Roof repair
Roof repair and roof leak repair in Des Moines
The bathroom ceiling in a Beaverdale bungalow, the wall by the fireplace in a Johnston two-story, the corner of a garage in Ankeny where a bonus room sits above. Roof leaks in Des Moines show up in the same handful of places, and nearly all of them are a $300–$1,500 fix at one spot. A good contractor finds that spot from the attic before pricing it, so you are not paying anyone to guess.
Three seasons, three kinds of leak call
Roof repair in Des Moines, IA follows the calendar more than most people realize, and knowing the season tells you a lot about the leak.
February and March. A stain on an upstairs ceiling within three feet of a north-facing outside wall, after a week of freeze-thaw. That is meltwater backing up behind an ice dam; the roof itself is often fine. The ice is handled on the ice dam repair page; the shingle and decking damage it leaves is priced here.
April through August. A thunderstorm crosses Polk County from the Dallas County line and the calls are about shingles in the yard. A few lifted tabs on the windward slope is a repair. Bruising across a slope is a storm claim; a roof-level look tells you which you have before you call your agent.
October. Somebody cleans the gutters and spots a cracked pipe boot or a chimney caulked five times. Fixing that in October is the cheapest roof repair you'll ever pay for.
Prices for the part that actually failed
| What failed | The usual fix | Typical Des Moines price |
|---|---|---|
| Rubber pipe boot cracked at 10–15 years | New boot, shingles rewoven around it | $250 – $450 |
| Chimney flashing on a 1920s–50s brick chimney | Step flashing under the shingles, counter-flashing cut into the mortar | $600 – $1,500 |
| Valley worn thin or laid without membrane | Strip the valley, ice-and-water membrane, re-lay | $500 – $1,200 |
| Skylight flashing kit gone | New kit, or a new unit if the seal failed | $400 – $900 (unit $1,200 – $2,500) |
| Wind-lifted or missing shingles | Matched shingles, hand-sealed, underlayment patched | $300 – $800 |
| Dormer or sidewall step flashing short or missing | New step flashing, siding lifted and reset | $450 – $1,100 |
| Decking soft under any of the above | New plywood, $90–$150 per sheet | added to the job |
Roof leak repair in Des Moines lands between $300 and $1,500 on most visits. Past $2,500 on a roof older than about 18 years, ask to see what a replacement costs next to it.
Old side of town, new side of town
The city's 1910s–50s houses — Beaverdale, Drake, Highland Park, Union Park, the streets off Hubbell — fail at the chimney and the eaves. The brick chimneys are original and have been flashed with tar and caulk more often than with metal. Chimney flashing repair in Des Moines done properly means cutting a reglet into the mortar joint for the counter-flashing, which is why it outlasts a tube of sealant by decades. Under the shingles is often 1x plank decking with gaps; a patch there needs plywood laid over it first.
The suburbs built after 2000 — Ankeny, Waukee, Grimes, west Johnston — fail at the valleys and the vents. Those roofs went on fast, often with four nails per shingle and a closed-cut valley with no membrane. Shingle roof repair in Des Moines' newer subdivisions is mostly re-sealing a slope the derecho loosened and rebuilding valleys that have leaked since the first heavy rain. Skylight leak repair in Des Moines is a suburban job too; the 2000s houses have the skylights, and the flashing kits give out at about 20 years.
Finding the leak before anyone prices it
The stain on the drywall is almost never below the hole. Water rides a rafter downhill until it hits a nail, then drops. So a careful contractor goes into the attic first, follows the dark trail on the underside of the decking uphill, and marks where it starts; on the roof, every penetration near that mark gets checked. If nothing is obvious, one person runs a hose on the slope in sections while another watches from the attic hatch. Half an hour settles nearly every argument about where the water comes from.
In January the attic often shows frost on every nail tip and no trail at all. That is condensation from a bath fan or an unsealed hatch, not a leak. Read roof leak or condensation before you pay anyone.
