Why is my roof is leaking?  What do I do if I find a leak?  How can I locate a leak on my roof?  Finding a leak in your home can cause frustration and anxiety.  However, there is a simple step by step process that will help you know what to do when you find a leak, how to locate it’s source, and prevent further damage.  

Is My Roof Leaking?
It is important to keep in mind that if you find a sign of water damage in your ceiling or wall, it does not necessarily mean that your roof is leaking.  The problem could also be the result of leaky plumbing or even condensation.  If you find water damage on a ceiling that is not directly below the roof, you may want to consider these other possibilities as causing the leak.  

Even if you find sign of water damage in your attic, these signs may not equate to a current leak.  For example, if your house is 50 years old, it would have had two or three layers of roofing, and the leak could have occurred anywhere during the life of either roof.  A water stain on the roof’s rafters is often what sets off an alarm with the building or home owner, but is far from conclusive evidence of an existing leak.  

To determine if your roof is leaking, check the water damage during a rain storm or while snow is melting on your roof.  If the damage shows up within 5 hours of recent rain or snow activity, it is probably the result of a roof leak.  If the damage occurs outside of this 5 hour range, you may want to have the area checked by a plumber.

With any leak, water can build up and put a heavy amount of weight on your ceiling.  If you see a bulge in the sheet rock or paint of the affected area, you will want to drain the water to prevent the sheet rock from collapsing and causing more damage to your home.  Simply put a bucket under the affected area and poke a hole in the sheet rock with a 16 penny nail to drain the water.  

How to Locate a Leak
Once you are confident that your roof is leaking, you can call a certified roofing contractor to locate and repair the leak.  If you would like to find the source of the leak yourself, we have provided a step by step guide.

Throughout this process, remember that water runs downhill.  If moisture penetrates the roof, it sometimes travels down and even diagonally in both directions before finding it’s way through the underlayment.  Once through the underlayment, it needs to find a seam in the roofs sheathing.  Then, the water will either drop to the ceiling’s insulation or travel down a rafter.  Once the moisture is on the ceiling, it will usually soak up some insulation before finding it’s way to the sheet rock or plaster ceiling material.  About 90% of the time, the leak will manifest itself in a joint in the sheet rock.

To find a leak:

1. Determine how many roof layers is on your home.  If your pitched roof has only one layer, it is much easier to find the source of the leak.  
2. Locate the area where the leak is manifesting itself inside your home.
3. Transfer this area up to the roof.  Is it coming through a penetration such as a pipe, ventilation, swamp cooler, chimney, or skylight?  The majority of roof leaks come in around penetrations.  Look within 5 feet uphill of the affected area, though it can be as far as 10.
4. If you locate a penetration within this area, look for problems with the flashing.  These are usually very simple repairs.
5. If there are no penetrations within this area, look for blown off shingles, torn shingles, and nails coming through.  Also, pay close attention to valleys, as these areas tend to leak as well.  

If you are able to locate a leak in the flashing, you may be able to repair this yourself if you have some knowledge in roofing and can secure the necessary materials.  More complicated leaks should be repaired by experienced professionals.  Brady Roofing is able to both locate leaks and effectively repair them.  We install a large majority of roofing products.  We also offer free estimates.  For more information, contact us today.  
 

It may be the beginning of summer, but we can be sure that winter will come again.  If you plan well for your roof now, you will be prepared for the worst winters Utah can bring you.  That's why we need to be aware of the issue of ice dams in climates like Utah's while we install our roofs.  An Ice dam is formed when heat from inside a home or attic warms the roof and melts the snow on it.  This melted snow runs towards the cooler eaves and gutters, where it refreezes.  This process creates ice dams.  The result of these dams is water backing up under the roof shingles or behind fascia boards where it can cause damage to your home, both inside and out.  All shingle manufacturers exclude from warranty coverage leaks that are caused by water backing up behind these ice dams.   

The good news is, in most situations, ice dams are easily reduced if you take a few simple steps.  There are three ways to protect your home against ice dams: insulation, ventilation, and waterproofing shingle underlayment.  All three of these steps are vital to protecting your home.  Insulation minimizes heat loss from your home's living area, reducing the hot air which reaches your attic.  This is important to keep you warm throughout the winter, as well as to keep your roof cool.  Ventilation removes the heat from underneath your roof and helps to keep it evenly cool to prevent the freezing and thawing process.  Finally, waterproofing shingle underlayment can be installed on your roof before the shingles are applied.  This protects your roof in the case that an ice dam were to form.   

If you already have an existing roof without any major problems, you may still want to protect against ice dams.  You cannot install waterproof shingle underlayment on existing roofs without removing the shingles first or building a new addition.  However, it is possible to increase your insulation R-value, or level of thermal resistance, in your attic.  Also, it is typically simple to add ventilation to your attic at any time.   

Insulation is a great place to start when protecting your home from excessive ice dams.  If your home was built before 1980, you will most likely need to add more attic insulation.  The amount of insulation your house should have will vary on depending where you live, how your home was built and other factors, including your lifestyle.  In northern Utah, you should have a ceiling R-value of R-49, a wall R-value of R-19 and a floor R-value of R-25.  One inch of insulation can have an R-value of anything from 3.8-4.2, depending on the material.   

