Roof Leak Repair
Roof leak repair is a common problem in many older homes. Many of these problems seem to surface around spring time in the Northern U.S. after the winter months. Although one might think that finding the cause of roof leaks is hard, this really isn’t the case.
The first step in finding a roof leak is to step on your roof and take a walk around visually inspecting the roof for anything that looks unusual. For example, are any shingles on your roof out of place? Torn shingles can often cause water problems.
One common area for roof leaks that should be examined is around the chimney. Often what happens is that the caulking around the chimney goes bad and breaks leaving small holes which allow water to seep through the roof. One way to find problems around your chimney is to closely inspect the caulking. You can also take a hose and spray water around the chimney to see if anything looks unusual.
A second area on your roof that should be carefully examined is all shingled areas of the roof. Close inspection is important because one can often miss areas where a leak is occurring but which may not appear obvious with a quick inspection. You should closely inspect the shingles for cracks, missing pieces, or nail holes where a nail is no longer in place.
Although a homeowner inspection is a good first step, if you think you may have a roof leak problem, you should call up roofing professional to assess your situation and repair it if needed. A roofing professional has the knowledge and expertise you do not have. They’ve seen hundreds of roofs in every condition imaginable and will pick up- on a problem much faster than a homeowner. When looking for roofing professional to call, you can use the Internet to search online or you can consult your yellow pages. Although not an absolute indication, when looking at yellow page ads, you should look for roofing companies that have the largest ads. Companies with larger ads are often more successful. When searching online, take a close look at a roofer’s website to assess how professional the site looks. A shoddy looking site is an indication that the work of the roofing professional may not be high quality.
Roof leaks can be detected with the proper approach. Don’t let your roof leak problem get out of control. Use the proper inspection techniques and consider contacting a roofing professional.
Roof leaks can become a major problem for building facility managers. First, tenants paying good money for the space they lease or rent expect maintenance to prevent such problems. Second, in the case where companies are considering moving into a building, nothing can cause them to lose interest faster than when they see a roof problem.
A leak can lead many potential tenants to conclude that the building they are considering is not a place they want to lease.
When it comes to leaks, an ounce of roof leak prevention can yield a longer roof life and less headaches. Following are some roof leak prevention tips:
1. Schedule a complete annual inspection of your roof so that potential problems can be identified before a leak does substantial damage to your property.
2. Consider having a professional roofing company do the inspection for you. They have the knowledge and experience you may not have in identifying problem areas with your roof.
3. Keep a log of all inspection dates, who conducted the inspection and other related information. If a repair is conducted, make sure that information is noted in the log. Keeping repair records makes it easy to follow up in six months after a repair to make sure the repair is working.
4. Exchange roof maintenance ideas with other facilities managers. Sharing experiences can help everyone.
5. Read industry publications and clip our articles that cover roof maintenance tips.
And finally remember to select a company that has a good information gathering, analysis and delivery process
