Repair a leaking roof
How to repair a leaking roof from the inside? When you say “from the inside” are you talking about where it is leaking from or how to go about repairing a leak I am not sure where it is leaking from, except that my son’s bedroom area. It seems like this water could be coming from more than one location. If so, can we fix these areas independently one at a time? For example (because of cost) should I focus on the 2nd story bathroom and then move on to other areas of the house? I must call a roof repair company to repair a roof.
We have already ripped off some boards on our third floor to try and see if we can get to the bottom of what is going on in there–but we couldn’t find anything obvious (seems like one of those hidden leaks). In any case, he is going to rip off a few more planks and replace some of the insulation before winter comes. I wasn’t sure if this was the right thing to do or if it would somehow make things worse–but he believes that it wouldn’t cause a bigger problem because our roof does not slope in that area.
There is one spot where it seems like water is coming from under my kitchen sink area, but I can’t figure out where exactly! Water gets into the room around my cabinets (which are stained, so I know they’ve been wet at some point). We first noticed this about two years ago, when we ripped off our old vinyl flooring thinking maybe something underneath had caused a leak…but nothing turned up there..just extremely wet walls. Did you ever figure out where the water was coming from? I want to contact contractors for roof repairs. That will estimate the cost to repair.
Clients Opinion
This might seem like a silly question, but I’ve had clients who have had water leak through their ceiling after a rainstorm and wonder how to stop it from getting into the house. The best way is to get on the roof and place something over the leak so that no more water gets into the attic. You can also call a roof repair contractor for an estimate to see if you need to replace your roof or just repair it.
If the water is coming from an area near your vent pipe and you think it might be freezing, try to insulate the pipes with something like a foam cover. You can get this at any hardware store.
As far as your ceiling goes, (it needs roof repair) after getting everything fixed on the roof, try using a dehumidifier in the basement to keep any moisture down, especially during winter. I always recommend doing this because where there’s one leak, there could be more!
You may want to also consider having a professional like roof repairs come out and inspect your attic so that they can see if there are any other leaks coming through another area of your roof and prevent them from occurring in the future by caulking or repairing what needs it.
We had some water coming into our attic during rain storms from an area of the house where there was no vent pipe at all. We decided to remove the tile and flooring below through that area which is in the 2nd floor bathroom. It turned out that there was also a rotted piece of wood blocking the vent pipe opening causing it to get obstructed and fill with water, overflowing onto the sheathing covering the ceiling joists then leaking down through cracks in the ceiling tile onto the floor below. (I have read many articles on your website pertaining to common roofing and attic-related problems. Also about roof repair.)
It is now 3 years later and we think that the area where the leak occurred has been repaired properly. This was the part of roof repair. A roof repair company’s articles were about. There was a rubber flap installed with screws into adjacent floor joists to divert water from coming in there (due to future possible leaks). Our concern is that it may still be leaking through or around this rubber flap diverter because we sometimes hear water running above our bedroom ceiling during heavy rain storms.
Also, if you look at the ceiling in our garage 2nd-floor bathroom, approximately 4 of the “exposed” sheathing guard boards are more yellowish than any others on the entire house which leads us to believe that they have been wet for a long period.
we have a few questions:
- What are the chances that this area of sheathing will rot again due to water being trapped behind the tiles? Do I need roof repair?
- What would be considered an adequate vent pipe size for our attic and is there any way to add “extra” venting into this 2nd floor bathroom ceiling?
- Are there other areas on our roof that may not have been properly fixed after the leak occurred and thus could still be leaking at times (3 years later)? We have had people look through our attic before who said yes it was all fine and we never heard about further problems with leaks since then.
- Should we also consider having a company come out and give us a professional inspection so they might find something else that we are missing or something that was missed during our own repairs?
We had a “rotted” spot on the sheathing but it wasn’t until later when I went up into the attic and took a closer look around that I saw an area of water damage in between two areas where there was no vent pipe installed. This occurred about 3 years ago and I have another leak coming from the same 2nd floor bathroom area now which has soaked through to the ceiling below once again. The only thing added/changed since it first started is that some new drywall was put up on that side of the house after the first repair so maybe due to extra moisture from showering, etc., with tile directly above this area caused more water to condense and go down through the ceiling below.
I just wanted to give you an update on our situation because I have read a lot of your articles relating to attic venting and roof leaking problems as well as roof repair. We had two large holes cut out in our floor where there was no vent pipe from inside the 2nd story bathroom (where we heard the water running above us) and then also over by my son’s bedroom window. A roofing company is coming out soon to check everything out but I still want to know what the chances are that these areas will leak again due to this problem due to the fact that they were not properly installed or sealed from underneath.
