My Roof Leaks :(

[travelover]

I........... what was the old house's secret, so I can incorporate it into the design of my retirement house?)...........

It could be something as simple as the type of flashing or complexity of the roof (valley, gables).

It really ain't rocket surgery.

 

[powerplay]

Several years ago we had some pretty hearty windstorms over the winter. Many shingle tabs ripped off my roof and were strewn around on the ground. My house was only at the 15-16 year mark, but the shingles that had been used were thin and not looking good, perhaps a 20 year shingle at best. I got estimates for repairs and reroofing. It seemed to make no sense to pay $500-$600 to do a repair when a new roof would be needed in just a few years. There were no leaks just the obvious damage. I went with the new roof with much better shingles.

This really is a home ownership maintenance issue that shouldn't be put off. I know it can run into money, but waiting could have you doing major moisture damage repair inside the house also. Get some inspections and bids then decide how to proceed.

 

[Htown Harry]

My house is about the same age as the OP's. I had a roof leak over the one-story part of the garage last summer.

+1 on the advice to check out the source.

In my case, a gutter downspout from the second-story part of the house had been installed incorrectly from the start. The curved spout at the bottom pointed sideways, sideways across the slope of the roof over the garage. (It should have pointed straight down the slope.)

There was no sign of trouble for years, but eventually the flow spilling out of the downspout worked it's way under the slowly aging shingles, flashing and sealer in the area. In my case, a DIY repair to replace a piece of the plywood deck and 10 sq. ft. of roofing was possible for a couple of hundred dollars in materials.

The sheetrock repair in the garage was the worst part, by the way. Get the roof fixed before the wet spot gets any larger.

I'm not saying your problem is the same, only that Travelover and others are right when they say the root cause is usually easy to spot.

 

[Dimsumkid]

All this time?!! I bought this house brand new from the builder in 1997! It isn't old enough to call it "all this time". My other house was much, much older and had an older roof on it, and it didn't leak. What's this one's excuse? (Or, what was the old house's secret, so I can incorporate it into the design of my retirement housie?)

Anyway, after I wrote that post I remembered my parents had a new roof put on recently, so I found out who did theirs. That company does free inspection/estimates, so I need to call them and ask for a quote. I don't know where to find out another company. Maybe someone in my choir will know of one.

Maybe my idea of maintenance is different. I prefer to go up and visually check the roof, flashing, skylights and gutter conditions at least once a year. It has served me well, I'm always getting broken tree branches to clear off, caught situations of nail pops early on, worn roof cement and a poor caulking job on the exhaust vent the heat/AC installers did. My current house has trees too close and I've been up on the flat roof clearing out the gutters 10+ times already. Clogged gutters lead to water damage and leaks too.

Age of a roof is all relative to individual conditions, best you can do is manage them with inspections. Your older house probably had tongue and groove planks and installed using hammers. With this house, probably plywood and roofers more concerned about speed, so they used air nailers. Nailers crack wood with ease and plywood has a few thin spots in them too. When you hammer, you can tell easily that you cracked the underlying substrate and usually won't generate wood splitting force either. If you're having trouble getting recommendations, you can ask RE agents, they deal with a lot of roofers in their business too.

 

[BUM]

Unless you have roof shingles missing the culprit is most likely near a vent pipe, chimney, skylight, etc. I had a similar problem. A roof guy came over with a caulk gun, spotted the problem right away. The fix cost me 80 bucks. Call a roof guy.

 

[haha]

Aaaargh.

I am just so afraid this is going to turn out to be a huge expensive repair. I am terrified I will get roof work done and it won't stop the leak and I'll end up worse off than I am now, or get ripped off by some fly-by-night outfit that leaves your work half finished for months at a time.

About the only thing that could derail my ER at this point is house problems/no buyer. I can't retire unless I sell this house and end up with at least enough cash to replace it in another location. I wonder if this roof is still covered by any kind of warranty. I better go read that "say something positive" thread. I had a stressful day at work today and everything looks bleak.

My retirement housie is going to have a metal roof, that's for sure.

I have never understood why you plan to move. Unless you can clear a lot of money, whater you "clear" is likely to all get absorbed by expenses of moving and unexpected expenses at you new house.

