Most roof leaks in Franklin County do not start where the water shows up on your ceiling. Water runs downhill under the deck before it drips, so a stain in a Union bedroom often traces back to a cracked pipe boot, a lifted shingle, or a failed valley two slopes away. Eastern Missouri makes this worse than most places. Spring hail bruises shingles, summer straight-line wind lifts and tears them, and the winter freeze-thaw cycle expands and contracts every seam and flashing until it splits. The March 14-15, 2025 storm system that put Franklin County under a federal disaster declaration drove tornadoes, large hail, and 75-plus mph straight-line winds across eastern Missouri, the kind of hail that cracks asphalt shingles wide open. A real repair starts with finding where the water actually got in.
Emmendorfer Exteriors has been fixing roofs here since 1990. Founder Matt Emmendorfer ran roofing on the side for years while his father sent him jobs around town, and word of mouth carried it for two decades before his sons Tom and Tim came on full-time. The family has worked on right around 2,400 Missouri homes, and a large share of those start as a small job, a repair, a leak call, or a piece of fascia, not a full tear-off. As Matt puts it, there is a lot of small work mixed in having to do with gutters or fascia replacement, and we treat those calls the same as a full roof.
What sets an Emmendorfer repair apart is that we are honest before we are busy. If your roof has a few more years left in it, we will tell you and get your house under the dry instead of pushing a replacement you do not need. If the damage is bigger than a patch, we will show you exactly why on your own roof, with photos, so the decision is yours and not a sales pitch. The same family that owns the company is the family on your roof, in Union, Washington, Pacific, St. Clair, Sullivan, Villa Ridge, and New Haven.
A repair is only as good as the diagnosis behind it. Here is what happens from the leak call to the cleanup.
If you have water coming in, we will be there that same day to look at it and talk to you about it. Getting your house under the dry comes first. We tarp or temporarily seal an open leak before weather makes it worse, then plan the real fix.
We get on the roof and trace the leak back to where water entered, which is rarely directly above the ceiling stain. Cracked pipe boots, lifted shingles, failed step flashing, blown valleys, and nail pops are the usual culprits around Franklin County. We document it with photos so you see what we see.
We replace the failed component, whether that is a pipe boot, a section of shingles, valley metal, or step flashing at a wall or chimney. If the leak rotted the plywood or fascia underneath, we replace that wood too rather than shingling over a soft deck.
Before we patch, we tell you straight whether the repair will hold or whether the roof is near the end of its life. If a few hundred dollars of repair buys you years, we do that. If you are throwing good money at a roof that needs replacing, we show you why and let you decide.
We magnet-sweep for nails and haul every scrap, even on a small repair. Customers tell us our cleanup is our signature. We want to get in, fix it, and get out without leaving a footprint in your yard.
We are factory-certified across CertainTeed, Owens Corning, Malarkey, and GAF, which matters on a repair because we can color-match and shingle-match what is already on your home instead of slapping on whatever one supplier carries.
Lifted, cracked, or hail-bruised shingles get replaced and matched to your existing CertainTeed, Owens Corning, Malarkey, or GAF roof. Step flashing at walls and chimneys, drip edge, and valley metal are repaired or replaced where the water is getting past.
A split rubber pipe boot is one of the most common leaks we find in Franklin County, and it is one of the cheapest to fix. We reseal or replace boots, vent flashing, and any penetration where the membrane has failed before it ruins the decking below.
When a leak has been running a while, the plywood and fascia underneath go soft. We replace failed decking, tighten and replace fascia boards and gutter boards, and narrate what we find so nothing gets covered up without you knowing.
Porches, additions, and flat sections are sealed with a TriBuilt low-slope system or Carlisle TPO membrane, repaired against the ponding water that follows a Missouri downpour rather than shingled where shingles do not belong.
We tell you straight, before we sell you anything. Some roofs need a $300 fix and some need to come off. Here is the line we draw on your own roof.
| Signal on your roof | Usually a repair | Usually a replacement |
|---|---|---|
| Age of the roof | Under 12 years, sound otherwise | 15+ years, widespread wear |
| Where the leak is | One traceable spot or penetration | Multiple leaks across several slopes |
| Shingle condition | Isolated lifted or cracked shingles | Granule loss and bruising across the field |
| Decking underneath | Plywood still solid | Soft or rotten deck found at the leak |
| Storm and insurance | Damage below your deductible | Adjuster approves a full replacement |
We bring the same in-house family crews and the same written-estimate promise to every town in Franklin County.
A real Emmendorfer traces the leak, fixes the source, and tells you straight whether a repair holds or a replacement makes sense. Same-day response on active leaks across Franklin County.
