Summarize with
Most jobs run $150 to $3,300, with a national average near $450. In Seattle, a single leak on a walkable one story roof usually lands between $150 and $400 on a weekday. A 9 pm call on a steep two story roof in Queen Anne is where the four figure numbers come from.
A tarp is not a repair. It buys you 60 to 90 days of a dry ceiling while you get an adjuster out, get a quote, and get on a schedule. Seattle Roof Systems runs emergency roof tarping services across Seattle, Shoreline, Edmonds, Bothell, and Bellevue, and this page lays out what the job actually costs here rather than what it costs nationally.
How Much Does it Cost to Tarp a Roof by Job Size?
Roof tarp installation costs $0.70 to $2.00 per square foot during business hours and $1.00 to $2.80 per square foot for emergency calls, including labour, tarp and fasteners. The table below converts those rates into the jobs we actually get called out to. These are published national ranges and a starting point for budgeting, not a quote.
| The job | Area tarped | Typical cost | What that pays for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single leak at a vent, pipe boot or flashing | 100 to 200 sq ft | $150 to $400 | Two people, an hour or two on site, tarp and cap nails |
| Wind damage across one slope | 300 to 600 sq ft | $300 to $900 | Half a day, larger tarp, battens or furring strips |
| Steep pitch, two storey, or bad access | 300 to 600 sq ft | $500 to $1,400 | Extra crew for safety, roof jacks, slower work |
| Fallen limb with open decking | 200 to 500 sq ft, plus debris | $400 to $1,500 | Debris cleared first, then a board over the hole, then the tarp |
| Whole roof or several slopes | 1,500 to 2,500 sq ft | $1,400 to $3,300 | Multiple tarps lapped and sealed, most of a day |
| After hours, weekend, or in active rain | Any of the above | Add 30% to 50% | Callout premium, lighting, wet weather risk |
Two things the table does not show. Almost every roofer carries a minimum callout charge, so a 40 square foot patch will not cost you $40. And the temporary roof tarp cost is only the tarp: if water has already reached the drywall, the drying and repair bill is separate and usually larger.
Water coming in right now? Call Seattle Roof Systems at (425) 996-1386. We answer 24 hours a day and cover Seattle, Shoreline, Edmonds, Bothell and Bellevue. Send us a photo of the ceiling stain and we will tell you on the phone whether it needs a crew tonight or can wait until morning.
Factors Affecting Roof Tarping Cost
Five things move the price of a roof tarp, and the size of the hole is only one of them.
The covered area is always bigger than the hole
A tarp has to extend well past the damage and lap over the ridge or under the course above, or water just runs behind it. So the area we cover is always larger than the hole. A dinner plate sized hole from a branch strike still needs a 10 by 12 tarp to shed properly.
Pitch matters more than square footage
Pitch changes the job more than square footage does. Anything above a 6/12 needs roof jacks, planks and a second set of hands, and a lot of Seattle’s older housing stock in Wallingford, Queen Anne and Capitol Hill sits well past that. A steep two storey roof can cost double a walkable rambler with the same damage.
Someone has to stand on a wet roof
This is the biggest single multiplier. The emergency roof tarp cost premium is not a markup for urgency. It pays for someone climbing wet, mossy composition shingles in the dark, which is genuinely dangerous work, and it is why the same job runs $1.00 to $2.80 per square foot instead of $0.70 to $2.00.
Tarp grade, and how it gets anchored
A blue poly tarp from a hardware store runs $0.10 to $0.40 per square foot and lasts one wet season if you are lucky. Heavier reinforced poly with UV inhibitors costs more and holds up through a full claim cycle. Anchoring matters as much as the material. Sandbags and lumber will move in a real windstorm; battens screwed through the tarp into the deck will not.
Where the ladder goes, and whether it fits
A gutter-height ladder set on a flat driveway is cheap. A roof over a steep back garden, a narrow side yard, or a carport full of a neighbour’s boat is not. Access is the factor homeowners never price in and roofers always do.
Why Emergency Roof Tarping Costs More in Seattle
Emergency roof tarping costs more here because the season is compressed into the months when the work is hardest to do. The National Weather Service Seattle office notes that November is typically the wettest month here, with measurable rain on 18 of its 30 days on average. Add a sunset before 4:30 pm in December and you get the same job, done in the dark, in the rain, on a slick roof.
Three local factors that show up on invoices here and nowhere else:
- Moss. North facing slopes and anything under a big-leaf maple grow a mat of moss that is slick as ice when wet. Crews often have to clear a working path before they can safely set foot, which adds time.
- Limb strikes, not hail. Most Puget Sound roof emergencies come from Douglas fir and maple limbs during a windstorm, not from hail. That means debris removal and often a plywood patch over exposed decking before any tarp goes down.
- Cedar. Plenty of homes in Shoreline, Innis Arden and older Bellevue neighbourhoods still have cedar shake. Fastening a tarp to cedar without splitting the shakes takes a different approach than composition shingle, and it takes longer.
None of this needs a permit. Seattle’s Department of Construction and Inspections requires a re-roof permit once you are repairing more than 500 square feet, or for any commercial or multifamily building. That threshold applies to the permanent repair that follows, not to the tarp, and one and two family homes are generally exempt when the building envelope is not being altered.
