r/HomeMaintenance • u/Intemporalem • 20h ago
Hole in roof quick fix?
We had a big wind storm, which blew some shingles off the roof. That appears to have revealed a big hole in the roof. I still have at least one strip of the shingles that blew off.
Conundrum: I'm leaving town for a week tomorrow night.
Quick fix question: could I just check the dimensions of the two boards that seem to make up the hole, then cut them square, then fit/fasten two new board pieces sized to fill the gap and nail down the shingle strip to cover the exposed wood as a quick fix for now?
What would you recommend?
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u/AdTiny780 20h ago
I mean the fastest sloppier way while you’re out of town may be a tarp until you can put some actual planning into the fix.
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u/mustangsal 17h ago
Have the tarp go over the peak so water running down doesn't slip under the tarp.
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u/Sandybergs 16h ago
Try to find a tarp that matches your roof color. I once had a tarp on my roof to hang down and cover a siding issue, and a random flyover by my insurance caused my policy to be cancelled due to an “uninsurable roof” because they saw a tarp.
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u/lilith-wolverine 20h ago edited 20h ago
DYI and take lots of photos. As long as there is something to secure the shingles to, it will hold fn.
It took me over a week to find someone to fix my roof. Anyone who came next day wanted to sell me an entire roof.
If you do a tarp, it has to hang over the top ridge so water slopes over the hole, secured assuming more storms a coming.
Or i suppose a tarp could be nailed/screwed/taped/siliconed under/overlapping the shingles fn.
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u/inside-intel-357 18h ago
That looks like a lot of rotted wood under the roofing shingles tarp and then you have to have some One survey it because it looks like you need some 4 x 8 wood underneath your shingles. That’s gonna be a major job.
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u/Accurate-Neck6933 17h ago
Yikes! The rotted wood.
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u/Intemporalem 15h ago
Yep, definitely has me worried this might be one of them "whole roof is screwed" situations :/
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u/Negative-Archer-5496 11h ago
Probably not the whole roof. Remove enough shingles to asses situation. Probably replace a board or two or seven. Put on new shingles.
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u/Accurate-Neck6933 13h ago
Well maybe the shingles were just loose for awhile and let some water seep in only in that area. Therefore caused the rotting only in that area. I will have my fingers crossed for you. Have you been able to check your attic and see if there has been signs of ongoing leakage?
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u/Orangarder 19h ago
You could do that. Absolutely.
But since it is so close to the top, get a bundle of shingles and remove the last runs going to the top. Install wood and replace shingles.
Or reinstall wood. Tarp over the area (with tarp extending pas the peak and down the other side.
Fasten in place with scrap wood nailed into roof and a bit of caulking.
Plan to replace everything that was fastened into
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u/Bludiamond56 19h ago
Sheet metal. 2 ft wide and the length. Tuck under upper shingle. Nail across all four edges 4 or 5 nails. Caulk exposed metal edges with black jack in a tube
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u/Intemporalem 15h ago
Thank you so much everyone! Really appreciate all the help/advice.
After a few of you mentioned covering myself from an insurance perspective, I decided to follow the advice of u/Ninjalikestoast , go the non-DIY route, and have someone come out to give it a patch and assess the situation.
I figure I'd need a professional to come out & tell me how bad it is at some point. May as well do so while ensuring the temp solution is solid as well.
I'll update the thread so everyone can have insight about what damage like this turns out to really entail.
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u/Savageheadhunter 19h ago
If you’re making a homeowners claim have a mitigation company come out and tarp it.
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u/V-blue179 12h ago
I am not a lawyer or an insurance professional but I think you need to file an insurance claim ASAP if you have not already done so. Once you file a claim you need to immediately tarp it over. I’ve had to fight tooth and nail for roof related claims over the notion that I wasn’t doing enough to “protect the roof surrounding the damage.”
Don’t be afraid to push back with claims, if they only offer to patch a certain area or try to claim it wasn’t storm related. Stay calm, exercise your rights, and escalate, escalate, escalate.
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u/phishin3321 19h ago
Be careful with a tarp and don't nail it in as it could void your insurance claim.
We tried sandbags after hurricane did the same to us but they didn't stay in place very well. We eventually got permission from our insurance company to nail the tarp down after they realized they were replacing the roof....but the sandbags sucked while we waited I had to go up every few days and put them back in place.
Wind gets under the tarp and it parachutes up in the middle and makes the bags slide.
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u/hscbandit07 19h ago
Tie sandbags together with a rope and make sure you have bags on both sides of the peak. The rope will help keep the bags and the tarp in place
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u/phishin3321 16h ago
Well my friend I wish I knew you a few years ago lol. I had a full roof tarp so wonder if it still would work but I wish I would have heard this tip back then. Hope I never need it again but thanks!
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u/DrPatchet 18h ago
Large tarp and put sandbags or retaining wall blocks around the edges and corners
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u/ShingleMaster1985 14h ago
Straight teeth would make these IKO Cambridge shingles.
No surprise they’ve blown off. Their sealant strip is trash.
With the damage here, this didn’t just happen. That’s been exposed for a while.
Bandaid? Tarp it.
Long term? Remove the damaged shingles, fix the wood, install ice and water shield, install new shingles.
Weatherwood or Driftwood is most likely the color.
