseat, seal, replace the shingle.
The eave in winter
Ice backs water up under the first courses. Symptom: leaks only during a thaw, along outside walls. Fix: the attic, not the roof — see the ice dam page.
Why the drip isn't under the hole: water enters at a transition, rides the underlayment and the top of the rafter downhill, and drops at the first joint or nail it meets — sometimes a full rafter length away. Guessing from the stain and caulking the roof above it is how leaks get “fixed” four times. We trace it from the attic first.
Temporary and permanent are different jobs.
Both have a place. Confusing them is how a $400 leak becomes a $4,000 ceiling.
A leak that stopped on its own didn't heal. Something plugged it — debris, ice, a swollen board — and it will open again.
Different months, different leaks.
Knowing when it started narrows down where it's coming from.
The thaw
Ice dams releasing, attic frost melting, spring rain on a roof that just spent four months under snow. Leaks along outside walls and at the eaves.
Peak rain and wind
Michigan's wettest stretch. Wind-driven rain finds flashing, valleys, and any shingle the winter lifted. Most of our tarp calls happen here.
Pop-up storms
Short, violent downpours overwhelm valleys and gutters. Leaks that only appear in the heaviest rain almost always trace to a valley or a clogged transition.
Winter leaks
Condensation in a poorly vented attic, frost on the underside of the deck, and the first ice dams. Cold-weather repairs are possible; the attic is usually the real fix.
Sudden gets covered. Gradual usually doesn't.
Covered, usually: leaks caused by a sudden event — wind, hail, a fallen limb, the weight of ice or snow — and the interior damage they cause. Emergency tarping on a covered loss is normally reimbursed as mitigation.
Not covered, usually: leaks from wear, age, or neglect. Roofs past fifteen or twenty years may be paid at depreciated value, and some policies now schedule that by age. The adjuster's first two questions are what caused it and how old the roof is.
Your part: your policy expects you to limit the damage once you know about it — that's the tarp and the dry-out. Photograph before anything is covered or removed, keep every receipt, and give prompt notice. Michigan law guarantees at least one year from the date of loss to bring a claim (MCL 500.2833); the state's insurance regulator, DIFS, takes consumer complaints at 877-999-6442. For the full claims process, see our storm damage and insurance claims page.
Sometimes it isn't the roof.
About one in five “roof leaks” we trace ends somewhere else. We'll tell you, in writing, and not charge you for a roof repair you don't need.
- A bath fan or dryer duct venting into the attic — condensation dripping back through the ceiling.
- Attic frost melting on the first warm day, weeks after the snow.
- A plumbing supply or drain line above the stain.
- Window or siding flashing on the wall above — water running behind the siding.
- An overflowing or back-pitched gutter pushing water under the drip edge.
- A skylight sweating in winter, not leaking.
If the leak has a cause you can name.
Answers for the wet-ceiling moment.
Call the one nearest you.
Same crews, same standard, two dispatch points. We'll tell you when we can be there — we don't guess.
(810) 984-3420
St. Clair, Sanilac, and Lapeer counties and the Thumb · 1605 Beard St, Port Huron
Call Port HuronContain it, then call.
Tarp if weather is coming, trace to the source, repair it for good. Estimates are free.
Family-owned since 1984 · Michigan Builders License #262000657 · Licensed & insured · Office lines are voice only — please call.