The leaks we trace most often in Wilkes-Barre
If you own an older house in Wilkes-Barre, there's a good chance the leak isn't coming from the big front roof. It's coming from the back. So many homes in the North End, South Wilkes-Barre and the Iron Triangle have a nearly flat roof over the kitchen or an enclosed porch, and those sections have usually been covered in roll roofing and patched with tar more times than anyone can count. Water sits on them, freezes, and finds the seam where the low roof meets the main wall.
For those, a patch buys a season at best. The lasting repair is to strip the old roll roofing, fix any soft decking, and re-cover the section in EPDM rubber with new flashing run up the wall and tucked under the siding or the shingles above. It's a contained job that doesn't touch the main roof.
The other usual suspects:
- Chimney flashing on brick chimneys that have outlived several roofs, often smeared with tar that cracked years ago.
- Dormer and wall flashing on the narrow two-and-a-half-story houses, where step flashing has rusted or was never woven in.
- Cracked pipe boots and loose vent collars.
- Wind-lifted tabs along ridges and rakes, where the sealant has let go.
Winter damage in the Wyoming Valley
The valley floor sees about 45 inches of snow in an average year, plus a lot of thawing and refreezing. The river keeps the air damp, so shaded slopes stay wet, and moss moves in under the shingle edges. Every freeze opens a small gap a little wider.
The classic Wilkes-Barre winter leak is an ice dam. Heat from a finished upper floor melts snow near the ridge, the water refreezes at the cold eave, and the next thaw backs up under the shingles and into the ceiling or the top of a wall. We repair the damaged shingles, underlayment and decking at the eave. We'll also tell you straight if the attic's venting is feeding the problem, because the dam will come back unless the attic stays cold. Our roof ventilation work handles that part.
On a double-block, the seam at the party wall is a common trouble spot, especially when the two halves were re-roofed years apart with different materials. We inspect both sides of the ridge to find where the water actually enters, then rebuild the seam so each half sheds water past it.
After a windstorm or hail, we photograph the damage and can meet your adjuster on site. See our storm damage repair page for how that works. The claim itself stays between you and your insurer.
Honest advice on repair versus a new roof
One leak at one chimney on a roof with good shingles is a repair, and we'll tell you so. But if we find granules washing out everywhere, curled shingles on every slope, soft deck in more than one spot, or three old layers on the house, patching the leak you called about won't stop the next one. At that point we'll recommend a roof replacement and walk you through what we found. The decision is yours.
Permits in the city go through the City of Wilkes-Barre's Building Code Enforcement department. The state's UCC exempts some residential repair work, and the city sets the local rule, so we check what your repair needs before starting and pull a permit when one is required.
For more on how we handle leaks, see our roof repair page. If the roof is getting old and you want to compare, the Instant Roof Quote gives you a starting number for a full replacement.
More detail on how we handle this work anywhere we serve: Roof Repair. Everything we do in Wilkes-Barre: roofing in Wilkes-Barre, PA.