Ventilation is important to your home both in the winter and the summer.  Any heat that is lost from your home will be drawn out of your attic through your ventilation, keeping your roof deck cool.  In the winter, this prevents ice dams.  Attic ventilation can also allow any moisture from bathing, cooking and laundry to escape rather than sit and mold or rot your ceilings.  There are two common types of attic ventilation: a mechanical ventilation system and a natural ventilation system.  A power ventilator is an electric fan installed at the roof or gable that runs by a thermostat to ensure the roof is the proper temperature.  A natural ventilation system consists of simple vent or covered openings in your attic.  These are typically installed into your roof.   

If you are building a new home, or re-roofing your current home, it is essential to install waterproof shingle underlayment.  This underlayment is completely resistant to water and is an important step in defending your home against leaks and ice dams.  Shingle underlayment does not prevent ice dams, so it should be accompanied by taking the above steps.  However, installing an underlayment will prevent any backed up water from entering and damaging your home.  Shingle underlayment is installed differently for every situation, depending on the amount of snow and ice that will be on the roof, and the amount of attic space there is to allow air circulation (some underlayments don't breathe and can cause condensation when there is no air circulation - see previous blog on ventilation).  Generally, it is a good ideal to have it applied under flashing, at roof penetrations, areas where pitches change, in valleys, around chimneys, and along the eaves of the home.  You should consider building codes in your area when determining how much ice shield should be installed to prevent the ice at the eaves from backing up and coming in at your exterior walls.   

It is important to note that some situations call for a product called heat tape (sometimes called electrical heat coil).  Areas where this is most prevalent are at the bottom of valleys where it butts into a wall or chimney and does not flow freely off the roof.  This heat tape is effective in resolving ice damming issues, but is costly to operate.  It is best to consult with a roofing contractor when assessing areas that may require special consideration. 

Remember, proper planning can avoid a whole lot of pain later on when the roofing project or repair is completed!   Brady Roofing specializes is proper ventilation and waterproofing your roof for all climates.  If you would like a roof estimate, you can request a free estimate here. 

Over the last few months, one of our clients has called us several times to fix various leaks in his 12 year old pitched roof installed by another roofing contractor.  He had originally had a tar and gravel flat roof.  He had his roofing contractor convert it to a 4/12 pitched roof, leaving the tar and gravel roof on underneath.  He called us when, after only 12 years, his shingled roof was leaking in various places.  When I got on the roof I noted the poor workmanship of his roof and shingles.  We did several repairs and ended up replacing the entire roof, installing new shingles, an ice shield, synthetic felt and new flashing.  It was a 30 year system and I was confident he wouldn't have any future leaks in his roof.  

Last night, I had a bizarre experience as I received yet another phone call from him reporting a leak in one of the same places the roof had leaked before.  I couldn't figure out how a brand new roof could be leaking in the same spot.  I called one of my employees and we went to check it out around 5:30.  We inspected the entire roof and could not find any place that could be leaking.  Because it was a converted flat roof, there was no attic access.  Without any other options, I was forced to tear of a portion of the new roof and cut away the plywood underneath to gain access to the cavity between the flat roof and the pitched roof.  As I dropped down into the cavity, I was confident there was no leak in the pitched roof we had recently installed.  The tar and gravel roof was bone-dry and coated with a layer of dust.  

Because the tar and gravel roof was no longer needed, we began tearing the flat roof off to find the problem.  When we had gotten down to the plywood under the tar and gravel, I found that the wood was completely saturated.  Somehow, high humidity levels there had caused this house to leak from the inside out.  

After talking to the owner of the house, I learned they kept a humidifier hooked to their furnace, which was located directly under the area of the leak.  This humidifier was on during the winter.  Every time that it rained or snowed outside, creating a high humidity, that humidity was magnified inside, creating an overall humidity that is higher than average.  This humidity caused condensation to form on the underside of the tar and gravel roof just as it would form on the underside of a pot's lid when water boils.  When the condensation became heavy enough, it would drip through the ceiling, appearing as if there were a leak.  In reality, that water came from the inside of the house.  

When a building has high humidity, a vapor barrier such as Visqeen should be installed on the warm side of the insulation.  In this case, the vapor barrier was the actual tar and gravel roof, and consequently was installed on the cool side of the insulation, forcing the condensation to travel through the ceiling, insulation, and plywood before reaching the barrier. To fix this issue, we cut out the roof sheeting from the tar and gravel in the effected area so that it could breathe.  As we cut it off, a burst of hot, humid air hit us in the face.  I had never seen anything like this, it was simply amazing.  Our client is going to replace the damaged material in this area.  

To avoid this issue in a typical home, simply keep your humidifier turned off in the winter, as it is not necessary.  You may own a home or building that naturally has unusually high level of humidity.  This would usually come from an indoor swimming pool or fountain.  In this case, be sure you have an architect and a roofing contractor that are familiar with building for this environment.  A large number of roofing contractors are unaware of these procedures and cautions.  To my knowledge, only 5 or 6 roofing contractors in the salt lake valley are experienced in installing a roof for this type of environment.  Brady Roofing is experienced in this area.  We recently installed a roof for a Hampton Inn with a similarly humid environment.  To contact Brady Roofing for a free estimate, contact us here.  

Fortunately, the repair was simple.  I just heat welded a new peice of TPO over the area and their problems were solved. 

That is one beautiful characteristic about this product.  It does not lose it's weld ability like PVC and EP Sheets do.  I was just on an extremely large food processing plant roof yesterday that was done about 15 years ago in an EP Sheet.  A general contractor just put two new exhaust units on the roof.  As we tried to weld new membrane flashing around these units, we found it had lost its weld ability.  We have found a solution that I won't go into now, but the fact is it couldn't be welded after this time frame like a TPO membrane could.

It made me all the more comfortable installing roofs for our customers!