Roof repair input

[tonydanzah]

Not garage, but house. During the heavy rain recently, i noticed water dripping from the ceiling fan in a front bedroom last rain storm. I couldn't find anything in the attic or any damage to the shingles and the leak went away so i thought it might be the angle of the rain. Roof has a nice slope, nothing crazy. Well today i was able to see the leak in the attic. Can see the area on the ground and nothing looks outta place. No roof vents there and maybe within 4 ft of the edge near the gutter of a first story house. Roof boards are 1" thick not plywood with shingles being about 10 years old and look excellent.

 

[oldmxracer]

If You found the leak in the attic it is a good thing, there is NO way You can find the problem from the ground !

Get on the roof and start looking from side to side of Your leak area then start moving up till You find the problem.

Sounds like an easy repair to Me.

I did roofing for many years.

 

[tonydanzah]

If You found the leak in the attic it is a good thing, there is NO way You can find the problem from the ground !

Get on the roof and start looking from side to side of Your leak area then start moving up till You find the problem.

Sounds like an easy repair to Me.

I did roofing for many years.

I knew roughly where it was, from the leak before and walked that area once. I have architectural shingles on the roof. i saw no broken or lifted shingles no exposed nails. From the attic, I have 2 wet boards. Is the leaking area normally going to be directly above? I had planned tomorrow to drill up through the in the 2 boards so i had a reference point of their location.

 

[Musicinabottle]

Problem is if you do that, then you have holes to fix and if you have felt paper, the leak could be a ways away and running on top of the felt to where you see the leak. Best thing to do is carefully look over the roof in about a 6 to 8 foot area above where the water entry is.

 

[JohnnyK81]

Following your issue here. Noticed the same thing yesterday.. Wood soaked in the attic above garage. No shingles damaged, roof only 1-2 years old. I actually can't see anywhere where water could have gotten in!

 

[tonydanzah]

Problem is if you do that, then you have holes to fix and if you have felt paper, the leak could be a ways away and running on top of the felt to where you see the leak. Best thing to do is carefully look over the roof in about a 6 to 8 foot area above where the water entry is.

Yeah kind of what I was afraid of. I don't know enough about roofing. We had a section replaced by a company 2 yrs ago on the other side where a transition over a sun room was done by the previous owner. Service was great but took several weeks for them to have time to do it. I watched a YouTube video that basically suggested checking for any loose shingles and using roofing caulk, put the nozzle under each one and he give it a squeeze.

I'm torn between doing this and waiting for the company to come out. This leak is much worse then the other due to the pitch. And I'm worried if I caulk everything and it doesn't seal I'll be in for more labor and shingles to fix it properly

 

[DGersic]

Get an experienced roofer up there.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Musicinabottle]

Yeah kind of what I was afraid of. I don't know enough about roofing. We had a section replaced by a company 2 yrs ago on the other side where a transition over a sun room was done by the previous owner. Service was great but took several weeks for them to have time to do it. I watched a YouTube video that basically suggested checking for any loose shingles and using roofing caulk, put the nozzle under each one and he give it a squeeze.

I'm torn between doing this and waiting for the company to come out. This leak is much worse then the other due to the pitch. And I'm worried if I caulk everything and it doesn't seal I'll be in for more labor and shingles to fix it properly

My game really is metal. But! I have chased leaks with a few comp roofs and a couple of them had nails just right at the laps that were causing the leaks. In that area of your roof, look closely for evidence of nail heads at the exposed edges or in the in between seams.

 

[Roberts210]

If you use roofing caulk, get some "Through The Roof" at Lowes or on Amazon. Some lumber companies carry it too. It is a clear sealant that really bonds to asphalt shingles and glues them down or glues them to tar paper or together or to metal, etc. It is the best I've used. I used to use the Henry's black roofing caulk, but it hardens and eventually pulls away in a few years. Through The Roof does not harden up--at least not completely.

 

[matt_i]

Imo you have to get up there and inspect closely, but the problem will jump out when you find it. Always prevent falls on anything greater than 4:12. Easiest way imo is to park a car or truck on opposite side and tie a rope to that. Rope going over the peak to you (ideally a body harness).

Randomly gunning tar on stuff doesn't sound like a recipe for much success, eh?

 

[CJ7VFR]

I had the same issue as the OP and a few of you guys with a leak in the roof of the house and the garage.

As some of you said, there were no shingles bent, damaged, lifted or anything. In both of my cases, the leak was coming from a nail that was installed underneath where two shingles came together.

You would never have see it from the ground, or even when you were up on the roof. The only way we determined where they were was to measure the locations of the leaks from inside the house, and then take those measurements up onto the roof and start looking in the locations from the outside.

When no noticeable damage was found, we started to lift the tabs of the shingles up slightly in the areas where we thought the leak was coming from, and sure enough there were nails installed directly where two shingles were butted up next to each other.

It took a few years to start leaking after the roof was installed, but eventually the water running down the roof and between these shingles right over the nails found its way down inside the house and garage via the nails.

We repaired the leaks by first caulking over the nail heads, and then putting in some cut off tabs from extra shingles under the area where the two shingles came together, and over top of the nails.

Because the extra tabs were installed under the existing shingles you could not see them, which was nice because even though the extra tabs were taken from the same batch of left over shingles, the shingles on the roof had changed color just a bit from the sun and dirt and stuff that gets on a roof.

Jim

 

[6768rogues]

As mentioned, the leak could be up hill from where you see water coming in.
With architectural shingles, the installer has to be careful to avoid putting a nail where the seam between two shingles on the next course falls. If you listen to an installer putting 6 nails in a shingle with a nail gun, it will sound like pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, gap, pop. The gap is where the next course will **** together.
If they put a nail under the next course seam, it can leak.
With three tab shingles, the nails go above the throats of the cut outs, so they are never aligned with the next course ends.

 

[ard]

Do not add caulk indiscriminately ... It will, make the diagnosis and actual repair more difficult

IMO

 

[tonydanzah]

I have someone coming to quote it This afternoon and someone tomorrow. I will likely just have it fixed by a pro since the lumber underneath Likely needs replacing and it has been raining every few days here with snow fast approaching.

 

[James-W]

I have someone coming to quote it This afternoon and someone tomorrow. I will likely just have it fixed by a pro since the lumber underneath Likely needs replacing and it has been raining every few days here with snow fast approaching.

I think having a very good professional roofer is the right way to go about it. Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and pay someone to find the problem and fix it properly.

 

[tonydanzah]

First guy bailed, didnt make it out before dark. Second company that i couldnt get ahold of at first arrived(did a repair for me 2 yrs ago) prompt this morning. Spent about 10 minutes inspecting the area. Found two sunken nails that were the likely sources caulked them and a few other areas. Said the wood was solid under it and would be fine once it dried out. Total cost $100.

 

[James-W]

From what you said it sounds like the guy was pretty honest and straight forward and it would seem he found the problem right away. Sounds to me like it was money well spent.