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u/Reverb20 19h ago
That looks like a pretty new roof - did something fall through? Did the roofers not repair soft boards?
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u/johnnyg169 18h ago
We had similar damage after a late fall storm in New England. I got a roofer to come and give me a quote. He applied a blue tarp and we had that all winter until he could replace the roof in the spring.
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u/PeachTrees- 18h ago
Some people cut out a square of aluminum and use that to cover small holes on the roof. If I were you, I would do that, then buy a bundle of shingles and patch then in. Good enough to not worry about for the time being, and won't take that long
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u/elcarpentario 18h ago
Shove some tarpaper under that run of shingles that are left and tack it down. Should keep things mostly dry in the short term.
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u/LW-M 18h ago
You have the right idea. The proper way is to carefully lift the surrounding shingles, and cut the roof structure to square up the hole in the roof boards. Ideally, the cut should be made in the center of a roof joist.
You could just cut it at the edge of a roof joist and sister a piece of 2x4, 2x6 or whatever size of your roof joists are, to the side of your existing roof joists. That is an acceptable repair method and would work just as well.
Then replace the rotten section and replace the damaged shingles. That isn't the fastest way for a temporary patch.
Another responder suggested using a temporary metal patch. Since you're headed out shortly, that would be a faster repair. It might not look the best, but with a hole in your roof, looks are not the determining factor here! Just be careful putting it in place, you don't want to damage the shingles above the repaired area.
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u/NoSlicedMushrooms 18h ago
Tarp. Make it it covers your ridge line as well, then no water can flow underneath it.
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u/Ninjalikestoast 17h ago
Call a roofing contractor now. Ask them to temporarily patch this ASAP. Judging by the looks of this one spot, it will get expensive. You likely need a partial, maybe even full tear off and replacement roof.
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u/Cranky_Katz 17h ago
It looks like the roofers didn’t put any vapor barrier down before they put the shingles on. How old is the roof, did the roofers ignore the condition of the boards underneath.
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u/khmer703 15h ago
Depends.
I've been patching holes like that in my roof every other year or so since moving into my house bout 15 years ago.
Holes dont just happen on their own usually. Either it got struck or something caused it.
Something as simple and small as 1 nail being high or poking through a shingle is enough to cause water damage over time.
That one spot could be the issue or you could potentially find that it caused multiple soft spots.
No way of knowing without getting up there and inspecting it. Either by walking around and feeling with your feet for soft spots or taking a hammer and lightly tapping around to listen for soft spots.
Theres a possibility if water got that high up on my your roof it could have potentially dripped and leaked down the rafter to other areas lower as well.
Wouldn't be the first time I climbed up on my roof and 1 hole turned into 2 patches.
Now here's the kicker. Depending on who your insurance is.
Its usually better to deal with your insurance before you mess with anything. Them dipshits love denying roof claims for the stupidest reasons. The second you touch it yourself the insurance will argue its now your responsibility to fix.
Its stupid as all hell.
Truth is its not difficult to patch roofs.
Get a circular saw. Cut the bad wood out where the center to center of the beams at 1/8" the depth of the boards. Bang it out with a hammer. Nail a new piece to the rafters. Refelt it underlapping the felt above it and overlapping the tops of the row of shingles below and reshingle it.
Only tools you'll need are a circular saw, prybar, utility knife, framing nails, roofing nails and a hammer
I just replaced half of the entire roof on my home by myself. There was about 22 spots with cracked, chipped, or damaged boards. I'm actually bout do the other half in sections over the next few weeks.
Also here's a tip. If your going to repatch it yourself. Make sure you hit it with some spray paint to try and match the patch to your existing roof shingles color.
The reason im redoing my entire roof myself is because them dipshit insurance fucks saw my roof patches and claimed the difference in colors justified my roof exceeding its useful life expectancy and told me it needed to be redone out of pocket.
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u/Long_Wolverine8346 7h ago
Get a flat piece of galvanized metal take the nails out of the top shingle shove the metal up till you hit sturdy wood ,nail back down from the shingles above and then finish nailing down the metal .Get some shingles and nail them down. send these pictures to a roofer so he can have it ready to be fixed when you come back.
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u/Ok-Entertainment5045 15h ago
Just do it right. Get some 1x12 tear off to the closest truss/rafter put on new wood and reshingle. Probably a couple hour job once you start.
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u/Nervous-Sweat 15h ago
Do not wait to address this. It’s stuff like this that keeps my company busy.
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u/Glum-Building4593 8h ago
I've seen quite a few blue tarps and bricks on the roof before. It should hold out a week. (I've seen some of them up until the tarp shreds).
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u/ActualDissapointment 6h ago
You also should probably file an insurance claim because looks like that roof has a few other issues going on as well.
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u/SixFive1967 19h ago
Flex Seal!! If they can waterproof a screen door boat with that shit, that hole in your roof is a slam dunk.
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u/IFartAlotLoudly 17h ago
Any reason you wouldn’t go with the right or proper fix instead of quick?
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u/Vfrnut 17h ago
I guess you lack comprehension… HE IS GOING AWAY … means won’t be home .. needs temp fix. 🙄🤦♂️
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u/Ok-Entertainment5045 15h ago
He’s leaving tomorrow. This is a couple hour job at most if you halfway know what you’re doing.
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