Your house is the, if not one of the most important belongings you have and you want to take care of your home. It keeps you warm, it keeps you cool, it shelters you from rain, it holds you household items, it does so much. You may not really realize how much you truly value you until you have an issue with it like a roof leak.
If you are like many people you see a roof leak as a huge issue. A roof is huge! Do I need to replace the whole thing? Will is sink in? Before you get too worried we have the solution for you. There are ways to simply fix them. In fact, they can be quick fixes.
Can you fix it yourself?
Roof leaks are challenging because they are not always obvious where the problem is coming from. On top of that, it’s not always easy to know how to fix it either. Before jumping on Google and calling a professional there are a couple things you can try to see if it helps to fix your roof. If it doesn’t work, at least you know you tried something. If it does, you will save yourself time and money.
Since it’s hard not knowing exactly what is going on, we wanted to share a couple quick areas you can check yourself. If you find the leak, then continue reading and we will share a couple ways to fix some of the basic leaks. If these do not work, it may be time to hire a roofing contractor that you trust.
There are three things you first want to check to see what the status of them is.
- The first one is if the roof appears to be damaged in more than one place? Do you see water coming out in one place or two (or more). Make a note of this.
- The second part you should notice is if there are shingles that need to be replaced.
- The third item is if inside your home is damaged at all from the leak.
If you can answer these questions, then you are on your way to finding out what the true issue is and perhaps how you can quickly fix it.
If you can see the issue already and you see directly where it is leaking from, the first step is to make sure there are no other issues besides that one. Sometimes you can see one and there’s one you barely noticed until you took a closer look.
Some of the key things to look out for when trying to find the leak are if cupping has occurred, water damage has taken place, or there is any splitting. Water damage will typically start staining, so this is another indicator of where the leak is coming from.
If you have an attic finding the leak is a lot easier. Although it may not be easy to get into, you will go into the attic with a flashlight and shine it up. Where is the light coming through and you can see outside? That’s probably where your leak is.
If your shingles are damaged this is a quick fix. In fact, you may have the exact same shingles left over from when they were originally installed. This way they match perfectly, and you don’t even need to go out and find more. The process putting new shingles onto your roof is very simple. First, you will remove all the damaged shingles from your roof. Secondly, you will install an underlayment, so they lay on correctly. Lastly you will lay the new shingles. It’s that easy.
Issues can end up happening from ice due to the weather. This is especially common if you live in an area that has harsh winters. If the weather isn’t nice outside, it may be harder to solve the problem and even want to work on it. The problem with simply putting a bucket under the leak and walking away is that it’s going to end up causing more and more damage the longer is sits there. The water will continue to damage more of the roof until you get it replaced.
Another issue with ice is that you may think your leak stopped because the ice froze over your leak. Yes, it did stop, but the minute it warms back up again your leak will continue. In fact, it will only be worse. That’s another reason why you want to fix it as quick as possible.
Try to Prevent it from happening again
If this has become a common trend for your house during winter, try and prevent the solution before it occurs. You can do this by adding extra insulation in your attic. You can also install roof edge heating cables. These will help to ensure they don’t damage your roof from the ice. Both are available at any hardware story.
Or you can leave it to the proffesionals!
Do you know more about fixing your roof now? If you are not able to fix your roof yourself make sure you do your homework and know who to trust to come and help you. Get recommendations and call different companies and explain the situation to them. They may end up charging you less since you did some of the research yourself, especially if you know the exact problem but don’t know how to solve it.
If this article did help you and you were able to solve your roofing issue, we are so glad! It’s always a stressful time when a household item, especially one as large as your roof is acting up. You can now sleep knowing your roof is secure and there are no leaks.
If you have any questions or want to speak with one of our roofing specialists, we will be happy to answer any questions you have. Contact us today.
