When it comes to Syracuse area home repairs, keeping your roof in top shape is crucial. Your roof keeps your family safe, warm, and dry. Any homeowner that has had a leaky roof will tell you how much of a headache it is. The water damage to ceilings and walls can be extensive, and expensive to repair.
Sometimes finding the source of a leak is easy, but far too often it is a difficult process to find where the water leak originates from. This is because several factors can be the cause. Even various weather conditions can cause a roof to leak in different spots.
Roofs that have horizontal boards can direct water up to 10 feet away and cause a wet spot on your ceiling which is far away from where your roof is actually leaking. Sometimes you need to call in a professional Syracuse roofing contractor to locate the source of a leak and take appropriate action to ensure the integrity of your roof.
Your gutters and downspouts that are left clogged won’t drain properly. This causes water to back up and overflow the edge of the gutter. Clogged or overflowing gutters is another source of water damage to walls and roofing.
The Field of Shingles
The part of your roof covered in shingles shakes, or slate is called the roof field. When you walk on an asphalt shingle roof should cause any problems, but when walking on slate you need to be careful because the roofing material could crack. Check the tops of the vertical knockouts looking for a spot with missing colored granules or cracks. Look for any nails that may have popped out from roof sheathing as this could be a source for leaks.
Valleys
A roof valley is the line formed when two roof planes intersect. A minimum valley should be laced with 30 lb. felt paper, 20” standing seam “W” from valley metal. If the shingles are not installed correctly by being trimmed properly, these valleys can produce leaks. The shingle when in a valley needs to be trimmed to a chisel point. If a second cut is to make this point resemble an arrow point is not made, then water can leak into the house by traveling along the top of the singles.
Head Wall Flashings
When the roof ends at a horizontal wall, a metal flashing has to be used as a way to direct water coming down away from the shingles’ endpoint. The flashing could be in front of a brick wall or behind a wood siding and needs to extend beyond three inches over the shingle. Flashing should bend and extend into a mortar joint one inch when the wall or chimney is created using masonry or brick on a new build prior to brick installment or it needs to flash against the brick and be counter-flashed using masonry hard nails or anchors.
Wind Blown Rain Leaks
Powerful winds can do a lot of damage. It can even drive rain under your roofing even if your roof is in good condition. Tar paper helps with this problem. You can hem the hidden edges of metal valleys by bending them 180 degrees to create a channel for the wind to direct the rain to the bottom of the valley.
Calling in the Experts
Finding a leak and fixing a leak is not always an easy process for a DIY project. Mistakes you make cause the problem to become bigger issues and may even cause you to need a roof replacement. At Empire State Professionals we have seen it all and have the knowledge and experience to help solve leaky roofs and prevent further problems in the future.
