You have read my previous article “Repair your Leaking Roofs (Part-I) and is now aware of detecting the cause, types of stains on the ceiling, garden hose technique. In this article we will know some more tricks to diagnose the leakage spot in the roof.
In isolating the leak ridgeline may be very helpful. While inspecting the interior of your house you should go in the direction of ridgeline and check for the ceiling stain toward the middle of the roof near ridgeline. You may locate the source of water leakage easily. All of us know that water never flows in the upward direction. So it is clear that the culprit hole will be anywhere between the stain area and ridgeline. You may save much time and efforts this way
It will be some hard to diagnose and find the leaking point if it is somewhere near the roof edges. This could be anywhere slightly above where you see the stains and leaking into the pebbles and then on to the ply of the roof. This may rot the ply. If the ply is much rotten by the leaking water, there is no way left, but to change the whole ply after the repair of your roof. If it is some less damaged than you may get replace a piece of it and save some money.
To diagnose the problem go to the roof, inspect along the girders for the cause of stain in the ceiling. You may see light passing through the hole, if you are luck enough. If you can’t, then it will be better to call an experienced roofer for repairs. The last option is to change whole roof.
Sometime it has been seen that grass and tree leaves may also cause damage to your roof. It occurs generally when the house roof has been left unattended for a long period. The rain water goes inside the roof through the leaves and roots of small grass. It becomes harder to locate the culprit area in this situation as there may be a lot of leaves or grass on your roof. You should be cautious about this and clear the leaves and grass from the roof in dry season.
You have located the spot of leakage, fixed it by applying a bit of tar or by replacing the cracked shingle and now the leakage has stopped. You are now satisfied with your work. But don’t think it has been fixed forever. The next rainy season is also heading soon. There may be hidden culprits present in the roof since now that are less capable of sending water to the ceiling drywall yet. So be careful in advance and enjoy next rainy season without worry of leakage in the roof.