Interior cleanup and emergency tarping for roof leaks in Lakewood's older houses, doubles and porch roofs. Phones answered 24/7.
Fastest: call (833) 490-5225. Or send this and we call you back.
A roof leak soaks the attic, ceiling and wall cavities below it, and in an older house it can run down into the rooms under it. A crew can tarp or board the opening to slow the water, remove wet ceiling and insulation, set air movers and dehumidifiers, and check readings until the structure is dry. Roof repair itself is a roofer's job.
Most of Lakewood's houses were built before 1940, and many of them have roofs that have been patched more than once. A leak in that kind of roof rarely stays in the attic. Water follows the rafters and the lath, runs along the top of an interior wall, and shows up as a stain on a ceiling two rooms away. By the time a homeowner sees the stain, the water may have been inside the plaster for hours or days.
The local house type makes this worse. A Cleveland double is usually two flats stacked up and down, with the upstairs bathroom and kitchen sitting directly over the downstairs living room. A leak that starts at a third-floor dormer or a flat porch roof can come through the upstairs floor and into the downstairs ceiling, which means two households, two sets of belongings and often two tenants are affected by one opening. The first thing a crew does is work out how far the water has traveled, not just where the stain is.
Phones are answered 24/7, and a crew is dispatched as fast as one is available. If the water is still coming in, the first useful step is to stop it at the source as far as you can do so safely, and to move belongings out of its path. The crew handles the rest of the job from there, including what a roof repair crew will not do inside the house.
Do not go onto a wet, steep or sagging roof, and do not step on a porch roof whose edge is soft. Shut off power to any light fixture or outlet in the wet area before you touch the ceiling, and keep the area clear of standing water. Do not pull down plaster or drywall that is still holding water without checking first, because the ceiling can drop without warning. If the leak came with a power cord, a smell of gas or a fixture that is sparking, leave the room and call for help.
The crew first looks for the path the water is taking, from the opening in the roof down to the ceiling or wall. Where it can be done safely, it shuts off power to any fixture in the wet area and places buckets or sheeting to protect floors. A tarp or boards over the opening are the usual emergency step, and they slow the water without repairing the roof.
Ceiling drywall, plaster sections, insulation and trim that have taken on water are cut out so the cavity can be opened and dried. In a double, this often means working from both floors, because the water may have run down a stud bay for a long distance. Old plaster is removed carefully because it can hold water for a long time behind the lath.
Moisture meters and thermal imaging show how far the wetness has spread into framing, subfloor and walls that look dry from the surface. The crew records the readings so they can be compared over the drying period. Water that reaches an attic or a wall cavity often shows up in places the homeowner would not expect.
Air movers and dehumidifiers are placed to move air across the wet cavities, and readings are taken until the materials return to dry levels. Drying follows the industry standard, ANSI/IICRC S500, and the crew can tell you which certifications its technicians hold if you ask. Plaster and old softwood subfloor dry slowly, so the timeline depends on the building, not on the crew's schedule.
The crew can give you photos, moisture readings and a description of the affected areas for your insurer or your roofer. Rebuilding the ceiling and painting are quoted after drying, once someone has seen the finished readings. Roof repair, flashing and gutter work go to a roofer, not to the drying crew.
The main factors are how much area the water reached, how many floors it crossed, and which materials it soaked. The price is explained and approved before work starts, and repairs after drying are quoted separately.
A leak that stays in one ceiling bay is a different job from one that has run down a double's interior wall into the lower flat. Plaster and old softwood subfloor hold water and dry slowly, so they add drying days and equipment. Finished attic rooms, dormers with tight access and crawl spaces under rear additions also take more time to reach and open up.
The water category matters too. Rain that enters through a roof is usually treated as clean at first, but it can pick up contaminants as it passes through insulation and dust, and the crew assesses that on site. Whether there is mold already, whether the unit is occupied, and how long the water sat before anyone found it also change the work. The emergency stage is explained and approved before work starts, and nobody can price the full job honestly over the phone.
Working on a steep or wet roof is dangerous, and most homeowners should not climb onto one. A crew can tarp or board the opening, or the homeowner can place a tarp from a stable ladder or the attic if it can be done safely.
Tarping stops water from getting worse. It does not repair the flashing or the shingles, and a tarp that is not secured properly can blow off in the next wind. Ask whether the crew can cover the opening as part of the emergency visit.
Do not go onto a slate roof in the rain or the first thaw, and do not step on a porch roof whose edge is soft or sagging. If you cannot reach the opening safely, shut off power to fixtures in the wet area and keep people out of the room below.
Coverage is decided by your insurer under your own policy. A standard homeowners policy generally responds to sudden and accidental damage, such as a storm opening the roof, and generally does not cover long-term leaks.
Check your policy and ask your agent how it treats wind, hail and gradual leaks, and whether a roof repair is covered separately from interior water damage. Take photos before anything is moved, and call your insurer early. The crew can give you moisture readings and photos for your claim, but it does not bill your insurance and does not decide what is covered.
If you have a dispute with your insurer, the Ohio Department of Insurance takes consumer complaints. It reviews whether the insurer handled the matter within the policy terms and state insurance law, but it does not decide how much damage is worth.
The drying crew stops the water inside, removes wet materials, and dries the structure. A roofer repairs the roof, and a plumber handles any supply line or fixture that is part of the leak.
