“It was a dark and stormy night”… wait, no, that’s not right. “It was the best of times, it was”… no, no, no. Man, these things are hard to write! “I see dead pe…,” wait, nooooo, I see patterns! That’s it! I see patterns where others look for holes in your roof.
Leaks suck, and every leak lies. Left unchecked, they can do untold damage to the wood, drywall, even flooring. It’s nice when leaks are big giant holes that I can point to - “There it is!” More often than not, though, leaks are sneaky and hard to pinpoint.
We all blame leaks on the roof, and often times, the roof is to blame. But the hardest leaks to find are often “system leaks.” These pesky intrusions are some combination of contributing factors that allow water to sneak past a carefully designed, properly installed, and sometimes even well maintained roofing system.
Chimneys often leak because they are very rarely well maintained. Out of sight, out of mind! Stucco cracks, gaps in siding & trim, mortar gaps in brick or stone - all allow water into the house. Some evil builders even skipped the sheathing & underlayment behind the siding, so the smallest gap can send catastrophic amounts of water into the house.
Do you have a second story roof that empties onto your first story roof? Are you missing gutters on that second story? Tons and tons of builders and gutter installers skip this absolutely necessary spot because they know you don’t know what they know… those gutters can be the most important gutters on your house! But, of course, it is much cheaper to skip that section.
So what happens without those gutters?Waterfalls! Water falling shakes the roof and loosens nails, and eventually waterfalls can even carve their way through stone. What chance does your poor plywood roof decking have?Maybe you even have a vent on the first story, and water is coming off that second story roof and splashing past the vent flashing. Roof systems aren’t designed for water streaming from on high… or even from a downspout that empties straight onto the roof.
So why am I revealing the secrets of my success? Why help the poor untrained roofing salesperson that has been kicked out of the nest with only the most basic understanding of a roof system? Because leaks suck, and I can’t fight the battle alone. I am happy to help folks find leaks, but I dream of a world with properly and completely installed gutter systems, well maintained chimneys, and well engineered roof systems.
