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Emergency Roof Repair in Philadelphia, PA

Round-the-clock calls for roofs that are letting water in now: temporary protection first, permanent repair after.

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  • Flat and low-slope rowhouse roofs
  • Parapet, scupper and drain repairs
  • Twins, slate and storm-wind damage
  • Phones answered 24/7

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Emergency Repair

Emergency Roof Repair: what it covers

Quick answer

Emergency roof repair is temporary protection: stopping water entering the building tonight so the permanent repair can be done properly in daylight and dry conditions. That usually means a tarp or a sealed temporary patch, plus clearing a blocked outlet. Calls to (833) 751-2102 are answered 24/7 and a local roofer is sent.

Emergency Roof Repair illustration for Philadelphia, PA

An emergency call is a different job from a repair. The aim is not a finished roof, it is a dry building: get the water under control, protect what is below, and record what happened while the evidence is still there.

Phones here are answered around the clock. No arrival time is promised, because honest scheduling after a regional storm depends on how many roofs are open at once, and a roofer who promises an hour to everybody is making the same promise twice.

Most of what makes a Philadelphia roof an emergency is wind and water rather than impact. A lifted membrane edge, a blocked drain in heavy rain, a branch through a slope or a blown-off ridge will each put water inside the house within a single storm.

Service area
Philadelphia & Philadelphia County
Availability
Phones answered 24/7, emergencies first
Warning signs

Signs you need emergency roof repair

Do not go on the roof in a storm, at night, or onto a surface that is wet, iced or already damaged. Stay out of any room with a sagging ceiling and keep children and pets away from it. Do not touch wet light fittings, sockets or a consumer unit, and if water is near electrics, switch off at the board only if you can reach it dry. Never use a metal ladder near overhead lines or try to move a fallen branch off a roof yourself. Call (833) 751-2102 and let a roofer make it safe.

  • Water running or dripping through a ceiling while it is raining
  • A ceiling that is sagging, bulging or holding visible weight of water
  • Membrane or shingles visibly peeled back, flapping or gone after wind
  • A branch, limb or debris resting on or through the roof surface
  • Daylight visible through the roof structure from inside an attic or top floor
  • Water pouring over a parapet or down an outside wall instead of leaving through the drain
  • A roof hatch, skylight or vent blown open or off its curb
Options

Types and options for emergency roof repair

Active leak, roof otherwise sound

A single tear, an open lap, a lifted flashing edge or a blocked outlet. These are the calls where a couple of hours of work genuinely ends the problem, and the follow-up repair is modest.

Storm damage across the roof

Wind has taken a run of covering or a tree is on the structure. Protection goes on now and the scope is assessed in daylight, usually alongside an insurance claim. Storm damage roof repair sets out how that runs.

Structural or safety emergency

A deck that is sagging, a parapet that is loose above a pavement or a ceiling that has partly come down. Here the first job is keeping people away from the hazard, and the roof work follows once the area is secured.

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If it's an emergency, call now. For non-urgent emergency roof repair, send the form and we'll call you back.

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What should I do before a roofer gets here?

Move people and possessions clear, put containers under active drips and lay towels or plastic over what cannot move. Switch off electricity to any room where water is near fittings if you can do so safely. Photograph the water and the damage as you go. Do not get on the roof.

If a ceiling is bulging, treat the room as out of bounds and shut the door. Plaster holding water can give way in one piece, and the weight involved is far greater than it looks. Relieving it deliberately is sometimes the right call, but it is not a job to improvise under the bulge.

If you can see where the water is coming in from inside an attic or top floor, note it. A photograph of daylight through the deck or of water tracking along a joist saves the roofer a long search and makes the temporary protection land in the right place.

Why is a tarp not always the answer on a flat roof?

Because sheeting relies on slope. On a roof built to fall a quarter inch per foot there is almost nothing to shed water off a tarp, so it becomes a pond with a seam in it. A sealed temporary patch over the opening generally protects a low-slope roof better than covering it.

There is a wind problem as well. Anything laid loose on a parapeted roof is in a box that gusts swirl inside, and a tarp that lifts can take the membrane edge it was fixed to with it. Fixings on a membrane roof are also penetrations, which is a cost the permanent repair inherits.

On a pitched roof the calculation changes and sheeting is often exactly right, carried over the ridge and secured well back from the damage. That is part of why the first question on a night call is what sort of roof you have, before anything is loaded onto the van.

What does an emergency visit not include?

A finished roof. Temporary protection is meant to hold through the current weather, not through the season, and it is not a substitute for the repair. Interior work, drying and plaster are separate trades, and anything requiring a permit is filed and scheduled as normal work afterwards.

Being plain about that matters, because the gap between protection and repair is where people get caught out. A patch put on in the dark should be followed up within days, and if a roofer tells you otherwise, ask what the permanent detail is and when it is happening.

