Is Your Roof Leaking? Here’s What To Do
Often having a leaky roof can ruin the internal value of one’s home. Water rings on ceilings should not be ignored as they can get much worse in the future and can ultimately lead to the downfall of your house and its foundation. So you know that your roof is leaking? How does one fix such a simple problem? The hardest part is to find and determine where the leak is coming from. It could be from a pipe instead of the roof, but in the highest floors, this is usually not the case. The signs to look for in a leaking roof are things such as missing shingles, damaged flashing or roof sealants and small roof holes. These can be easily identified and are usually outcomes of storms, age and lack of proper sealants. Once you’ve actually figured out that it is indeed your roof, you should continue to fixing it properly by learning the causes of this catastrophe. Here’s how leaky roofs are born:
Ultimately things like shingle wear, storm damage, clogged gutters, ice dames, poor workmanship and antenna removal are the cause(s) of a leaky roof. By not addressing them, you are basically saying goodbye to your roof. Having a good roof is essential for a strong and energy-efficient house. It increases the value and preserves the internal structure of the house for further years to come. Knowing these causes can help you to prevent further damage to the roof after you repair it. By simply just cleaning your gutters or ensuring that the solution used for sealing was high-quality can help to prevent further wreck and terrors to your home’s roof. Now that you know what a leaking roof looks like and how it’s caused, why not go over how to stop and fix a leaking roof?
When a house is over 10 years old or more, it is not uncommon for a roof to have leaks. If you want to fix it, the answer is quite simple. You first should check the condition of the roofing through material and flashing. By finding and removing as debris such as branches, twigs and various other objects, you relieve the tiles of further stress against their placement on your roof. You should also take the time to evaluate for any further problems. If any are found upon inspection, things such as moisture in high areas of the house like your attic, contact a professional immediately to help fix this if you are not a handyman. But before the professional even arrives, you can easily diagnose and address certain issues that may have caused this problem and temporarily provide cover to the damaged area of the house. You’ll want a professional as putting up roof tiles is not a 1-man job preferably and should be done with assistance in case of a safety issue. Remember, one can easily fall due to slipping tiles and lose security of the ladder. Here are some helpful things you can do until a professional gets there:
- Tape a piece of string with a bucket to the side. This will catch any water in place of the area where the leak is sprouting
- If the leak is really bad and bigger than an inch, you can drill a hole in the ceiling which helps to allow the water to escape. Again; you will need your handy-dandy bucket for this to catch the stray water. By taking this essential step, you cheat yourself out of saturating your ceiling with water and ultimately in the long-run save it from collapsing.
- You should continuously inspect your house inside and out to ensure that the problem has been taken care of and that there are no new problems. By catching and detecting a roof leak early, you save not only your money, but the house inside.