Other than houses, Seattle costs only slightly more to live in than other desirable Washington locations, and less than some. And it is a lot easier here for a single person to find activities that make a retirees days nice than in many other places, even fairly expensive retirement conclaves which often have other problems anyway- like almost everyone is married or hooked-up.

To sell a house locally right of the bat you spend 10% of your sales price in fees of various sorts.

Ha

 

[toofrugalformycat]

All this time?!! I bought this house brand new from the builder in 1997! It isn't old enough to call it "all this time".

Anyway, after I wrote that post I remembered my parents had a new roof put on recently, so I found out who did theirs. That company does free inspection/estimates, so I need to call them and ask for a quote. I don't know where to find out another company. Maybe someone in my choir will know of one.

Check with the Better Business Bureau (they have a website) and get estimates from at least three companies that have satisfactory ratings with BBB and, hopefully, you know someone personally who says they are ok companies.
When I had roof repair/replacement done, I had a hard time finding ANY company here that ANY of my friends didn't have a horror story about. I did find one, finally. But roofing is a challenge in this climate, don't know where you are. Anyway, don't be shy about asking for estimates on the fix. They should be free. This is normal business practice. And remember, the cheapest is seldom the least expensive in the long run.
New houses and appliances need repair much more often than old ones, in my experience. Many of us geezers remember growing up in a house that needed little or no repair the entire time we were growing up. Things are that way no longer.

 

[Nords]

Darn if I know how anything would get in the gutters, there are no trees taller than these houses anywhere close.

Birds.

They bring plants up there to eat, or to build nests, or they poop out the seeds. Eventually the seeds get into the gutters where they're surrounded by dirt (runoff from the shingles) and nourished by the dew or rain...

 

[kyounge1956]

I have never understood why you plan to move. Unless you can clear a lot of money, whater you "clear" is likely to all get absorbed by expenses of moving and unexpected expenses at you new house.

Other than houses, Seattle costs only slightly more to live in than other desirable Washington locations, and less than some. And it is a lot easier here for a single person to find activities that make a retirees days nice than in many other places, even fairly expensive retirement conclaves which often have other problems anyway- like almost everyone is married or hooked-up.

To sell a house locally right of the bat you spend 10% of your sales price in fees of various sorts.

Ha

1. Mortgage. Even with the recent drop in real estate prices, I should be able to walk away from this house with enough to end up with a house free & clear in Aberdeen. My retirement budget doesn't include any mortgage or rent payment. To stay in Seattle after retirement, I'd have to save up enough additional money to pay off the loan on this house, which would delay my retirement by several years. No thank you.
2. Zoning restrictions. One of the things I'm thinking of doing after I retire is resuming my hobby of breeding and showing pedigreed cats. My current house is not zoned for it. I don't want to put myself in a situation where a disgruntled neighbor could rat me out to Animal Control and put me in the situation of having to re-home a large number of cats in a short space of time. Even if I don't get back into the cat fancy, I would like to do a lot more gardening than is possible in the tiny, shady courtyard available at my current residence.
3. Aging in place. My current residence is a three-story townhouse, with kitchen/living area on the second floor, bedrooms, bathing facilities and laundry on the third. It is not readily adaptable to "aging in place". I want my retirement home to be someplace I can live in for the rest of my life, unless poor health takes away my ability to live independently at all, and this house ain't it.

Whether activities that makes a retiree's days pleasant are more easily available in Seattle or somewhere else depends on the retiree and what activities they like. You strike me as quite the urbanite, and maybe you wouldn't much enjoy living in the less populous areas of the state. I don't expect there's much tango to be had in Grays Harbor County. But most of the things I like—reading, crafts, gardening, cats, noodling around online—I can do just as well in Aberdeen as Seattle, but I can start doing them several years sooner. And that's why I'm planning to move.

