My leaking roof

[Michael Larson]

When I parked my truck in the garage this afternoon, I was greeted by the sound of dripping water above the garage ceiling. It spanned about 20 ft.

Grabbed my ladder, camera and spot light and decided to take some pics.

It's not making sense right now but maybe some brighter bulb here can give me a clue.

I guess I should take my the same advice I would give a client. "Have a qualified roofing contractor repair as needed"

[Richard A. Hetzel]

Ice dam?

[Michael Larson]

Originally Posted by Richard A. Hetzel

Ice dam?

You would think as I did have some last winter.

But the drip line was roughly 2 - 3 feet below the ridge of the snowy roof pic.

[Barry Adair]

sorry for your woes, bro'

appears to be right in line with your horizontal decking joints, bet the felt joint is also at this location and may not have the proper overlap ...ouch

until the snow comes off a definitive answer will probably be unavailable

i'd put down plastic/tarp to catch the majority of the dripping in the mean time to avoid further drywall damage

[Michael Roberson]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwh5KP0z5bY

[Michael Larson]

Originally Posted by badair

sorry for your woes, bro'

appears to be right in line with your horizontal decking joints, bet the felt joint is also at this location and may not have the proper overlap ...ouch

until the snow comes off a definitive answer will probably be unavailable

i'd put down plastic/tarp to catch the majority of the dripping in the mean time to avoid further drywall damage

Thanks Barry. I had a similar thought about the felt and lack of proper overlap.

It has been unusually cold this winter and the roofs around here have been staying mostly white.

There is plastic above the ceiling(at least partial) and you can see that some water has finally made it's way to the underside at the front and back of the garage.

My other thought was that as it has been so cold and little sun(except when it was below zero) for the last month that I may have had some frost on the underside of the roof decking that melted in today's +40 and sunny weather. The garage door pic show the extreme frost build up at he seems that has been there for over a month with no melting until some today.

[Christopher Currins]

Nail pops?

[Joe Funderburk, CMI]

Did you have it inspected before you bought it? If so, sue the home inspector!

[Michael W. Gault]

All I had this morning was a friends rent house small electrical problem, so I rode my Cub Cadet for about an hour and my yard looks great (over sowing with Rye late Fall helps)

Not being a Northerner (obviously) could it be ice/snow melt at the ridge vent that ran down and then dripped from a low spot???

Serious WAG, just throwing it out there...

Barry's felt paper idea sounds better.

Sorry for your troubles Michael, educate when you have it figured out...

[Michael Larson]

Chrs,

Those are wet spots.

Mke,

Good thought but no ridge vent.
Square vents on the back side of the ridge.

Joe,

I don't think anything was missed.
I hope to know more after a more thourough look.

[Michael W. Gault]

Ahh, I see in pic 5 (after looking again) it's just the cap shingles I can see...

I guess ridge venting with the accumulations of snow could be somewhat contraindicated...

[Wayne B. Wilson]

Mike
all those spots , it wouldn't happen that the nails where covered with frost when it was cold and now melted?

[Barry Adair]

Originally Posted by mlarson

My other thought was that as it has been so cold and little sun(except when it was below zero) for the last month that I may have had some frost on the underside of the roof decking that melted in today's +40 and sunny weather. The garage door pic show the extreme frost build up at he seems that has been there for over a month with no melting until some today.

a MM would answer that question quickly

[Christopher Currins]

Originally Posted by mlarson

Chrs,

Those are wet spots.

I know they're wet spots. I was suggesting maybe a few of the nails have backed out. It is common, especially in extreme change in temeperatures. It doesn't take much to leak.

[Michael Larson]

Originally Posted by ccurrins

I know they're wet spots. I was suggesting maybe a few of the nails have backed out. It is common, especially in extreme change in temeperatures. It doesn't take much to leak.

Sorry Chris, I misunderstood and I was answering with my mobile PDA.

It was above freezing today but no more dripping ocurred(at least not when I looked).

I am starting to convince myself that frost on either the roof deck or nails may be it. I think stack affect comes into play here as the sheet rock seems in my garage ceiling are not taped and mudded. There has been excessive frost on the garage door seams and I'm thinking stack affect also pulled moisture laden air through the open ceiling seems and condensed on the deck and nails. Perhaps I have a bypass from the interior that is also contributing to this.

I sure wish I had a IR camera.

If I have time tomorrow I'm going to walk the attic for a closer look and to check for any bypasses. I have a large number of recessed down spot lighting fixtures but from what I could see yesterday they are well buried under blown in insulation.

I inspected the roof last fall (it's 8 years old with architectural type shingles.

I had a loose shingle on another part of the roof that I nailed back in place. It appears to have been missed when it was nailed and the seal tabs had not adhered. Unrelated issue.

Barry, I'll take one up the ladder with me tomorrow.