The paperwork side also carries on in business hours. Most roof replacements need a permit through Licenses and Inspections, and for minor permits the inspection comes after the old roofing is off and the new material is on site, with the new membrane not installed until it passes. Emergency protection does not change that sequence.

Should I call my insurer before or after the roofer?

Both, in that order where you can. The Pennsylvania Insurance Department advises reporting damage to your insurer promptly, photographing it before any cleanup, making temporary repairs such as tarping to prevent further damage, and keeping receipts. Protecting the building is expected, not held against you.

Keep the record tidy: photographs before and after the temporary work, a note of the time and the weather, and every invoice. If a public adjuster approaches you, the department points out they are not employees of your insurer.

Be wary of anyone who turns up uninvited after a storm. The state insurance regulator has warned about contractors who promise to maximise an insurance payout or push for immediate repairs, and its advice is never to pay in full or sign a completion certificate before the work is actually done. Our PA storm damage insurance claims guide covers the rest.

Our process

How our emergency roof repair visit works

  1. Make the inside safe first

    Before anyone goes up, the advice is the same every time: move people and belongings out from under the water, contain what you can, and keep clear of any ceiling that is bulging. Electricity near water is a reason to stay out of a room entirely.

  2. Find out whether the roof can be walked

    Wind, lightning, ice, a wet membrane or a deck that has already taken water can all make a roof unsafe to stand on. If it cannot be worked tonight, the honest answer is protection from inside and from the edges until it can.

  3. Stop the water at the entry point

    Temporary protection is fixed over the opening and carried well past it, so wind cannot get under an edge. On a low-slope roof that often means a sealed patch over a tear rather than sheeting, because a tarp on a flat roof holds water as readily as it sheds it.

  4. Clear what is holding water back

    A surprising number of night calls are a blocked drain or scupper rather than a hole. Clearing the outlet lets a roof that is already under water drain, which can stop the leak on its own.

  5. Photograph everything, then plan the real repair

    Damage is recorded before it is covered, because that record is what an insurer asks for later. The permanent repair is quoted afterwards, in daylight, with the roof dry enough to bond to.

Philadelphia County

Why emergency roof repair is different in Greater Philadelphia

The regional storm history is wind, not hail. The National Weather Service's review of Tropical Storm Isaias on 4 August 2020 counted eight confirmed tornadoes across the area, including EF2 tornadoes in Philadelphia and Bucks County, and a regional newspaper reported the Philadelphia-area tornado at 115 mph on the ground for roughly twenty miles from Northeast Philadelphia to Doylestown.

Night calls cluster where the roof type is least forgiving. On a parapeted rowhouse roof there is no overhang and nowhere for water to go but the drain, so a blocked outlet in a cloudburst becomes an indoor problem quickly, from Northeast Philadelphia down to Chester.

Access decides how fast anything can actually be done. Narrow streets, no driveway, parked cars on both sides and stepped roof levels are normal here, and a crew may have to reach your roof across a neighbour's. That is also why no arrival window is promised on this site.

Where we work

Emergency Roof Repair across Philadelphia County

Not sure if you're covered? Check your ZIP code.

Related

Storm Damage Roof Repair

Assessing and repairing wind-driven roof damage across the region, with the record an insurer will ask for taken at the same time.

Roof Leak Repair

Tracing a leak to its actual entry point on flat or pitched roofs, then repairing the detail that failed.

Flat Roof Repair

Repairs to flat and very low-slope membrane roofs on Philadelphia rowhouses, twins and converted buildings, starting at the drainage path.

Guides

Read before you book

FAQ

Emergency Roof Repair FAQs

Are calls really answered at night?

Yes, the line is answered 24/7. What happens next depends on the weather and on how many roofs are open at the same time, which is why this site does not promise an arrival time to anyone.

Can you stop a leak while it is still raining?

Water can usually be controlled in the rain with temporary protection, and a blocked drain can be cleared wet. A bonded membrane repair needs a dry surface, so the permanent fix normally waits for the roof to dry.

Should I put a bucket under it or make a hole in the ceiling?

Containers and plastic sheeting first, always. Deliberately relieving a bulging ceiling can prevent a bigger collapse, but it is best done with advice, from the side rather than underneath, and after the room has been cleared.

Will a temporary repair affect my claim?

Preventing further damage is what the Pennsylvania Insurance Department advises you to do, including temporary repairs such as tarping, with receipts kept. Photograph the damage before it is covered so the original condition is on record.

What if the emergency is on a shared or party wall?

Protection still goes on tonight, and the adjoining owner should be told as soon as practical, because water in the head of a shared wall reaches both houses. Who pays for the permanent repair is sorted out separately from making it safe.

Do you handle emergencies in New Jersey?

Yes, across the service area including Camden, Pennsauken, Collingswood and Cherry Hill. Any permit for the follow-up work there comes from the municipality rather than Philadelphia Licenses and Inspections.

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