Roof Emergency Checklist

Roof Repair Kamloops is a matching site. A local roofer does the work and quotes you directly. If people are in danger, stop reading and call 911.

People first, then the ceiling

If a ceiling is sagging or bulging, keep everyone out of that room. Move what you can reach without standing under the bulge: a crib, a laptop, a box of papers. If you smell gas, see sparks, or the roof is moving, call 911. Kamloops Fire Rescue is the fire and rescue line, not the roofing line. The City describes career stations staffed around the clock and on-call coverage that includes Rayleigh, Heffley Creek, Dallas, and Barnhartvale. That staffing is for fire and rescue. Use 911 for fire, structural collapse, or danger to a person. Use (236) 836-0303 when the problem is the roof and people are already safe.

The first 30 minutes

These five steps match the list on the homepage. Do them from inside the house or from the ground.

1. Move people and valuables

   Clear the wet room and the room under any bulge. A stain can spread faster than it looks.

2. Catch the water

   Use a bucket, a plastic bin, and towels. If a ceiling is bulging and you can reach it from the floor, without a ladder and without standing in water near a light or a vent, a small hole at the low point of the bulge lets the water drain into the bucket. If you cannot reach it safely, leave it.

3. Photograph from the ground

   Take pictures inside the room and of the outside from the lawn or a window. The companion page, Insurance-ready damage photos, is the shot list. Do this before anyone moves pieces that are already on the ground.

4. Stay off the roof

   Wet asphalt, hail-slick metal, and an icy eave turn a leak into a fall. A tarp on a steep or wet slope is a roofer's job.

5. Call and name the neighbourhood

   Call (236) 836-0303. A person may answer. An automated assistant may take your name, number, and a short description. Neither can promise an arrival time. If it is after hours, call or text anyway. Matching starts when the message is seen. That is not a clock on a truck.

What to say on the phone

Lead with the place, then with whether water is still coming in. Name the neighbourhood: Sahali, Aberdeen, Batchelor Heights, Brocklehurst, the North Shore, Valleyview, Juniper Ridge, Dallas, Westsyde, Rayleigh, Barnhartvale, Pineview Valley, Mount Dufferin, or Pinantan Lake. Say which side of the house is wet, and whether a tree, a skylight, a chimney, or a valley is involved if you can see that from the ground. Note the time the drip started. Keep the power off in a wet room if you can do that from a dry switch. Do not guess a price. A matching call does not file a claim.

Kamloops weather changes the leak

The same stain has different causes on different streets. Environment and Climate Change Canada 1991 to 2020 normals at the Kamloops station show a dry year, 272.9 mm of precipitation, with June the wettest rain month at 38.6 mm. A gutter full of needles after a hot spell can overflow in that June rain and mark a wall that was fine in April. July's daily maximum averages 29.3°C, with 35.9 days a year above 30°C and an extreme of 40.4°C. Heat-aged asphalt can fail on the same afternoon a hail cell bruises the next street. Describe what actually moved. An extreme gust in that normal set is 98 km/h, which can lift a ridge cap, and it is not a weekly gale.

Snow is a different map from the valley station's snowfall of 63.1 cm a year. On the flats, the emergency is more often a rain leak or a lifted shingle. On Juniper Ridge, Sahali, Aberdeen, Pineview Valley, and Mount Dufferin, shaded ground holds snow longer, so stay off the roof.

Snow load is a pressure, not a depth

The City's bylaw sets a higher design snow load on the south hills, including Mount Dufferin, and a lower one in Valleyview, Dallas, and north of the highway. Barnhartvale is not named, so check that address in the bylaw. The figure is a pressure, not how deep the snow is. Do not climb a snowy or icy roof. Catch the drip inside and call. If water is still coming in, use emergency roof repair.

Ash is not the same emergency as a drip

Ash and needles are a maintenance and ember problem, not a leak by themselves. If water is not coming in, read FireSmart roofing once you know the house is clear of smoke. If water is coming in, do the leak steps first. Do not get on a roof to sweep ash.

After the drip slows

One water path belongs on roof leak repair. Round dents after a storm belong on hail damage roof repair. A covering that is finished across the slopes is a replacement conversation, not another patch. A limited opening is roof repair. This checklist is the half hour before those pages. It does not replace them.

The roofer looks at the roof and quotes you. The roofer you are connected with looks at the roof and quotes you. You can say no. Matching costs you nothing.