When a roof starts giving trouble, the real question is whether a targeted fix will do or whether the roof has reached the end of its life. Here is how we work through that decision on a Saskatoon home, so you can weigh it before anyone gets on the roof.
W Contracting Roofing is a Saskatoon roofing company, and this is the decision a roof inspection is meant to settle.
A repair and a replacement are very different decisions, and the right one depends on more than the problem in front of you. These are the things we look at, roughly in order, when a homeowner asks which way to go.
Start with the age of the roof
Age frames everything else. Asphalt shingles in this climate generally last twenty to thirty years, with the prairie sun, wind and freeze-thaw pushing toward the shorter end. A leak on a roof that is eight years old is almost always a repair. The same leak on a roof past twenty is a sign the whole surface is wearing out, and money spent patching it is often money you spend again next season.
How much of the roof is affected
A problem in one spot is different from a problem all over. A section of lifted shingles, a length of failed flashing or a single storm-struck slope is a contained repair. When the wear is spread across the whole roof, curling shingles here, bare patches there, granules gone in several places, you are no longer fixing a fault, you are chasing a roof that is giving out. At that point a replacement usually costs less over time than a series of repairs.
How many layers are already up there
If the roof already carries two layers of shingles, your options narrow. Most roofs are not meant to hold a third layer, so a worn double-layer roof generally points to a full tear-off and replacement rather than another patch. It is one of the first things we check, because it changes the conversation.
A pattern of repeated repairs
One repair is normal. A third or fourth call for a new leak in a different spot is the roof telling you something. When the fixes are stacking up and moving around the roof, the cost of chasing them starts to rival the cost of replacing the surface once and being done. We will tell you honestly when you have reached that point instead of selling you another patch.
The condition of the decking underneath
The wood decking under the shingles is the part homeowners never see, and it decides a lot. Where an old leak has soaked the decking and left it soft or rotten, a surface repair does not solve the problem, because the base it fastens to is failing. Widespread soft decking is a strong sign for replacement. We check it during an inspection and, when needed, once the shingles are off.
When a storm makes the decision for you
Saskatoon hail can settle the question on its own. A severe storm can bruise shingles and strip their granules across the whole roof, which is replacement territory, and it is often an insurance matter rather than an out-of-pocket one. Our storm and hail damage page and the insurance claim guide cover how that path works when a storm is the cause.
The rule of thumb we actually use
If the roof is young, the damage is contained and the decking is sound, repair it and get years more out of it. If the roof is near or past its age, the wear is widespread, it is already double-layered or the decking is going, replacing it is the better value even though it is the larger job. Cost matters in that decision too, and how each option is priced is covered in our guide on what a new roof costs in Saskatoon. The surest way to know where your roof sits is a free inspection with photos, so you are deciding on evidence rather than a guess. If you are not sure the roof will make it to spring, our signs a roof needs repair before winter is a good next read.