Expert guides to gutters, roofing and home drainage
Explore practical roofing guides covering roof repairs, replacement costs, materials, inspections, and maintenance.
Learn how to recognize common roofing problems, compare your options, and make informed decisions that protect your home and budget.
A curved dormer is one of the prettiest things you can put on a roof. It is also one of the easiest places to get a leak. Shingles come out of the bundle flat and rectangular, and a curved dormer is neither of those things. When I look at a roof, I go straight to … Read More “Fitting a Roof Around a Curved Dormer Takes Careful Cutting and Planning” »
A single cracked slate looks like the easiest repair on the house. Pull the broken piece, slide in a new one and nail it where the old one was nailed. Then you look closer and see that the old nails sit under the slates above, where no hammer can reach. Most people stall right there, … Read More “Replacing One Broken Slate When Its Nails Are Hidden Under the Roof Above” »
If you have watched a metal roof go on, you may have seen a small box on a long extension cord crawl up the roof by itself, humming along a raised rib. That is a seamer, and it is folding the edges of two panels together into one locked joint. I own more tools than … Read More “A Machine Folds Metal Roof Panels Together After They Are Installed” »
A brown stain on the ceiling next to the fireplace usually gets blamed on the roof. Sometimes that is right. Other times the flashing gets replaced, the bill gets paid, and the stain is back after the next hard rain. I have stood under plenty of those stains with homeowners. A chimney is a brick … Read More “Fixing a Chimney Leak May Take More Than a Roof Repair” »
Give me a Saturday morning, a cup of coffee and a covered porch, and I am a happy man. I also cannot sit under a porch roof without looking up at the ceiling for water stains, which is a habit my wife has stopped commenting on. Porches get roofed like an afterthought. The crew finishes … Read More “Your Porch May Need Different Roofing Than the Rest of Your House” »
I cannot drive past a house with new solar panels without looking at the shingles around them. My wife knows the look by now. Too often the array is shiny and new while the roof around it is curling at the edges, and I know what that homeowner will be paying for in a few … Read More “Replacing a Roof With Solar Panels Requires Planning Both Jobs Together” »
Most homeowners who ask me about metal roofing have already collected two quotes, and the metal roof cost on one is about double the other. Both say “metal roof.” One is corrugated, the wavy panel you’ve seen on barns and sheds. The other is standing seam, the flat panels with raised ribs running from the … Read More “Corrugated Metal Roofing vs. Standing Seam, Which Is Better for Your Home?” »
If you priced a new roof this year and the number made you sit down on the tailgate, you are not imagining things. Verisk, the insurance data company, reported that the average residential roof replacement cost $17,631 in 2025. That figure sits about 33% above the average for 2021 through 2024. Overall roof claims fell … Read More “Roof Replacements Cost a Third More in 2025, Even With Fewer Storm Claims” »
When a homeowner asks me how old their roof is, my honest answer usually starts with another question. Who gave you the number? Sellers, agents and previous owners tend to round off, and in my experience “about ten years” gets said far more often than it turns out to be true. Paperwork disappears. Warranties end … Read More “How to Find Out How Old Your Roof Is When Nobody Kept the Paperwork” »
Your roof can still keep the rain out and be worth far less to your insurance company than it costs to replace. That surprises homeowners all the time. A 20-year-old roof could need $20,000 worth of work after a covered storm, yet an actual cash value policy might value that roof at only a fraction … Read More “Your Roofs Might Only Be Worth 20 Percent to Your Insurer” »
