The following is a guest post by Rodney Southern.
Inspecting your roof for leaks is important because a roof leak can be a homeowner’s worst nightmare. From drywall damage to mold problems, the last thing you want is for water to come into your home through your roof.
In many cases, you won’t notice leaks for a while, as they usually start off slow and don’t show any signs until the damage is already done. Inspecting your roof for leaks helps you in a number of ways. Most importantly, it can help you make repairs quickly without having to replace your entire roof.
Know the Signs of a Potential Leak
There are a few telltale signs that can point to a roof leak. Brown water spots on your ceilings, peeling paint around skylights, and pieces of your roof shingles falling into your yard or driveway are clear signs that something may be wrong. You may also notice black spots or stains on your roofing deck that can signal a mold problem, which needs to be addressed immediately.
If the leak is especially bad, you will notice water dripping into your home when it rains. You may even notice water spots on your walls. This is because your insulation may be saturated, which can cause water to run down into your home and penetrate the walls.
How to Find the Leak Source
Inspecting your roof for leaks can be tricky. Even roofing contractors have trouble from time to time, but there are a few steps you can take on your own to identify the problem area on your roof. Inspecting your attic on a rainy day is one if the easiest ways to check for leaks. Be sure to bring a flashlight so that you can inspect each area of your roof until you identify where the water is entering your home. If you don’t want to wait for rain, have a friend use a garden hose on the roof.
You may also want to check the exterior of the roof from the ground. You will want to check for loose or buckling shingles. This is easy if you have a pitched (angled) roof, but if you have a flat roof, you may want to use a ladder to get a closer look. Make sure that you use a safe, secure ladder so that you don’t hurt yourself while inspecting the roofline.
If you are unable to find a problem when inspecting your roof for leaks, there may be another way that water is coming into your home. Plugged or dirty downspouts and gutters can divert water into your home, and can cause the same type of damage that a roof leak might. After you inspect your roof and gutters, you may want to consider hiring a roofing contractor to handle all repairs or to do a more in-depth inspection. Remember that the sooner you repair your leaky roof, the less expensive the repairs will be.
Rodney Southern is a long time content writer specializing in a wide array of niches both online and in print. His work has been featured on sites such as Yahoo.com, The Sporting News and numerous others over an eleven plus year career. He also runs his own website on diabetes called Dashing Diabetes. He was the National Call for Content Winner for 2008. Southern resides in Greensboro, NC with his wife, Julie, and identical twin daughters, Valerie and Brooke.
Lucas Logan Wimbledon says
Thank you so much for this post, Toni and Rodney. It is really very important to inspect your roof and gutters but a few of us do so and one of the reasons, at least for me, was I didn’t know how to do that. You gave me useful tips and I will be able to maintain the roof of my house easily and prevent some leaks.