Why does your roof leak?

By Dan and Nick Cox:

Why does your roof leak?

Well… There’s simply no other way to say it…

If your roof leaks, it sucks!

There’s no denying the helpless feeling you get when you see water dripping down your walls, or your dining room ceiling sagging to the point you think it’ll come crashing down at any minute.

So the next step is to try to determine what’s causing it, and that’s often not an easy task. In part, because by the time you actually see water, it’s usually traveled a good distance from where the actual leak is coming from.

Here in Maryland, there are many reasons your roof could leak, but I’m going to list seven of the most common ones we see.

Holes in your roof

Yep… it is kind of obvious, but sometimes you may forget about recent work to your home that affects the roof. Things such as antennas or satellite dishes removed or replaced, solar panels installed, or staging being temporarily attached to your roof for new siding or painting.

All of these require drilling new holes in your roof, and if they’re not sealed properly, then they will probably leak at some point. It’s never a good idea to drill holes in your roof unless you have to, and the person knows how to properly seal them.

Damaged, worn, or missing shingles

Basically, the shingles are what actually protect and add the final layer of weatherproofing to your roof. If they’re very old, worn, damaged, or downright missing, then they can let water in to do some serious damage.

Improperly driven nails 

This kind of goes along with damaged shingles, but sometimes roofing nails will pop out of a shingle and stick up, leaving a perfect pathway for water to enter. It could happen if the nail wasn’t originally driven in straight or far enough in.

Leaking skylights

Often, they leak because they were not installed correctly to begin with, or the flashing has failed. Sometimes (but not always) it’s easy to diagnose this because you’ll see the leaks around the inside of the skylight, and have to get your buckets ready to catch the drips.

Cracked or damaged vent boots

The small vent pipes sticking out of your roof have tight rubber boots slipped over them around the base, and it’s attached to some flashing that gets tucked under the shingles. This is what makes it watertight. Over time, the rubber may decay, or the flashing will get damaged, allowing for leaks.

A cracked chimney, or failing flashing

The mortar can fail, which often results in easy to see cracks or holes. And sometimes, the step flashing that’s cemented to the base of the chimney, and goes under the shingles can also fail. Both reasons can allow water to go where you don’t want it to… inside your home.

Ice dams in the winter

When you don’t have proper attic ventilation, the inside warm temps melt snow, and when it drips down to the roof edge, it refreezes, creating ice dams that prevent the melted snow from running off. Since it can’t go down, it starts traveling back up the roof, under the shingles. Ughhh… Think giant icicles that can cause serious, costly problems.

So if you have a leak that is coming from above, what can you do?

Simply call us to do a free, no-obligation inspection of your roof, and we’ll give you  an honest assessment , and we can fix it for you the right way… the first time.

I’m sure you don’t want to have to go running for a drip bucket every time it rains.

If you have any questions, or want to schedule your
free, no-obligation inspection of your roof,
call Dan or Nick at 301-368-3551!

On Top Home Improvements, Inc.
10818 Avonlea Ridge Place
Damascus, MD 20872
Tel: 301-368-3551
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