If your home has a musty odor or you hear dripping when it rains, you could have a roof leak. A roof leak can be difficult to find since you may not see or hear the water until it has rolled some distance away from the leaky spot.
You may need to call a roofing contractor to find the leak and fix it. Try not to delay or the leak might cause water damage, draw termites, or encourage mold to grow. Here's how a roofing contractor might find and fix a minor leak in your roof.
Search For The Leak
Your roofer might look around the inside of your house and your attic for wet areas and clues for the location of the leak. They'll also look on top of your roof for roof damage and wet areas so they can pinpoint the source of the leak.
Your roofer might use a moisture meter or a thermal camera to look for areas on the roof with excess moisture. Once the area is found, they'll figure out why it's leaking and then make repairs.
Make Repairs
The roofing contractor might find a hole gnawed by a rat or a shingle ripped off by a raccoon or the wind. There could be impact damage to a shingle from a ball or hail. When a shingle is damaged, the roofer will probably replace it, which is a simple roof repair. However, the roofer will also look under the shingle to see if the underlayment and deck are damaged.
They may need to patch in new underlayment or cut out and replace part of the plywood if it's wet. The goal is to get rid of any part of the roof that's wet or damaged so it is restored to solid, dry materials that aren't at risk of leaking.
While the roofing contractor is on your roof, you may want them to look around for signs of other damage. If it's been a while since a roofer has checked your roof, this is a good time for an inspection. The roofer can check the shingles and flashing and look for a variety of problems that might lead to a roof leak later on. Getting repairs done before the leaks start might be a good idea that you can discuss with the contractor.
Simple roof repairs are usually quick and not too expensive, especially when compared to a roof that has a lot of water damage. The cost of roof repair usually goes up as time goes on since damage tends to get worse.
When you develop a roof leak, you don't have time to ignore it. Issues with leaks can cause problems as simple as incoming water and as wide-ranging as mold accumulation inside your home, which is why you should never let an issue sit. However, if you aren't careful, you could develop problems with roofing that is simply open to the elements, allowing rain and snow to enter your home, melt, and contribute to problems like mold growth. On this blog, you can learn more about the kinds of roofing issues that you could be faced with, and what to do about them.