Roof Repair
You probably do not need a new roof. You need the three shingles the wind took off, the sheet of decking that went soft under the old leak, or the fascia board the squirrels and the rain have been working on for years. Roof repair in Tuscaloosa is mostly a $300 to $1,500 job, and we treat it as the whole job, not as the opening line of a replacement pitch.
Written price first. Photos of what is wrong and what we did. Repairs on the schedule within the week. The price list is a few sections down.
What roof repair covers
Everything on and around the roof that is broken, worn or rotten and does not require stripping the whole thing. Missing or torn shingles. Decking that has gone soft under a leak. Soffit and fascia rot at the eaves. Ridge vents that have lifted or rusted. Drip edge that was never installed. Gutters pulling off the fascia. Mobile and manufactured home roofs with failed seams. Roof repair in Tuscaloosa also includes the cleanup side: debris out of valleys, a limb off the roof, a satellite mount somebody screwed through the shingles.
If the problem is an active leak and you do not know where it is coming from, start with leak detection or leak repair, where we trace it from the attic first. Roof repair is for the damage you can already see.
It also covers the honest in-between: the roof that is 18 years old, mostly fine, and needs $800 of work to get through another five years. We do that work without the lecture.
Shingle and decking repairs
Shingle repair means matching the existing shingle as closely as the market allows, lifting the course above, sliding in the new piece and sealing it. On the 2011 to 2013 rebuild roofs in Alberta, Forest Lake and Holt, matching three-tab is easy; on a 25-year-old roof in West End, the color will be close, not exact, and we will say so. Shingle replacement runs $275 to $850 for a typical patch of 1 to 15 shingles.
Decking repair is the part people do not see coming. When a leak has run for a few seasons, the plywood or OSB under the shingles delaminates and goes soft. You feel it as a spongy spot when you walk the roof, and it will not hold a nail. We cut out the bad sheet, replace it with new 7/16 OSB or 1/2 plywood, lay new underlayment and reshingle. Decking replacement is $95 to $150 per sheet on top of the shingle work.
Soffit, fascia and ridge vents
Fascia is the board along the roof edge that the gutter hangs on; soffit is the panel under the eave. Both rot from the back when a gutter overflows, a drip edge is missing, or a shingle edge was cut short. Once the fascia is soft the gutter sags, overflows more, and the cycle speeds up. We replace rotted fascia with primed wood or PVC board and wrap it in aluminum where it is already wrapped, at $12 to $22 per linear foot, and replace vented aluminum or wood soffit panels at $8 to $16 per foot.
Ridge vents fail from wind lift and from rust on the older metal styles. A lifted ridge vent lets rain straight into the attic along the whole ridge. Ridge vent replacement is $350 to $900 depending on length, and we check the attic ventilation math while we are up there because a lot of 1960s and 70s houses in The Downs and Druid City have ridge vents with no soffit intake to feed them.
Drip edge is the small one. A lot of older Tuscaloosa roofs never had it, and without it water wicks back under the first course and rots the fascia from the top. Adding drip edge during a fascia repair is $3 to $5 per foot and ends the cycle.
Mobile and manufactured home roofs
Tuscaloosa County has a lot of single-wide and double-wide homes out Hwy 69 south toward Moundville, up toward Samantha and Coker, and in the parks east of Cottondale. Their roofs are different animals: low-pitch metal or rolled roofing on a single-wide, often with a roof-over kit, or a shingled truss roof on a newer double-wide. They leak at the seams, at the marriage line on a double-wide, around the furnace and water heater vents, and at the edges where the metal has pulled.
We seal seams and vents with a fabric-reinforced elastomeric system, replace failed vent boots, re-secure loose edge metal, and recoat metal roofs that are chalked and seeping. Mobile home seam and vent repair runs $300 to $1,100; a full elastomeric coating on a single-wide is $900 to $2,400.
What repairs cost in Tuscaloosa
Our prices are flat per repair and written before we start. The ranges below cover most of what we do; steep pitches, three stories, and tile or slate push toward the top. There is no trip charge and the written price is the invoice.
Shingle replacement, 1 to 15 shingles: $275 to $850
Decking replacement: $95 to $150 per sheet, plus the shingle work
Fascia replacement: $12 to $22 per linear foot
Soffit replacement: $8 to $16 per linear foot
Ridge vent replacement: $350 to $900
Mobile home seam and vent repair: $300 to $1,100
Mobile home full coating: $900 to $2,400
When we tell you to replace instead
Sometimes a repair is throwing money at a roof that is done. Granule loss down to the mat across whole slopes, shingles that crack when lifted, decking soft in more than two or three spots, or more than a quarter of the roof needing work in a year: those are replacement signs, and we will show you the photos instead of talking you into it. We also tell you when the honest answer is a repair now and a replacement in three to five years, so you can budget instead of panic.
If you decide to replace, we are not the company that does it, and we have no commission riding on the answer. That is the whole reason you can believe us when we say the roof is fine.
Questions we get
How much does roof repair cost in Tuscaloosa, AL?
Most roof repairs here run $275 to $1,500. Shingle replacement is $275 to $850, decking $95 to $150 per sheet, fascia $12 to $22 per foot, and ridge vent replacement $350 to $900. Mobile home seam repairs run $300 to $1,100. You get a written price before any work starts.
What is the 25 percent rule for roofing?
If more than 25 percent of a roof needs repair within a year, replacement usually costs less over the next five years than the string of repairs. We use it as a starting point, then look at the actual shingle condition and decking before recommending either.
Do you repair mobile home roofs in Tuscaloosa County?
Yes. Single-wide and double-wide roofs out Hwy 69, toward Samantha and Coker, and east of Cottondale. Seam and vent sealing, marriage-line leaks on double-wides, edge metal, and full elastomeric coatings on chalked metal roofs.
Will a repair match my existing shingles?
On roofs under 15 years old, usually close enough that you will not find it from the street. On older roofs the color has faded and the match will be visible up close. We tell you before we start and, where it matters, we pull shingles from a hidden slope to use on the visible one.
Get the repair priced
Send a photo of the problem and the address. We will come look, put the price in writing, and get the repair on the schedule for this week.