Mary asks…
Help finding and patching a leak in the roof.?
So I bought my house about a year ago, and it has a relatively newer roof, not sure how new, but I’m guessing its about 5 years old. Its made of asphalt shingles. It looks like it is in perfect shape. Just a week ago we had some very heavy rain, and I didn’t seem to have any issues.
Well last night I woke up at 3:30am to use the restroom and find a small puddle, and water dripping from the cieling blower area. As much as I want to just go to sleep and deal with it in the morning, I was too stressed worrying, so 3:45am I’m geared up crawling around the attic, and find the source of the leak. I’m very fortunate it just dripped on the blower unit, and dripped down that, meaning no damage to any drywall so far.
The leak is coming from part of the joint between 2 pieces of the sheeting plywood. Last night (when it started) the rain was moderate, and the leak was dripping at a rate of roughly 1 drip every 15 seconds. Now I was up on the roof thoroughly inspecting the area above the drip (as well as higher above it, in case the water was running down from a higher area, before making it to the joint in the plywood where it could get through), but I couldn’t find any signs of a leak from above. Like I said the roof is not very old and is in very good shape. I’ve heard sometimes wind can potentially blow rain backwards under the shingles, although as far as I know I don’t think it was very windy last night.
Any tips on how I can find the bad shingle, or area, or whatever is letting the water through?
Also, what would be the cheapest way to fix it? At the moment I’m layed off work, living on savings, so I really have very little to spend. But not to mention I don’t want to tear up or replace the whole roof just to fix a small leak.
One thing I worry about too is, if I did somehow need to replace some shingles, since they are all overlapping does that mean I have to tear off all the ones above it too, or is there a way to actually replace just a couple shingles without tearing a large area apart?
Or is there a better way, perhaps some sort of roofing caulk that I can use if I find the bad shingles to just squirt underneath them to patch them up? (If that does turn out to be whats causing it, none of them look bad)
Any suggestions for finding and patching it?
admin answers:
Your right about one thing and that is the water can be coming from higher up. It is often hard to discover a single leak especially it there is no evidence. I have found trouble spots before by taking a water hose up to the roof and let it run. I would personally just go up and start lifting the shingles up to see if they are loose. Don’t pull them up if they are stuck but look for ones that need a little more tar. And go get tar from your local hardware store and start high and work your way down. There is nothing easy about finding a leak I have a contractor trying to repair the leaks in my stores roof. And they have to keep trying until they find it. Replacing shingles is not easy either but can be done. Don’t remove any shingles but the one’s you want to replace. You will have to remove the nails from several rows above the one that is damaged and you do that using a long screw driver flat blade and a hammer and lift the edges up carefully. You cannot bend them upward to much or they will tear. But once you see the nail head and generally I see three or four nails and sometimes staples just depends on your local codes. Now that you see the nail head place the screwdriver under the head of the nail and string with the hammer until you see it move up. Once it moves a little use a pair of side cutters and grab the nail and wiggle it out. Remember you cannot bend the shingles very far and if it’s cold you don’t do it. They are way to stiff. Now you have to keep pulling nails until you have removed them all from around the shingle you are replacing. Now that you have your old one out of the way just slide your new one back in place. Now comes the Hard part. Nailing them back down. It is not easy to drive a nail when you cannot strike it straight but it can be done. Don’t get nervous about it just be have pataince and know even pro’s fight this. Good luck.
John asks…
How do I find attic bafflles, soffits and soffit vents in my house, if there are any?
The only view I have of the attic, is by taking a ladder and popping the lid off the ceiling in my daughter’s closet. I can see about 10 inches of, what I’ve been told by the insulation company (they did the work a few years ago) is cellulose. But there are no signs of any baffles, and I am worried that the air ventalation in the attic is inadequate. The company says that you can’t see the baffles from that angle, and that they always put baffles in IF there are any soffit vents. How do I find soffit vents — from outside the house or inside the attic, or both?
My understanding is that inadequate ventalation may cause ice damns, etc., and hurt my roof shingles. It will also cause the house to overheat in the summer. Right?
admin answers:
First of all Soffits on any overhang would be visible from the exterior, as shoul;d any vent grate/covers, or depending on the substance of the soffits they may be perforated.
Without knowing the structure of your attic, or height to the roof, can you access it? Was the insulation blown in? Is the attic just kind of wasted space now? Does your roof have ridge vents?
David asks…
what happens when you have a broken drain field pipe?
I purchased a home last summer and the previous owner told me the drain field was in a spot that it wasn’t. I put a roof on my house and had the fork truck driver lift the shingles to the roof. He drove over top of the drain field and now i am worried about it. The lawn where he drove over is now completely dead. No problems with drains or toilets. If anyone knows common signs that you have a broken or crushed pipe it would help me out. Or why my lawn might have died?
my lawn was nothing beautiful last summer, and most of it was very dry at toward the end of fall. No spots are any greener than the others. i recieved a blue print of the drain field from the county and it shows the pipes being about 2 feet below the surface.
admin answers:
I would not think the forklift would crush the drain pipe.If they are laid correctly they would be about three feet underground. Normally, if you have a broken drain pipe then the waste would stop at that point. Is your grass greener at that spot then other area’s? How long has the grass been dead at that spot? There is a chance the heat from the forklifts exhaust could have killed that area. Wait until growing season comes and see if grass returns. If there is no problems with backups in your drains then you are fine for now. If you have problems later you
can have a plumber check it out.
Betty asks…
What is the general cost to replacing a roof?
I believe I may have a leak in the roof of my home. I looked up in the attic and there was a light film of frost on about one-third of the roof on the inside, and a few ‘dark stains’ which may or may not be water stains. The shingles on the outside are intact (none missing), but some (maybe 20-50) have started to curl on the corners by about an inch or so – nothing too significant.
My home is not big. The square footage of 1 floor (so, essentially what the roof would be covering, except a bit more because the roof is slanted and there are 2 peaks) is approximately 900 feet. It is not a fancy, complex roof. Pretty much 2 sloped sides and 2 peaks.
Does anyone with expertise and experience doing this/ estimating this have a ballpark figure on what it would cost (labour/ materials/ disposal)? I would like to hope that I am safe for at least this winter as I have no ‘other’ obvious signs of leaking, etc. The house is only 13 years old by the way.
As well, will insurance cover any of this?
Thanks!
admin answers:
Insurance= No go.
Your ballpark cost= 4,000 to 5,000 with that sq footage.
Also depends on the quality of materials you choose to use.
You want about 15 years out of a roof so keep that in mind when you decide.
ALSO VERY IMPORTANT!! = You may be able to just get the problem areas treated and repaired and just get the roof reshingled. You can shingle a roof only twice before it must be done again from “scratch”.
George asks…
Is the word “shingle” that means a sign in front of a house?
What is the sign called that a person puts out in front of their house for advertising? The word I am looking for is something like “shingle”? Thank you.
admin answers:
Yes, it’s called a shingle. It’s not really advertising, though. It’s more of a notification of the profession one would find inside.
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