How to Find a Roof Leak: A Diagnostic Walkthrough
Roofer Locater points to one reference in depth: How to Find a Roof Leak: A Diagnostic Walkthrough on the National Roofing Directory. Below is what it covers and where to read it in full.
Read How to Find a Roof Leak: A Diagnostic Walkthrough →Tracing a leak back to its source
Water rarely drips straight down from the hole in a roof; it runs along the decking and framing first. Tracing a leak means working from the stain back uphill to the likely entry points.
- Start in the attic, if it is safe, and look for wet decking, stained rafters or daylight.
- Check the usual suspects: flashing, pipe boots, valleys, skylights and vents.
- Note whether the leak shows up in every rain or only in wind-driven storms.
What this reference covers
These are the sections of How to Find a Roof Leak: A Diagnostic Walkthrough on the National Roofing Directory.
From the reference
Finding a leak is not a search. It is a process of elimination run in a specific order, and the order matters more than the eyesight. Almost everyone starts at the roof directly above the stain, and almost everyone is looking at the wrong part of the roof.
What follows is the procedure a roofer runs on a leak call: establish when it leaks before you establish where, get into the attic while it is still wet, rule out condensation, then work the exterior in the order the failures actually occur.
Excerpted from How to Find a Roof Leak: A Diagnostic Walkthrough on the National Roofing Directory. Read the full reference for the complete treatment.