You can know if you have a roof leak by hearing the sound of dripping water or finding a wet spot in your ceiling in your home. There are temporary solutions for you to pause the leakage until professionals come to help.
How Serious Is A Roof Leak?
Neglecting the roof leak is the same as exposing yourself to dangers and hazards. If a roof leak is left untreated, you are basically living under a roof that could collapse at any time. Continuous leakage creates ponds around your house and perhaps inside of the house. This leads to a slippery and wet floor that anyone can fall at any moment. On top of that, it creates electrical problems like damaging the circuit box or the wiring itself. In conclusion, your family and neighbors will be in hazardous conditions.
Until a professional roofing contractor will examine the problem, the roof leakage could be happening in between the walls or dripping on the floor where we could see. If moisture cannot find a way out and lived inside the house, it creates molds and mildew. Slowly weakens your home frames and also harmful to your health.
Increased energy bill – leaking leads to more usage of the fan, air conditioner, and heater to keep the house cozy and dry. You don’t want to open an electricity bill with a crazy amount on it. Understand the temporary solutions to stop the leakage until you get help from the professionals.
So what can causes a Roof Leaks?
Mostly roof leak happens for multiple reasons and not just one. Here are a few lists of what causes roof leakage and how worse it could be if you neglect to solve the problem.
- Not cleaning the gutters
You might have seen in movies or animations where the gutter explodes or detaches and falls to the ground. Well, that is the worst case scenario in real life. All the dirt, dust, fallen leaves, water, and many other things fall to the gutters. The gutter could get clogged and not drain properly if it’s not cleaned regularly. Try to keep the trees away from the roof by trimming them, so it does not clog the gutters.
- Damages around the vent pipes and the flashings
Every roof has vent pipes that run from a kitchen and a bathroom up to the roof to circulate the air inside out. Vent pipes are installed with vent pipe covers, also known as the vent boots, that is made with rubber, plastic, or metal. A roof leak can happen from the damage around the vent pipes and vent boots. Check if you find any cracks or decayed parts around it. Metal material could rust, and rubber material could rip off due to its characteristics.
Like the damages around the vent pipes, roof leak could happen from the flashing damage. These are installed around the edges or joints of the roof to slide down water from rainfalls and snows. This helps the roof to get rid of water and stay dry. Most flashings are made with metal or copper, which indicates the possibility of cracks and rusts.
- Skylights not properly fitted
If your house has skylights installed on your roof, check if they are properly fitted or have any cracks. Skylights could be leaking due to damaged flashing or the surrounding parts. You can use a roof sealant at a local repair shop to temporarily stop the leakage and be safe.
- Weaken chimney
The mortar joints and bricks on your chimney could be weakened or cracked, allowing water to get in. If there is a leakage on the chimney, you have to carefully look for the crack, which could be one or multiple. A cracked chimney could be temporarily resolved using the sealant. You would still need an expert to visit to check exactly where the cause is coming from and whether or not to replace the whole chimney or not.
