The Cost of Repairing, Patching or Replacing a Roof

The Cost of Repairing, Patching or Replacing a Roof

You’ve noticed your roof isn’t looking as great as it used to – perhaps there are even some missing shingles and maybe a little leak in the attic. You may be running through the options: you could replace just the affected area or you could potentially replace the whole roof so you know it’s new. If you’re wondering what your options are, and what each will cost you, then here’s some more information about repairing, patching or replacing your roof.

Repair

How do you know if you just need to do a small repair to your roof? A repair would be something like a few missing or damaged shingles, or some damaged flashing. If you can complete a repair early then you may prevent it from becoming a bigger issue down the road, and it will likely cost you less money than completely replacing your whole roof. A repair, depending on whether you’re comfortable doing it yourself, will likely cost you less than $3,000. It will cost less if you complete the labour yourself, but if you hire a company to complete the work then the cost might be slightly higher. If the costs start creeping north of $3,000 then it might be a better option to look into completely replacing the roof.

Patch

A leak can happen from missing shingles or a puncture to the roof. Sometimes the area experiencing the leak is small, and very little damage has been done when caught early. Knowing that, it doesn’t mean you’ll have to completely replace the roof. With smaller leaks sometimes a roofing company, or yourself, can complete a patch in the affected area. A patch will be put between the shingles and the underlying barriers that protect your home from the element. You may need to remove some of the shingles in the area to replace water barriers and then replace the shingles after the patch is complete. This kind of repair will cost, likely, from $1,000 to $1,500 depending on if you do it yourself or hire a company. If you aren’t sure how big the leak is then it would be advisable to call in a professional before you start doing any work on the roof.

Replace

No matter how many repairs you do, or what kind of maintenance you perform, eventually the roof of your home will need to be replaced. This is a project you could tackle yourself (with the help of some friends) but most home owners end up calling in a professional roofing company. The cost of completely replacing your roof will depend on a few variables: the biggest one being the materials you choose for your new roof. Asphalt shingles will cost, likely, the least and a material like metal will be expensive. Generally speaking, the longer a roof will last the more expensive it will be at the outset. The second factor in cost will be if any underlying part of your roof needs to be replaced before the new outer layer can go on. Do you need new barriers? New flashing? New gutters? A roofing company will be able to give you a complete quote, but when looking to replace the roof budgeting anywhere from $10,000 to $20,000 is fairly common for most homes.