Roofing in North Dakota is tied to the heating season even when the work has to wait for a thaw. Heat leaking into the attic melts snow, the water runs to the eave, and it freezes into a dam that forces the next melt under the shingles. Stains on the exterior wall under the eave and icicles in a thick line are clues, not decorations. The covering may be fine in the field and still leak at that edge. Look up before you blame only the ice.
Ventilation and the attic floor are part of the roof conversation because they are part of why the dam formed. A roof replacement that ignores a bath fan dumping into the attic will rebuild the same leak. Ask about intake, ridge vent, and what is blocking the air path. On the western open country, wind scours one slope and loads another, so the dam and the drift are not evenly spread. Eastern roofs often hold a more even snow pack. Name which roof you are staring at.
The work window is short. Tear-off in a cold snap is how a house gets wet while it is already hard to heat. If the covering is failing, say so early enough that dry-in can happen in weather that lets the deck be seen. Brittle asphalt, cracked boots, and flashing that has opened at a sidewall are the usual finds. A repair at a boot is not a replacement of a slope that has dammed every winter for years. Ask which one is being proposed.
Soft deck shows up once the covering is off, especially under the eave where dams have been wetting the edge. Name underlayment and that possibility in the scope. Metal roofs still need the eave and the valley detailed or the dam simply moves. Say whether the attic is warm, whether the stain is active, and whether the furnace has been running wide open to keep up.
Say the town, whether you have a dam, a leak, or a covering that is simply done, and whether the attic is warm. If a claim is open, keep the deductible in the notes. The eave will not fix itself when the next thaw arrives. Call the number on this page.