Ice dam leaks in Camillus: what the edge needs before you price the whole roof

Two offices issue roofing permits here, one for the village and one for the surrounding town. The Village keeps its own code office and forms. The Town takes applications online and does not list roofing as a permit category. Before a roofer prices the eave, ask which office covers your address and whether it wants a permit for roof work.

The housing gives a rough guide, nothing more. Census estimates put the village median year built at 1958 and the town median at 1966. Housing of that age may have older boards at the overhang, so ask the roofer to say what the deck looks like there.

The decision is narrow: does the edge need its own repair, or does the whole roof?

The nearest weather record is Syracuse airport, which shows the temperature crossing freezing on about 84 days a year, March most of all. Snow melts on the warm part of the roof, runs to the cold overhang and freezes, and the dam backs more melt under the shingles.

On a shingle roof, the state residential code wants an ice barrier at the eave, reaching 24 inches inside the outside wall, and a drip edge along the same edge. Ask each roofer whether both are priced and how far up the slope the barrier runs.

If the deck near the edge is wet or soft, ask for a price per sheet before work starts, and for the edge repair on its own line beside the whole roof.

Upstream, the federal energy guide's cure runs air seal, then insulate, then ventilate. Your roofer's estimate covers the edge.

Note the wall the stain is on, its distance from the corner and the months it appears. Add whether it dries in cold weather. That one note shows the roofer where to start.

Keep off the roof and stay clear of any wires. A roofer can read the edge from the yard.