Fixing a leaking roof...

[Craddosk]

Any tips/words of advice for fixing a leaking roof? The warmer weather this week showed a small area that my roof isn't holding up against. First indication was a very small brown/beige patch on my roof drywall...

Any way to temporarily patch this from the inside? I believe it's the flashing around a vent that's allowing water penetration. Once the snow is gone, I'd go up and fix the flashing, but would not do it myself right now due to snow/ice/precipitation/general safety hazards.

 

[kbs2244]

If it isn't too bad just point a small fan at it to dry it out as it leaks.

 

[RECox286]

Unfortunately, I have never been able to put a cork into a roof leak

and be sucessful. Just have to let it leak until you can get to the

problem from the outside of the roof. Pots and pans seem to be the

only solution from the inside. Hopefully there won't be too much

collateral damage.

Uncle Bob

 

[pattenp]

Nothing you can do will work from the inside. Could be as simple as a nail head in the flashing is to close to the edge of a shingle and water is getting in. Kbs2244 suggestion is as good as any until you get outside to fix it.

Edit: I have had leaks like that from some poorly placed roofing nails that left the heads exposed.

 

[Craddosk]

Thanks for the knowledge. It's not a very bad leak, looks like a slow drip occasionally. The snow has melted around that section, so I should be safe of a little bit. I'll have to develop some sort of system to keep my insulation dry until April/May when I can get up there.

 

[Highbeam]

Before I learned the proper way to roof around a penetration I allowed professional roofers to screw it up too many times.

You're lucky, you caught it before rot and mold. I'm sure I could find where they screwed up on that roof jack. If you have ANY exposed nails on the jack, if cement was used at all, or if they did not provide a decent margin of exposed flashing for water to run around the "dome" then the water will back up under the shingles and leak.