How to Find Roof Leaks And Repair Them

 

Hi this is Steve from Roofer 911.

I'm on a roof in McLean, Virginia. This roof has multiple sources that's causing leaks inside the home. Now, the first thing I noticed is all the leaves that are built up in the valley so it's causing a dam, so the water is not flowing down the drain like it should be right in this area here.

The water's backing up and then the water's going underneath the shingles and seeping through the sides of the nails, and the water's just travelling along the valley underneath.

Now, with all these capped shingles holding the ridge in place, you can see how they have all nails exposed which is normal. The problem is when there's a heavy rain or melting snow. The water can get underneath these capped shingles, seep right through the sides of the nails and inside the home, and the water can settle anywhere down below.

Now, also, where the roof and the wall meet, there's aluminum step flashing that's underneath the black counter flashing and underneath the shingles. I noticed some of the nails were exposed in the flashing. There should be no nails exposed in the flashing at all.

Same thing over here along the wall and also along the chimney, so what I really recommend is to strip this entire roof, we're going to seal the wood with the ice and water shield. Then we'll put all the new shingles and the ice and water shield will seal all the nails that are holding these shingles into place.

Also, the valley, we're going to install ice and water shield along the entire length of the valley. Then we'll re-shingle this area. The valley will not be open like this. It will be a single-cut closed type valley.

Also, the leaves over here is causing a dam, too, and it will cause the water to back up there. Now another thing, very important, is here you can see the ridge vent is on the verge of coming off. The nails are popping out, and also a lot of these nails are not even sealed.

We're going to take off this ridge vent, and then we're going to seal the deck underneath here right along the entire length of the ridge on both sides with polyurethane. Then the new ridge vent is going to be pressed into the sealant and then we'll fasten it into the rafters underneath, and then re-seal all the fasteners.

Now, the leaks are over in here, and this top roof is also attributing to the leak. You can see the valley. The shingles are all chewed up. That's another thing that's causing the leaks down below. Also, here, you can see the ridge vent is on the verge of coming off, right there.

We're going to do the same thing with that ridge vent as we did the other. I really recommend to strip this roof, too, because that water's just travelling down inside the exterior wall and settling on the lower roof. With this leak, we got to target it from every possible angle.

Let's check this gutter. Yeah, the gutter here is all clogged and that will cause a leak, too. When the water fills up in the gutter, and it reaches the level of these spikes, the water can seep right through the sides of the spikes. Through the socket and down inside the wall and settle on the lower roof.

Again, like I said, we got to target this leak from every possible angle, because if we don't, we will most certainly be back again. Also, the flashing around a chimney, we got to take care of that as well.

Also, here, we got to put aluminum drip edge here. You can see there's a large gaping space right here. It's about an inch open. We're going to take these shingles up. We're going to install aluminum drip edge right along the eve, that will block any water from getting underneath from a wind driven rain.

Again, my name is Steve, from Roofer 911, and we specialize in roof repair in McLean VA and Lorton VA, and all areas of Northern Virginia, and I can be reached at 703-475-2446. Thank you.

How to Find Roof Leaks And Repair Them first appeared on www.roofer911.com