Roofing in Baltimore usually means a rowhouse roof, squeezed between party walls, close enough to the harbor that damp hangs around after the rain stops. Some houses still carry slate or an older shingle on a visible slope facing the street. Many others hide a low-slope roof behind a front parapet, and the rear addition is a second roof with its own bad habits. The leak you see in an upstairs ceiling may start at a joint you cannot see from the sidewalk.
Party-wall flashing and the seam where an addition meets the original brick are the classic failure points. Clogged scuppers and low spots hold water that a steep suburban roof would have thrown off. Ice on the north side still wedges under the covering in a cold spell. Tell us whether the drip arrives with wind, with a steady rain, or as a pond that only appears after the storm has sat for a while.
Access is part of the job. A narrow house, a skylight over a stair, and an alley full of wires change how debris leaves and how material arrives. Chimneys in these rows are often old, and the flashing around them cracks where the brick moves. If several layers are already on the deck, say so if you know it. Describe the shape: pitched street slope, flat behind a parapet, or a patchwork of both.
From inside, note which floor stains, whether the stain is near an outside wall or under a bathroom that might be confusing the picture, and whether the attic or cockloft is wet. Do not climb a parapet to prove you are serious. Say if a neighbor on the shared wall has the same stain. That fact can mean the water is at the party wall rather than in the middle of your deck. Harbor damp also feeds moss and soft wood on shaded rear roofs that never fully dry.
Say repair or replacement, and say whether anyone has already spread coating on a flat section. Roofing in Baltimore is parapets, party walls, rear additions, and roofs that either pitch to the street or hold water out of sight. The harbor air is part of the life of the materials. Call the number on this page.