How To Take Care Of A Leaky Roof

Have you noticed water spots start to appear on your ceiling or down your walls? Chances are – you have a roof leak. You need to fix it immediately as small leaks can lead to much bigger problems like mold, rotten wood and damaged insulation– and that’s just in the attic! Leaky roofs do not get fixed themselves or get better on their own and if you have a leak in your roof even if it is not bad yet, you should get it taken care of immediately.

So what should you do when you start to notice those dreaded signs of a roof leak?

Finding a leak can take time and the first thing is to stop the leak as soon as possible. Next go into the attic if you have one and clear the insulation off the wet ceiling drywall. Use towels or a sponge to clean up any access water and place a piece of plywood or sturdy board across the wet area and put a bucket under the leak to catch the water, before it can make its way into the room below. Be careful where you place the bucket and check that it is not directly on the drywall as it may fall through once its full and gets heavy. Make sure to go check the bucket occasionally.

To detect the leak, look for flow marks on your attics walls and check for water spots along the wood, drywall and insulation. You can generally trace the leak path along a rafter. This may be far from the position from where it is seeping inside your home.

You can make a temporary patch with roofing tar and some subsoil or a piece of plywood. Spread the tar onto the leak using a putty cutter and push the subsoil or plywood into the tar and apply further tar around the edges of your new patch.

But you see a pool of water forming on the other side then the leak has gone beyond fixing and can not be fixed by the listed methods above. You may want to consider popping the bulge. To do that first place a trash can under the bulge, next take a screwdriver and perforate the bulge in the middle. This will allow the water to drain easily and relieve some of the pressure on the rest of the ceiling. However, your entire ceiling could collapse, If not handled swiftly and water continues to pool. The National Roofing Contractors Association recommends examining your roof two times a year- in the fall and spring.