I give people props for trying to do their own repairs, because I’m a DIYer myself. But it’s important to remember that DIY roof repair is a temporary fix, and we can sometimes get in waaaaay over our heads.
<— Ever feel like this?
(Did you happen to hear our radio ads last month regarding DIY work? Have you ever made the problem worse? ….uh, me either.)
We recently had a customer in northeast Portland who had a leaking roof. Instead of coming to Roof Life first, he went to Google. His Internet searches led him to a big box store where he bought a bunch of black mastic to coat his roof.
That stuff is great for a temporary fix, but it’s certainly not meant to be permanent. Shingles are designed to evacuate water in a certain path, and as soon as you put something in its way, it’s either going to find another way down the roof or into your home.
This homeowner put a gob of black mastic over his shingles and left it there for over a year. Eventually, his roof sprung another leak, and he gave us a call. Unfortunately, because he waited so long to call us, the repair was almost triple what it would have been if he had called us out initially.
I don’t blame the guy. It was probably pouring rain and he was desperate to stop his leak. But as soon as the rain stops, it’s important to call a professional so we can give your roof a permanent solution.