How To Tell If Your Roof Has A Leak

There s a water stain.

How to tell if your roof has a leak.

You know the roof is bad if shingles are missing or obviously damaged or when water stains the ceiling or walls. The underside of your roof may be obscured by insulation and that s actually helpful for finding the roof leak. However it may not look like that. Fortunately there are a few ways to figure out if your roof has a leak before the water causes thousands of dollars of damage to the ceiling and carpet.

If your ceiling has a plastic vapor barrier between the drywall and the attic insulation push the insulation aside and look for flow stains on the plastic often water runs to openings in the vapor barrier such as at ceiling light fixtures. Roof leaks are typically just signs of a much larger problem. The goal is to find the leak before the entire roof goes bad. Understanding this may help you determine whether or not to cover the repair out of pocket or file a homeowners insurance claim for the leaking roof.

Finding the actual spot where the roof leaks is difficult because water can enter the roof in one place and run down to another before it starts soaking into the ceiling. If your gutter is still basically sound the easiest way to stop the leak is by covering the damaged area with roof and gutter repair tape available at home centers and hardware stores. Just remember that a small leak will not go away it will only get worse. Insulation deteriorates more noticeably and more quickly than wood does.

Gutter leaks usually start at rusty spots or seams that have opened up because of expansion and contraction. Today we re going to help you find the source of your leaking roof and look at options to fix the roof leak. Both danger and the probability of structural erosion increase if unaddressed. There are a few ways that shingles might start to look noticeably damaged.

A water stain may look like a large puddle on the ceiling often ringed with brown. Their effects can linger long after the repair has been made in the form of mold growth on the interior surfaces of your home. If your roof is fewer than 15 years old it can probably be spot repaired instead of requiring a total replacement. The longer your roof leaks the higher the cost will be when you repair it.

Some roof leaks are tough to locate. If you glance at your roof you should see the shingles flat and uniform in color. Sometimes the water shows up at a ceiling spot distant from the leak. These signs will tell you that you may have a leak in your roof.