Roofing in Indianapolis is hail, flat-city wind, and freeze-thaw in older valleys. Snow falls and leaves. The stain often appears when ice in a low addition lets go. Subdivision roofs take hail on open streets and then a summer of attic heat. Porch and alley-garage roofs get walked on until they sag. A slow leak from the temperature swing is easy to miss if you only chase storms.
Look for granules, a wavy ridge, and a porch that dips. Older blocks often have layers that hide a soft deck. A boot patch is not a tear-off. Brick chimney flashing that has left the mortar is a classic leak on these houses. Say if the attic bakes in summer and grows icicles on one eave in winter. That pattern means air and heat, not only shingles.
Hail bruises and wind creases are different from each other and from plain age. If a claim is possible, photograph before tear-off. Note if water shows at the chimney, the valley, or neither. The scope should name boots, sidewalls, and the ridge. A ladder may have to live in a side yard or an alley, so say how tight the lot is.
Summer heat on a dark roof punishes a thin covering, and a bath fan dumped into the attic helps an ice dam on that same bungalow in winter. Newer houses with ridge vents still fail when the soffit path is blocked. Ask about that air path, not only the shingle name. Do not climb an icy valley to prove a stain you can already see from the bedroom.
Say leak or replacement, hail or thaw, old block or new subdivision. If ice is still in the valley, say that too. Say if the alley garage roof shares the leak. Leave damaged shingles in place until photos exist. Call the number on this page.