 

[haha]

1. Mortgage. Even with the recent drop in real estate prices, I should be able to walk away from this house with enough to end up with a house free & clear in Aberdeen. My retirement budget doesn't include any mortgage or rent payment. To stay in Seattle after retirement, I'd have to save up enough additional money to pay off the loan on this house, which would delay my retirement by several years. No thank you.
2. Zoning restrictions. One of the things I'm thinking of doing after I retire is resuming my hobby of breeding and showing pedigreed cats. My current house is not zoned for it. I don't want to put myself in a situation where a disgruntled neighbor could rat me out to Animal Control and put me in the situation of having to re-home a large number of cats in a short space of time. Even if I don't get back into the cat fancy, I would like to do a lot more gardening than is possible in the tiny, shady courtyard available at my current residence.
3. Aging in place. My current residence is a three-story townhouse, with kitchen/living area on the second floor, bedrooms, bathing facilities and laundry on the third. It is not readily adaptable to "aging in place". I want my retirement home to be someplace I can live in for the rest of my life, unless poor health takes away my ability to live independently at all, and this house ain't it.

Whether activities that makes a retiree's days pleasant are more easily available in Seattle or somewhere else depends on the retiree and what activities they like. You strike me as quite the urbanite, and maybe you wouldn't much enjoy living in the less populous areas of the state. I don't expect there's much tango to be had in Grays Harbor County. But most of the things I like—reading, crafts, gardening, cats, noodling around online—I can do just as well in Aberdeen as Seattle, but I can start doing them several years sooner. And that's why I'm planning to move.

Understand. Thanks for explaining.

Ha

 

[kyounge1956]

It could be something as simple as the type of flashing or complexity of the roof (valley, gables).

It really ain't rocket surgery.

OK that settles it! I've been waffling between a gable and a shed roof for the housie. The shed roof just won. You can't get any simpler than that. The roof on this house isn't any more complex than the one on my old house, but it occurs to me that the roof of my old house was considerably steeper than this one is. Maybe it was just easier for water to run off than to go through.

 

[Meadbh]

Nobody has been on the roof since the house was built. I saw someone on my neighbor's roof (the other building, not the other unit in this building) a few weeks ago. It looked like they were cleaning the gutters. Darn if I know how anything would get in the gutters, there are no trees taller than these houses anywhere close. I did find a shingle in my courtyard once a while ago, but there's no telling whose roof it came from.

Roofs do need a checkup from time to time. Tree branches fall on them. Leaves bung up the gutters and cause overflow. Flashing and shingles deteriorate. In cold climates, the weight of snow may deform the trusses or even lead to collapse, and certain roof configurations (including mine) are prone to ice damming. I have my roof shovelled at least once every winter to prevent ice damming. My rental property condo board (of which I am a member) has a preventive maintenance program in which a roofing company sends an inspector up on the roof annually, enabling us to address problems as they occur, and to forecast the lifespan of the roof, replacement of which we build into our expense budget projections.

I don't know why you are so surprised about the need for roof maintenance.

 

[davemartin88]

Good luck on the inspection of the roof. We're getting our house ready to sell and we had a couple of sewer vent pipe collars that had deteriorated and were leaking a small amount of water in to the attic. House is about 10 years old, cost about $300 to replace one of them. Roofer that did the repair said the type of rubber used in the vents was "builder grade" and they tend to dry out and separate from the pipe after about 10 years. I could see the gap from inside the attic. Newer one has a neoprene gasket and should last longer? We were glad to find our repair turned out be relatively inexpensive, hope you find the same.

 

[travelover]

......... I could see the gap from inside the attic..........

This is a point worth mentioning. Sometimes you get lucky and can actually see light streaming in through a hole like the rotted flashing around the vent pipes. Worth a look.

It is also true that you should inspect roofs occasionally as preventative maintenance. I have to clean the gutters a couple times a year and I do it then. A handyman can do this job - you don't need a roofer.

 

[Dimsumkid]

Darn if I know how anything would get in the gutters, there are no trees taller than these houses anywhere close.

How about raccoons, chipmunks, squirrels? Any wires attached to the house? I chased a chipmunk last year, he ran right up my brick wall about 8' high. Also, a friend of mine heard noises in his attic. Turns out a racoon decided to have babies, climbed up his house, no trees close, bent his metal power vent cover to an almost 90 degree angle and exited by busting out the soffits when my friend started banging around to scare them off. I had to use a rubber mallet to pound it back.

I've never seen a rubber pipe vent cover, all the older homes I've worked on they're all made of a flexible metal, I believe they're lead and last a lifetime if you don't puncture or bend them too much.