Storm damage in Seattle, Shoreline, Edmonds, Bothell or Bellevue? Call (425) 996-1386. Free inspection, written estimate before we start, and we handle the insurance paperwork with you.
The Extras that Show up on the Invoice
A tarping invoice is rarely just the tarp. Budget for these before the invoice surprises you.
- Debris and limb removal, when something is still lying on the roof. Large trees need a tree service first, and that is a separate trade.
- Interior water mitigation. Fans and dehumidifiers to dry a soaked ceiling cavity are a restoration cost, not a roofing one, and they run well past the tarp. The EPA says wet materials should be dried within 24 to 48 hours to prevent mould growth, so that clock starts when the water comes in, not when the adjuster calls back.
- A second tarp. Tarps fail. If yours is the only thing between your house and a January atmospheric river, expect to replace it once during a long claim.
- Board-up over open decking, where a limb has punched through the sheathing.
- A proper dry-in. If the repair is going to take longer than about 90 days, self-adhered underlayment over the bare deck outlasts any tarp and often costs less than tarping twice.
When You Should not Pay for a Tarp at all
Some leaks do not need a tarp, and we would rather tell you that on the phone than sell you one.
Skip it if the drip is slow, contained by a bucket, and the forecast is dry for three or four days. Book a repair instead. Skip it if the damage is a single lifted or cracked shingle you can see from the ground: a repair visit costs about the same as the tarp and actually fixes it. Skip it if the roof is already scheduled for replacement inside two weeks.
Tarp it if water is running rather than dripping, if you can see daylight through the deck, if the ceiling is bulging, or if a serious storm is forecast in the next 48 hours. That last one matters more here than most places.
And if you are climbing up yourself, know what you are taking on. A tarp costs $30 to $150 at a hardware store. Falls from height are one of the leading causes of death in construction, and a wet, mossy, storm damaged Seattle roof at dusk in November is close to the worst set of conditions there is. If the roof is steep, wet, or two storeys, hire it out.
Does Homeowners Insurance Pay for Emergency Roof Tarping?
Usually, yes. Homeowners policies typically have a clause that obligates a homeowner to take reasonable, necessary, and proper steps to minimize further loss after a covered loss, and carriers will typically cover reasonable emergency actions, such as tarping, as part of the claim. The trick is that the damage must be caused by a covered cause, like wind, falling limb, etc., not by the age or wear or by the fact that you knew about a leak 2 years ago.
Three things make reimbursement go smoothly. Photograph the damage before the tarp goes up and again after. Keep the tarping invoice separate from the repair invoice. Do not wait for the adjuster before you tarp, because a carrier can reduce a claim for damage that got worse while you waited. Our team walks homeowners through insurance claims on every storm call, and there is more detail in our post on whether homeowners insurance covers roof leaks.
Get a straight answer before you spend anything. Call Seattle Roof Systems at (425) 996-1386 for a free roof inspection in Seattle, Shoreline, Edmonds, Bothell or Bellevue. Send a photo and we will tell you honestly whether you need a tarp tonight, a repair next week, or nothing at all.
Frequently asked questions
How long can you leave a tarp on a roof?
A standard tarp holds for 60 to 90 days. Past that, UV breaks the material down, edges lift, and the tarp itself starts causing problems. In Seattle’s wet season, plan on closer to 60. Heavy reinforced tarps installed for a long claim can last one to two years.
What is the average roof tarping cost without labour?
The tarp alone costs $0.10 to $0.40 per square foot, so $30 to $150 for most residential jobs. Labour is 70 to 90 percent of a professional invoice, which is why a $40 tarp turns into a $600 bill.
Can I tarp my own roof?
On a single storey roof with a shallow pitch, in daylight, when it is not raining, yes. In any other conditions, no. Wet composition shingle with moss on it has close to zero grip.
Will a tarp stop the leak completely?
Not always. A correctly installed tarp stops most water, but wind driven rain can still get under an edge, and a tarp does nothing for water already sitting in the insulation. Treat it as damage control, not a fix.
Do I need a permit to tarp a roof in Seattle?
No. Seattle’s re-roof permit threshold applies to repairs over 500 square feet and to commercial and multifamily buildings, and it applies to the permanent repair rather than the temporary cover.
How fast can someone tarp my roof after a storm?
Same day is realistic on a normal day. After a regional windstorm, every roofer in Puget Sound is triaging at once, and homes with active water intrusion go first. Call early rather than waiting to see if it gets worse.
Is tarping worth it if I am replacing the roof anyway?
If the replacement is more than two weeks out, yes. Two weeks of a January leak into an attic will cost more in drywall, insulation and mould remediation than the tarp does.
Will the tarp damage my shingles?
Fastening leaves nail holes, which get covered by the repair. The real risk is a loose tarp flapping in wind, which abrades shingles fast. That is an argument for proper battens, not for leaving it unfastened.
Sources
- Angi, Cost to Tarp a Roof. Roofer hourly rates and the emergency premium.
- National Weather Service, Seattle. November rainfall frequency in Seattle.
- Seattle SDCI, Re-Roof Permit. The 500 square foot permit threshold and the one and two family exemption.