The gutter that rotted the roof edge
Gutter and roof repair in Des Moines usually turn out to be the same job. A gutter pulled out of level by ice every winter dumps water behind itself, and after a few years the fascia and the first foot of decking are punky. The right fix is to cut out the rot, sheet the edge, run membrane over it, replace the fascia and drip edge, and re-hang the gutter into solid wood. Re-hanging the gutter alone is how this becomes a yearly call.
What to write down before anyone comes out
A few notes make a repair visit faster and the price tighter:
- Where the water shows. The room, how far it is from the nearest outside wall, and whether it is upstairs or down.
- When it shows. Every rain, only wind-driven rain from the west, only during a thaw, or only after a cold snap with no rain at all. That last one points to condensation.
- What changed. A storm, a new bath fan, a satellite dish, a gutter that came down last winter.
- How old the roof is. Closing papers or the city's permit records usually say.
- Photos. The ceiling, the attic if you can get there safely, and the roof from the yard.
Comparing two repair quotes
Repair quotes are shorter than replacement quotes, but they still need to say what is being done. A good one names the part (pipe boot, step flashing, valley), the material going back in, whether underlayment or membrane is being replaced under it, and what happens if the decking underneath is soft. "Fix leak, $450" is not something you can hold anyone to. If one quote reflashes the chimney with metal cut into the mortar and the other just seals it, those are different jobs, and the cheaper one will be back.
Ask, too, what the contractor will do if the first fix doesn't stop the water. A clear answer in writing is worth more than a lower number.
Where this guide applies
All of the city, West Des Moines from Valley Junction to Jordan Creek, Ankeny, Urbandale, Johnston, Clive, Waukee, Grimes, Altoona, Pleasant Hill and Norwalk. Our guide to repair versus replacement covers the decision every repair visit should end with.
Other roofing services
Roof Replacement
What a full tear-off should include: decking check, synthetic underlayment, ice-and-water at the eaves, wind-rated shingles. $9,000–$20,000 on most homes.
Roof Replacement →Storm Damage & Claims
Hail, derecho and wind damage documented from the roof, tarped if needed, and written up in a scope your adjuster can follow, and how to spot deductible games.
Storm Damage & Claims →Ice Dam Repair
Steam removal of the dam, repair of the damage underneath, and the attic air-sealing and ventilation work that stops it coming back next January.
Ice Dam Repair →Roof Inspection
A walked inspection with photos and a written report — for buying a house, filing a claim, or finding out how many winters the roof has left.
Roof Inspection →Questions roofers get asked
How soon can a leaking roof get fixed in Des Moines?
A roof that is actively dripping usually goes ahead of routine work, and two or three days is common outside of storm season. In the week after a hail or wind event, expect a tarp first and the permanent fix once the deck is dry. Water coming through a ceiling light means turn that circuit off and call the same day.
Will the patch match my roof?
Close enough that you'll have to point it out. Most metro roofs are one of a few architectural shingle lines in charcoal, weathered wood or driftwood, and local suppliers stock those. On a roof that has faded for fifteen years, new shingles read a shade darker until they weather in.
Can roofs be repaired in the winter?
Yes. Boots, flashing and decking don't care about the cold. Shingles seal on their own above roughly 40°F; below that a careful roofer hand-seals every one with roofing cement so wind can't get under them before spring. Snow and ice should be cleared from the work area first, and nobody should walk a roof that's glazed.
I own rental houses. How should I handle roof repairs?
Plenty of rentals around Drake, on the east side and in Highland Park are older roofs that need regular attention. Ask the contractor to schedule with the tenant directly, email before-and-after photos with the invoice, and keep your own file on each roof so you know what has been done where.
Can I put a bucket out and wait for spring?
For a drip in one spot, a bucket buys a few days, not a season. Water that sits in insulation and drywall turns a small flashing fix into a ceiling and mold job, so get the source found while it is still small.
Need roof work in Des Moines?
Call for a free estimate. Mon–Sat 7am–7pm.