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Ice Dam Repair in Midtown

Ice Dam Repair in Midtown from $150. If the ceiling stains during a thaw rather than during rain, this is almost certainly what you have. Free inspection and a written quote.

Free quote Call (908) 465-9863
Local crewA Midtown crew, not a franchise call center
Local knowledgeRoof access through an occupied unit agreed first
Ice Dam Repair, priced line by lineNamed detail, never a line saying 'roof repair works'
HIC reg.Checkable against the board's own public register
Midtown

Ice Dam Repair in Midtown: what actually fails

On a flat roof behind a parapet an ice dam behaves differently: the ice forms at the outlet rather than at an eaves line, and once the outlet is blocked the whole roof holds meltwater instead of shedding it. Clearing and enlarging the drainage is more use here than anything done to the membrane.

An ice dam is a heat problem wearing a roofing costume. Warm air escaping into the roof space melts the snow lying on the upper roof. That meltwater runs down to the eaves, which are cold because nothing heated sits under them, and refreezes there. Repeat for a week and you have a ridge of ice holding water behind it.

  • Who can give access to the top floor and the roof
  • The parapet coping and upstand before the membrane field
  • Whether the outlet is clear, because everything drains internally
  • How far the water has traveled inside before it showed

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Ice Dam Repair in Midtown — brick chimneys and dormers on a shingle roof
Ice damA job of this kind
Ice Dam Repair in Midtown — moss growing along the edge of an old roof
Where it goes wrongThe detail this work turns on
Ice Dam Repair in Midtown — an old attic with heavy timber framing and plank walls
The visitUp top and underneath, then the price
What it costs

Ice dam repair cost in Midtown

The roofing element prices like any other repair, $350 to $1,800. But be clear about what you are buying: an ice dam is caused by heat escaping into the roof space, and the repair that ends it is air sealing, insulation and ventilation. That is not roofing, we do not pretend it is, and no published New Jersey figure for it exists to quote you honestly. Expect access to appear as a line. A roof reached through an occupied unit, or a frontage on a busy street, is time before any work starts -- and on a parapet roof the outlet and coping are part of the job whether or not they are what you called about.

Typical$350 - $1,800
From$150
Pricedthe roofing part only
Time on siteSurvey first, work after the thaw
01

What we can price

The roof side: an ice barrier membrane at the eaves where the covering is coming off anyway, the damaged courses, and the flashing or valley the water has been getting past.

02

What we will not pretend to price

Insulation and air sealing work in the roof space, which is the part that actually stops the melting. We will tell you what needs doing and that it is somebody else's trade rather than inventing a number.

03

What a roofing-only repair buys you

One winter, usually. That is a legitimate thing to buy if you are selling or if money is tight this year, and it should be sold as what it is rather than as a fix.

Buildings in Midtown

Roofs in Midtown, and what that means for ice dam repair

Parapets are the Midtown story. A building with a flat roof behind a street-facing parapet fails at the coping and the upstand, not in the field, and the water appears inside on the top floor a long way from where it entered. Access is the other constraint: a roof reached only through an occupied unit changes how the work has to be arranged.

Roof Repair in Midtown

Before you choose

Four questions worth asking anybody who quotes a repair

Including us. On repair work the checks are different from the ones people apply to a replacement, and cheaper to make.

01

Did anybody go into the roof space

The single most useful question on this page. A repair quoted from the roof alone is a repair quoted without knowing where the water traveled, and that is how a patch ends up in the wrong place. It costs nothing to ask and it separates most quotes immediately.

02

Does the quote name the cause, not just the work

'Repair roof' is not a scope. 'Rebuild step flashing to the chimney, replace two vent boots, re-lap the valley' is -- and it can be checked when it is finished, which is the point.

03

What happens if it leaks again

Ask before, not after. A repair aimed at a named cause can be stood behind; a patch aimed at a stain cannot, and a contractor who is vague about the cause will be vague about this too.

Related

Other roof repair work in Midtown

All services

Roof Repair in Midtown

Above a shop or an office the leak is reported by whoever is underneath it, which is rarely the person who owns the roof.

Roof Leak Repair in Midtown

A leak here has usually traveled further than anywhere else on this site.

Flat Roof Repair in Midtown

The whole roof is flat on much of this stock, and it sits behind a parapet with internal drainage.

Shingle Roof Repair in Midtown

Where there is a pitched slope at all here it is usually a small street-facing section in front of a flat roof, and the interesting part is the junction between them.

Chimney Flashing Repair in Midtown

On commercial and mixed-use buildings the penetration through a flat roof is usually not a chimney but a flue, a duct or a vent, and each needs a proper curb and a flashing worked into the membrane.

Emergency Roof Repair in Midtown

Above a shop or an office an emergency has two parts, and the roof is the second one.

Nearby

Ice Dam Repair in neighboring cities

All areas

Ice Dam Repair in Elizabeth

Pre-war chimneys, and eaves with no ice barrier.

Ice Dam Repair in Frog Hollow

Low ground, open water. Which way is the water going?

Ice Dam Repair in Linden

Post-war and often overlaid, so the eaves are buried.

Ice Dam Repair in Roselle Park

Steep pitch. Specific details fail, not the field.

Ice Dam Repair in Union

Rear additions and garages, and their junctions.

Ice Dam Repair in Kenilworth

Built as a set, so the street is a reliable guide.

Ice Dam Repair in Rahway

The widest age spread. Age decides where to look.

Questions

Before you book ice dam repair

The questions that decide this job, answered up front.

Questions

What homeowners here ask

Can you just remove the ice?

We can clear it, and sometimes that is the right emergency step. But it will be back within the week, because the cause is heat escaping into the roof space and nothing about clearing ice changes that. Steam removal and chipping both risk the covering, and chipping frequently does real damage.

Will heated cables fix it?

They can keep a channel open and stop water pooling behind a dam, which is a legitimate holding measure on a roof that cannot be improved this year. They do not stop the melting, they cost money to run every winter, and anybody selling them as the solution is selling a symptom.

My roof has been repaired twice and still leaks. Why?

Almost certainly because the repair went where the ceiling was wet rather than where the water entered. Water gets in at a junction, runs along a rafter and drops at the first low point, which on a shallow pitch can be several feet away. That is why the roof space gets inspected here before anything is quoted -- the underside of the deck shows the direction of travel.

The ceiling stains when it has not rained. Is that the roof?

That is an ice dam, and it is the opposite of a rain leak. Heat escaping into the roof space melts snow on the upper roof; the meltwater refreezes at the cold eaves and dams; water then backs up behind it and goes in above the line the covering sheds from. It shows up during a thaw. The lasting fix is insulation and ventilation, not shingles.

What is the 25% rule for roofing?

It is Florida Building Code, Existing Building, section 706.1.1: not more than 25 per cent of a roof area repaired, replaced or recovered in any twelve-month period unless the whole system is brought up to current code. It gets quoted nationally because it sounds universal. It is not New Jersey law, and it is not what decides whether your roof should be repaired.

Need ice dam repair in Midtown?

The roof space walked as well as the roof, before any price. The cause named in writing, not just the work.

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