A ceiling or wall stain
Almost never directly below the entry point. On a two-storey house the water may have travelled several metres along a joist before it dropped.
10 yr
Written workmanship warranty
Service · GTA & Niagara
Not one drop gets in.
Leak Detection & Prevention — Roof to Foundation.
Water does not leak in where it shows up. It enters at a joint, runs along a framing member or a flashing leg, and appears somewhere else entirely — which is why the usual approach of replacing whatever is directly above the stain so often fixes nothing.
- Full elevation walk-down
- Entry point found, not guessed
- Honest verdict, even when it is not our job
300+
Properties sealed & under warranty
DOWSIL
Pro-grade silicone — no big-box caulk
A+
BBB Accredited business
How we look
We work down the elevation, in order.
A leak investigation that starts at the stain is starting at the end. We start at the top of the wall and work down, because gravity does, checking every place the envelope is deliberately interrupted.
Roof line and penetrations
Vent boots, stacks, exhaust terminations, satellite and solar mounts, skylight kerbs — every hole cut through the roof deck and how it was terminated.
Chimney and step flashing
The single most common entry point on an older masonry house. Step flashing, counter flashing, the reglet it sits in, the crown and the cap.
Fascia, soffit and eaves joints
Where the roof edge meets the wall, plus the long seams behind the eavestrough that nobody sees from the ground.
Window head, capping and sills
Aluminium capping seams, head flashing terminations, sill joints and the top corners of every opening — where a wall takes the most wind-driven water.
Siding penetrations and transitions
Hose bibs, vents, boxes, meters, and every point where one cladding material hands off to another.
Masonry, transitions and grade
Control joints, mortar condition, sills and copings, and the last few courses down to grade where splash-back lives.
The top of the envelope
Roof, fascia and flashing sealing.
Most of what we find at the top of a house is not a failed roof. It is a termination that was left dry rather than sealed, or a joint whose original sealant gave up two decades ago.
Flashing is a lap, not a seal. It works by directing water back out, and it works for as long as the laps stay tight and the terminations stay closed. Once the counter flashing reglet opens up, or a step flashing leg lifts, the assembly is still there and still doing nothing.
Ice damming forces water uphill. Ontario winters push meltwater back under shingle courses and behind flashing legs — a direction the assembly was never designed to resist on its own. Terminations that are properly sealed hold; terminations that were only ever dry-lapped do not.
Where the problem is genuinely a roofing failure — a cracked shingle field, a failed membrane, a rotted deck — we tell you that, and we do not quote you sealant for it.
What we seal up top
- Chimney step and counter flashing joints, and the reglet termination
- Roof penetrations, vent collars and boot terminations
- Fascia and soffit junction seams
- Aluminium window capping seams and head terminations
- Metal-to-masonry and metal-to-metal joints, with the correct grade for each
- Photographed before and after, so you can see what was actually done up there
What you are seeing downstairs
Symptoms, and where they usually start.
None of these is proof on its own. All of them are worth a look before the next freeze.
Damp or spalling brick
Water sitting in a masonry joint and freezing pushes the face off the brick. The joint above it is usually the reason.
Peeling paint on trim or soffit
Coatings fail from behind when the substrate cannot dry. Persistent peeling in one spot is a moisture path, not a paint problem.
A draft that moves with the wind
If it changes with wind direction you are feeling an open path through the wall, and where air moves, wind-driven rain follows.
Musty smell or efflorescence
White crystalline bloom on interior masonry means water is moving through the wall and evaporating inside it.
A leak that came back
The most common reason a repair fails is that the entry point was never found. It is worth restarting the diagnosis rather than repeating the guess.
What this service is and is not
We seal joints. We do not sell you a roof.
What we can find and fix
- Failed or missing sealant at any joint, termination or penetration
- Open flashing terminations and lifted legs
- Capping seams and head joints that have let go
- Masonry control joints and material transitions that are no longer sealed
- Window and door perimeters that are past their service life
What we will refer out or rule out
- Failed sealed glass units — fogging between panes is a glass problem, not a caulking one
- Cracked or end-of-life shingle fields and failed membranes
- Rotted framing or sheathing that needs carpentry before it needs sealant
- Plumbing and HVAC condensate leaks that look like envelope leaks from inside
- Below-grade foundation water, which is a different trade with different tools
Telling you which of these you actually have is the service. A ten-year workmanship warranty is only worth something if we decline the jobs it was never going to cover.
Straight answers
Leak questions.
Can you tell me where the leak is from photos?
Sometimes we can narrow it to one or two likely entry points, which is enough to plan the visit. Confirming it usually needs eyes on the elevation, because the give-away is often a lifted flashing leg or an open termination that does not photograph well from the ground.
Do you do water testing?
Where it is warranted and safe to do so, controlled hose testing from the bottom of a suspect area upward is the standard way to confirm an entry point rather than guess at it. We will tell you when a leak is straightforward enough not to need it.
The stain is on my ceiling. Is that a roof problem?
Not necessarily, and assuming so is how people end up paying for roofs that were fine. Chimney flashing, a vent termination, an open fascia joint or even a window head two floors up can all present as a ceiling stain. That is the whole reason to find the entry point first.
Is leak detection a separate charge from the repair?
Tell us what you are seeing and we will be straight about how the visit is priced before we book it. What we will not do is bury a diagnosis in a repair quote for work you may not need.
My leak only happens in heavy wind and rain.
That is useful information, not a mystery. Wind-driven rain gets into joints that shed ordinary rainfall fine, which points at open terminations and failed perimeter sealant on the elevation the weather comes from.
What if I need a roofer, not you?
Then we say so. We will show you what we found and what it points at. Selling you sealant for a failed shingle field would cost you money and cost us the warranty.
Instant estimate
Count your openings. See your price.
Every window and every exterior door is one opening, priced by its size. Count them yourself for an instant number, add any extras, and book with a $250 deposit (plus HST) — or send us photos of the house and we'll count them and reply with a firm quote.
While we are there
Replace exhaust vent coversCracked or missing exterior vent covers swapped for new ones while we are there — $60 each
Sealant colour requiredFrom the DOWSIL colour chart. White is included — any other colour is one charge for the whole job
- Stand back far enough to get a whole wall in each shot.
- We count the openings ourselves and reply with a firm number — usually within one business day.
- Your photos stay with your quote request and are never published. Privacy.
Openings0
Subtotal$0
Tax (13% HST)$0
Your estimate$0
Prices may change on sight of the job; if we change the price, your deposit is fully refundable. See the terms. Lift or scaffold work is quoted separately. A $250 deposit (plus HST, $282.50) books your date and comes off the invoice.
View cart & book- Written 10-year workmanship warranty
- Deposit fully refundable if we change the price
No payment at this step — you check everything in the cart before you book. Rather talk it through? Call (647) 524-6180
Where we work
Serving the GTA and Niagara.
We specialize in large and heritage homes where the original seals have failed. Proudly serving:
EtobicokeTorontoNorth YorkEast YorkMississaugaOakvilleVaughan / WoodbridgeMarkhamRichmond HillAncasterNiagara-on-the-LakeSt. Catharines
Including The Kingsway, Rosedale, Forest Hill, Lawrence Park, Lorne Park, Mineola, Hoggs Hollow, the Bridle Path, Kleinburg, Old Ancaster, Dundas and the Niagara wine country. Not on the list? Call — routing decides more than distance, and we cluster work by neighbourhood.
Ready when you are
Find it before the next freeze.
A small open joint in October is a repair. The same joint in February is a wall.