The first hour
Make the room safe first. If water is near a light fixture, a ceiling fan or an outlet, switch that circuit off at the panel before anything else. Water and household wiring are a worse problem than a wet ceiling.
Catch the water and protect what is underneath it. A bucket, towels, and anything that can move out of the way. If the ceiling has a bulge filled with water, it will usually come down on its own; draining it into a bucket through a small hole at its lowest point is the common advice, and it stops the water spreading sideways through the drywall.
Photograph everything before it is cleaned up — the ceiling, the attic if you can reach it safely, the outside of the house from the ground. If this ends in an insurance claim, photos taken the day it happened are worth more than anything said afterwards. See roof insurance claims in Connecticut.
Do not go up on the roof. The National Roofing Contractors Association and the Asphalt Roofing Manufacturers Association both tell homeowners to stay off the roof. A wet roof is slippery, a damaged one may not hold weight, and walking on shingles or flashing can make the leak worse. Look from the ground or from an upstairs window instead.
Why the leak is not where the drip is
Under the shingles is underlayment, and under that is the roof deck. Water that gets past the shingles runs down the underlayment until it finds a seam, a nail hole or the edge of a membrane, then follows the deck or a rafter until gravity wins. On a pitched roof that path is almost always downhill from the entry point and often off to one side. That is why patching the shingles directly above a ceiling stain so often fails: the hole was never there.
The attic tells the real story. A water trail on the underside of the deck, a dark stain around a nail, or wet insulation under a vent pipe usually points straight at the source.
Where Connecticut roofs actually leak
Most leaks are not a failure of the shingles themselves. They are at the places where the roof is interrupted — which is exactly why the building code spends so much of its roofing chapter on those places. Connecticut enforces the 2022 Connecticut State Building Code, based on the 2021 International Residential Code (IRC).
Chimneys and walls
The IRC requires flashing wherever a roof meets a wall, changes slope or direction, or has an opening in it (R903.2.1). A chimney more than 30 inches wide needs a cricket, or saddle, on its uphill side so water and snow do not pile up behind it (R903.2.2). Where shingles meet a sidewall, the base flashing must be continuous or step flashing at least 4 inches high and 4 inches wide (R905.2.8.3). Old, cracked or lifted chimney flashing is one of the most common leaks we find. See chimney flashing and skylights.
Vent pipes and skylights
The rubber boot around a plumbing vent dries out and cracks with sun and age, and the leak shows up as a stain directly below the pipe in the attic. Skylights leak at their flashing more often than at the glass; a unit skylight has to be flashed to its maker’s instructions (R903.2.2).
Valleys
Where two roof planes meet, the valley carries the water from both. A worn or badly lapped valley leaks in heavy rain and again in spring melt.
Wind damage
A lifted or missing shingle after a storm exposes the nails and the underlayment beneath it. One missing tab is a small repair; leave it through a winter and it is a rotted deck. See storm damage.
Nail pops
A nail that has backed out lifts the shingle above it and leaves a hole when the shingle settles. They show up as small bumps in the shingle surface and as single drips in the attic.
Winter leaks are usually ice dams
If the leak appeared after snow, near the bottom edge of the roof, and on a day when the snow was melting, the cause is almost certainly an ice dam rather than a hole. Heat escaping into the attic melts the snow on the upper roof, the water runs down and refreezes at the cold eave, and the next melt backs up under the shingles. The whole state is in climate zone 5A, and the code requires an ice barrier membrane at every eave on a new roof for exactly this reason (R905.1.2). The fix is usually in the attic — insulation and ventilation — as much as on the roof. See ice dams in Connecticut.
Is it the roof, or is it the gutters?
Water at the top of an outside wall, at a corner of a ceiling, or behind a fascia board is often not the roof at all. A clogged gutter overflows behind itself and runs into the wall, and a missing drip edge lets water curl back under the first course of shingles. The IRC requires a drip edge at the eaves and rake edges of every shingle roof (R905.2.8.5). If the stain is right against an exterior wall and the gutter above it is full, start there. See gutters.
A temporary fix, if it cannot wait
For a leak that is actively pouring in, the stopgap is a tarp over the damaged area, secured so the wind cannot get under it. That is a job for a roofer with fall protection, not a homeowner on a ladder in the rain. Asphalt shingles also rely on the sun’s heat to bond their sealant strips, so in cold weather the manufacturers call for hand-sealing a repair — a winter repair is perfectly possible, it is just done differently.
Repair or a new roof?
NRCA says plainly that a leak does not necessarily mean a new roof, and most do not. A single failed flashing, a cracked boot or a handful of wind-lifted shingles is a repair. Connecticut lets repairs of up to 25 percent of the roof covering in a calendar year go ahead without a permit.
A leak points to a replacement when it is one symptom among several: shingles curling or losing their granules across the whole roof, more than one leak, a soft deck, or a roof past about 20 years old, which ARMA calls a prime candidate for reroofing. A roof that already has two layers cannot take a third; the old layers have to come off (R908.3.1.1). See roof repair and roof replacement.
How we track a leak down
We look at the inside first — the ceiling, then the attic — to find where the water is really coming from, then go up and check every flashing, boot and valley along that path. You get photographs of what we found and a written answer: what failed, whether it is a repair or a roof, and what it costs. If it is a repair, that is all we quote. Connecticut Home Improvement Contractor HIC.0705614.
Get the leak found, not just patched
Free inspection, photographs of what we find, and a written answer on whether it is a repair or a roof.
Common questions about roof leaks
Should I go up on the roof to look for the leak?
No. NRCA and ARMA both tell homeowners to stay off the roof. A wet or damaged roof is slippery and may not hold weight, and walking on it can make the leak worse. Look from the ground, from an upstairs window, or in the attic.
Why is the stain not under the hole?
Water that gets past the shingles runs along the underlayment, the deck or a rafter before it drips, so the entry point is usually several feet uphill of the ceiling stain and often off to one side. The attic shows the real path.
Will homeowners insurance pay for a roof leak?
It depends on the cause. Policies generally cover sudden, accidental damage such as wind or a falling tree, and generally do not cover wear, age or a roof that was already failing. Your policy decides. See our guide to roof insurance claims.
Can a roof leak be repaired in winter?
Yes. Asphalt shingles rely on the sun's heat to seal, so manufacturers call for hand-sealing repairs in cold weather, and an active leak can be tarped until a full repair is possible.
Does a roof leak mean I need a new roof?
Usually not. NRCA says a leak does not necessarily mean a new roof, and a failed flashing or a cracked vent boot is a repair. A leak points to replacement when the whole roof is worn, there are several leaks, or the deck is soft.
Do I need a permit to fix a roof leak in Connecticut?
Not for a small repair. Connecticut lets repairs of up to 25 percent of the roof covering in a calendar year go without a permit. A replacement needs one, and we pull it.