A roof leak is often mixed up with a plumbing leak, especially when the water comes from a bathroom vent stack or a supply line in the attic. If the water is coming from a pipe, the plumbing repair belongs to a plumber, not to the drying crew. Plumbing work is licensed in Ohio, and readers can ask any company which license it holds and check it with the issuing office.
For a roof leak, the crew can work alongside the roofer once the opening is covered. Ask the roofer to coordinate with the crew so the opening is not reopened before the interior is dried.
Wet building materials can start to grow mold within a short time, and drying fast limits that risk. Mold can trigger allergy and asthma symptoms in some people, so an older leak is worth treating as urgent.
A leak that is caught after one storm is usually simpler than one that has run through insulation for weeks. The longer the water sits, the more material may need to be removed and the more drying days are needed. A leak that runs through the upper flat of a double can also reach the downstairs ceiling before the upstairs tenant or owner notices it.
Mold inspection and remediation follow industry guidance from the EPA and the ANSI/IICRC S520 standard. Ohio does not license mold remediation the way some states do, so ask any company how it assesses and documents mold work.
Lakewood's front porches often have a flat or low-slope roof above the second-floor entry, and it sheds water poorly. When it fails, the water tends to enter at the edge where the roof meets the house wall and runs into the upstairs flat's ceiling or the rim of the porch below. The damage is usually concentrated along one wall, but the water can spread across a whole room through the joists.
Third-floor attic flats and dormers on doubles are common in the older housing stock, and their side walls and cheek walls are a frequent leak point. Water often gets into the wall cavity and runs down to the top of a finished room without showing on the ceiling for a long time. A vacant or lightly used upper flat is a typical place for a leak to go unnoticed.
June brings severe thunderstorms, wind and hail to this area, and a strong storm can lift shingles or push rain under slate and flashing that was sound the week before. Lake-driven wind and rain also hit north-facing walls and roofs along the shoreline. The crew tarps the opening and dries the interior, and it handles the storm damage inside the house whether or not the storm was declared anything.
Many older houses have built-in gutters or valleys that hold water and send it into the roof structure when they clog or fail. These leaks can look like a roof leak from the ceiling, but they often follow the gutter line. Clearing and repairing the gutter is outside our work, so the crew focuses on drying the affected framing and interior.
Lakewood's housing is the main reason a roof leak here looks the way it does. The up-and-down double puts the upstairs bathroom and kitchen directly over the downstairs living room, so one opening in the roof can become a ceiling collapse two floors down. Tenants, owners and insurers may all be involved in the same loss, and the crew documents the affected units separately so the claim can be sorted out.
The weather here is steady rather than extreme. Summer thunderstorms, wind and hail are the main roof risks, and winter brings freeze and thaw to slate and built-in gutters. Lake Erie drives rain and spray against north-facing walls and roofs along the shoreline. We get less lake-effect snow than the east side, but we get the same freezes and the same thaws, and the freeze-thaw cycle is what opens many roof leaks in January and February.
Lakewood's narrow lots and clay soil mean roof runoff has little room to go. Downspouts that discharge close to the wall can add water to the foundation during the same storm that is leaking through the roof. Clearing and checking gutters and downspouts in the fall is worth doing, and it helps the crew by reducing repeat water entry after the drying is finished.
If it's an emergency, call now. For non-urgent roof leak water damage, send the form and we'll call you back.
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Upstairs leaks soak plaster and drop through Lakewood ceilings. A local crew extracts the water, dries the ceiling cavity and checks the rooms below.
Wind-driven rain pushes water past siding, sills and window seals on north-facing walls. Here is how the cleanup and drying work in Lakewood.
Ice dams push meltwater under slate and tile roofs and into the upstairs ceiling below. Here is what a crew does about it.
Extraction, drying and cleanup for water damage in Lakewood's older houses, basements and doubles, with phones answered 24/7.
An ice dam forms when heat escaping from the attic melts snow on the roof, and the meltwater refreezes at the cold eave into a ridge.
Phones are answered 24/7, and a crew is dispatched as fast as one is available. We do not give an arrival time over the phone, because it depends on how many jobs are open. If the water is still coming in, tell the call-taker so the crew knows what it is walking into.
No. The crew can tarp or board the opening and dry the interior, but roof repair, shingle and slate work, flashing and gutters go to a roofer. Ask the roofer to coordinate with the crew so the opening is not reopened before the interior is dry.
Water follows the rafters, sheathing and lath, and it can run a long way before it shows as a stain. In an older house, the water may travel down a wall cavity or along a joist and appear in a room far from the opening. That is why the crew checks the whole path with moisture readings.
That depends on your policy and your insurer's decision. A standard homeowners policy generally responds to sudden and accidental damage, such as a storm opening the roof, and generally does not cover long-term leaks. Check your policy, take photos, and call your insurer early. The crew does not bill your insurance.
Renters insurance covers a tenant's belongings, and the building belongs to the owner. The crew does not decide who is liable for a given loss. It documents the damage in each unit so the owner, the tenant and the insurers have the same record to work from.
Most people can stay in parts of the house away from the work area. Keep children and pets out of the wet area, and ask the crew whether any room should be closed off during the drying. If you have asthma or allergies, mention it when you call so the crew can plan the work around it.
The crew re-checks moisture readings in the framing and the cavities until they return to dry levels, and it notes any areas that did not dry as expected. The readings and photos can be shared with your insurer or your roofer. Repairs to the ceiling are quoted separately after drying.