 

[Telly]

I've never seen a rubber pipe vent cover, all the older homes I've worked on they're all made of a flexible metal, I believe they're lead and last a lifetime if you don't puncture or bend them too much.

Extra (and worthwhile) cost to buy a lead vent flashing. Most are rubber or rubbery plastic these days. When our roof was replaced once again due to giant hail, I specified that only lead vent flashings were to be used. The time before, they ran out of lead flashings and used rubber for a few remaining. Those degraded due to UV. The next time around, I was sure to demand lead, and make sure that that was used on all vents. They were well aware that no stories would cut it with me. No lead, no pay.

Someday, lead vent flashings will probably be outlawed, as some hysterical group will descend upon it... "There's LEAD on our neighbor's roof! It could be wafting through the air, or being dissolved by rain, and poisoning our little Pootsey!" I know that may sound a bit outrageous (now), but could you imagine someone trying to get gasoline approved, if it was just invented now? Or natural gas, and a distribution system to houses? Or, on and on...

 

[kyounge1956]

Roofs do need a checkup from time to time. Tree branches fall on them. Leaves bung up the gutters and cause overflow. Flashing and shingles deteriorate. In cold climates, the weight of snow may deform the trusses or even lead to collapse, and certain roof configurations (including mine) are prone to ice damming. I have my roof shovelled at least once every winter to prevent ice damming. My rental property condo board (of which I am a member) has a preventive maintenance program in which a roofing company sends an inspector up on the roof annually, enabling us to address problems as they occur, and to forecast the lifespan of the roof, replacement of which we build into our expense budget projections.

No branches could fall on the roof, the house is taller than all nearby trees. Big snowfall is rare here (although there was the "blizzard of '08" where an unusually large amount of snow fell and then hung around for an unusually long time) but I don't think ice damming is likely. Gutters could clog up, but I don't think mine are—no cascades of water over the edge of the roof when it rains or anything like that.

I don't know why you are so surprised about the need for roof maintenance.

I guess it is based on my previous experience. I am not so much surprised by need for maintenance as by need this early in the life of the house. I have only owned one other house, but I have lived for more than a decade in two others besides this one. One of those was bought new by my parents in 1967, the other was "pre-owned". In addition to that I have lived in a number of other houses for a year or two. Other than the one bought in 1967, all of the houses were much older than this one. To the best of my recollection, this is the only house I've ever lived in that had a roof leak. Maybe I have just been extremely lucky, but I didn't expect a new roof to be deteriorating so soon. With a brand new roof, I expected to have at least twenty years or so before I had to think about it. My parents' house (built in the late 1940's) has had some leaks. It has a low-sloped roof, even flatter than this house. Maybe the secret is to get a good slope on it and get that water off the roof.

 

[kyounge1956]

Good luck on the inspection of the roof. We're getting our house ready to sell and we had a couple of sewer vent pipe collars that had deteriorated and were leaking a small amount of water in to the attic. House is about 10 years old, cost about $300 to replace one of them. Roofer that did the repair said the type of rubber used in the vents was "builder grade" and they tend to dry out and separate from the pipe after about 10 years. I could see the gap from inside the attic. Newer one has a neoprene gasket and should last longer? We were glad to find our repair turned out be relatively inexpensive, hope you find the same.

I called the company that did my parents' roof and scheduled an estimator to come over next week. I have another number from the choir director but haven't called him yet.

When somebody mentioned roof vents earlier in the thread I went and looked at the spot on the ceiling again. A line through the dryer vent at right angles to the dividing wall between my unit and the other half of the house, goes right through the spot, too. I have called up the building department to get a copy of my house plans so I can see what else is sticking through my roof.

 

[FreeAtLast]

I had a leak years ago and called a "leak repair specialist". He took the garden hose up onto the roof and had a coworker climb into the attic and they had 2 way radios to communicate to pinpoint the leak.

He told me he was not a roofer but simply fixed leaks. Seems like the guy found a niche business.

It was solid as a rock with no leaks for about 5 years until after hurricane Wilma. I called him again and he did his thing but this time it did not work. I later put in an insurance claim when all of my neighbors were getting new roofs. The insurance company eventually paid for a new roof due to wind damage.

You must fix it. It will only get worse, and/or cause internal damage. It might be something very simple.