What to do before anyone arrives, what a tarp does and does not fix, and how to tell a genuine emergency from something that can wait for Monday rates.
Written by Aisha Rahman
Reviewed by Michael ThompsonEmergency roof repair is stabilisation, not repair. A crew arrives out of hours to stop water entering - usually by tarping or temporarily sealing the opening - so the damage stops compounding while a proper repair is scheduled. The urgency is real: wet building materials can begin growing mould in roughly 24 to 48 hours. But not every roof problem is an emergency, and after-hours rates are meaningfully higher.
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Before you call - five minutes that change the outcome
Move belongings and electronics clear. Put a bucket under the drip. If a ceiling is bulging, and only if it is safe to reach, pierce the low point with a screwdriver to release the water into a container - a controlled hole beats an uncontrolled collapse. Kill power to any circuit water is reaching, at the panel.
Watch forGoing up on a wet or damaged roof yourself. More people are seriously hurt on roofs during storms than by the storms. Nothing on your roof is worth that, and nothing you can do up there in the dark improves the repair.
Photograph everything, before anybody touches it
Wide shots and close shots, inside and outside, with timestamps. Photograph the ceiling, the wet contents, the water on the floor and the roof from ground level.
Watch forCleaning up first. Documentation taken before the mop is the version that is worth having later, and you cannot recreate it once the crew has tarped the roof.
The call - and what to establish on it
Say clearly that water is entering the building. Establish the call-out fee, when they can actually be on site, and whether the fee covers a temporary cover or only the visit.
Watch forA firm price for a permanent repair quoted over the phone at 2am by somebody who has not seen the roof. Emergency response is priced on the visit; the repair is priced after the inspection.
Tarping and temporary sealing
A tarp is run over the damaged area and up over the ridge where possible, then battened down so wind cannot get underneath it. Done properly it will hold for weeks. Small punctures may instead get a temporary patch.
Watch forA tarp weighted down with bricks or sandbags rather than fastened. It will lift in the first serious gust, and you will be paying for the same visit twice.
Drying out - the part everyone skips
The roof is only half of it. Wet insulation, wet drywall and wet framing need drying, and saturated insulation does not recover - it gets removed. Fans and dehumidifiers running early is what keeps a roof leak from becoming a mould remediation job.
Watch forClosing the ceiling back up while the cavity is still wet. It looks finished and it is not, and the problem resurfaces months later as a smell nobody can locate.
Emergency call-outs carry a premium over daytime work - expect an after-hours fee plus the temporary cover, typically in the hundreds, with the permanent repair priced separately afterwards. Ask what the fee includes before dispatch. Our cost guide has the ranges.
See the full emergency roof repair cost guide - by material, size and region →
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