1st question:
Also, there is a hole above my shower stall which seems like it may be even bigger than the ones that were done in our house 3 years ago! Is this repairable?
2nd question:
Would adding a vent pipe from the attic into inside our 2nd story bathroom ceiling be enough to prevent future water problems or should we also consider having a company come out and give us a professional inspection so they might find something else that we are missing or something that was missed during our own repairs?
3rd question:
What are some other areas on our roof that may not have been properly fixed after the leak occurred and thus could still be leaking at times (since 3 years ago)? Is there a way to check these areas without hiring someone? I realize my husband has looked through the attic before but I just feel like if anyone is going to find potential issues it’s got to be an expert.
4th question:
Should we also consider having a company that does roof repair, come out and give us a professional inspection so they might find something else that we are missing or something that was missed during our own repairs?
5th question:
How should we go about getting someone to come out and give us an ‘expert’ opinion or inspection?
Any recommendations on who we can ask for a second opinion in our area while the roofing company is here to check things out would be very much appreciated. Thanks so much!
First of all, I just wanted to thank you again for your help with this problem–we feel greatly relieved that there wasn’t something bigger going on up there (although still frustrated by the whole situation)! It’s been hard because everything on top of the house seems fine yet water still somehow finds its way underneath and onto my ceiling below and it’s not until after the fact when I take a good look around. Unfortunately, it seems like once the water starts going through, it doesn’t stop and continues until someone goes up there and fixes it.
We had some work done on our roof about 3 years ago before these leaks started happening which involved a new vent pipe being installed for our second-story bathroom (to get rid of dry rot in the ceiling from an old metal vent) as well as adding a new pipe coming out from my son’s bedroom window area to “get rid of dry rot”–I guess since that side was getting wet somehow.
I noticed after they left that there were two holes cut out underneath the 2nd floor bathroom (one by toilet one by sink) but then later read on your website that the “venting should not involve any cutting into walls or rooms”. The roofers also left a large hole above my shower stall that was not sealed and looked like it was cut out in a circle.
I figured these holes were just ventilation and would leave the area open to air but they still somehow managed to get water under there (even though it’s been 3 years) and onto the ceiling below.
Because I can’t see the bottom of my roof, it’s hard for me to know exactly where the problem is coming from but it seems like most of the water is coming from directly underneath the 2nd story bathroom and onto the ceiling in that room. Does this sound right? My husband thinks so because he noticed a whole bunch of leaves and debris in that area when he went up to look around–he also found some nails sticking out which made us suspicious there was something more going on under there (like a leak!) so we ripped off a few boards and sure enough he found some wet insulation!
The insulation wasn’t completely soaked, but damp, stinky, and noticeable. This 3rd story bathroom vent pipe was done by an outside company hired by our landlord. The outside company came with a bunch of those mini fans that look like vacuum cleaners and they even attached one to the roof above my kitchen sink vent–they were very determined to get air moving in there! I’m not sure what they did differently than if we had done it ourselves (we are paying them back for this BTW…), but I feel like we could have probably fixed some of the problems ourselves 3 years ago if we knew more about how to do it. At that time, when I called the roofing contractor (who had done all our roofs before), they said that since we had a vent pipe for each bathroom and one for the kitchen (just outside of the house) there was no need to add more pipes in order to get rid of “dry rot” on my last 2 ceilings.
Now looking back, it’s obvious their solution did not work…although these leaks only started occurring in the last year or so. We also noticed during heavy rains that some water managed to seep through our attic access door–we thought this might be because we didn’t use metal wrap or something around our vent pipe but now I’m wondering if it’s coming from somewhere else instead?
Did you have any leaks under your kitchen sink, like inside the cabinets? That would be my number one suspect. However, it seems like this is often caused by improper installation of a dishwasher drain pipe during remodeling projects. The plumber should’ve left an air gap between the end of his drain pipe and cabinetry for proper drainage but he may not have done that. It’s also possible that a crack in your floor has allowed water to enter there–check especially around your dishwasher, sink, and countertops as well as right along the floor joists where they connect with wall studs (you can easily see these if you remove some baseboard). Remember that old flooring or carpet that you ripped out 2 years ago? If one of those floor joists was wet back then from a crack, it may have caused your leak. Also, keep in mind that water damage can take time to manifest–a cracked wall or floor could’ve been the cause of your leaks until just recently.
