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Can't find the roof leak!

18 years ago

We have a brand new modular home that was set in December. Right at the place where the sunroom addition meets the main house, there is a small leak. Crews have come to repair it three times now. The problem is that it doesn't always leak.

This last time, they got up on the roof and ran water from the hose for 2 hours and the silly thing refused to leak. It is very frustrating. They are real good about coming out to try to remedy the problem, but we really need to get it repaired before it does interior damage. Any ideas?

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Comments (4)

rml_doityourselfer
18 years ago
What state do you live in? That is, are you in a warm climate where it does not freeze? And does it leak when it rains only or other times. It sounds like maybe the water is pooling somewhere and coming down later, or freezing and coming down when it thaws.
Roberta_z5
Original Author
18 years ago
We are in northern Illinois. We have had a very mild winter, but there has been some frost. When it leaks, it isn't necessarily during a large downpour. You might be right about the pooling, but I just can't imagine where. We don't even have gutters up yet!
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maryland_irisman
18 years ago
Aha...no gutters. That will cause the water to wrap around the overhang and come in through the eaves, right where the ceiling and outside wall meet. The concept is kind of like the gutter helmet you see advertised on tv. If there's a breeze into that direction, you'd be apt to see it also leak. Gutters should solve that one.

Another thing to keep in mind....the roofing shingles have a strip of tar underneath at the outside edge. This lets the shingle stick to the one below it and helps seal and hold the shingles down in a wind. Since the house was set in December, I'll bet the roof has not gotten hot enough (from the sun) to allow this film of tar to seal the shingle or shingles down in or near the area that is leaking. The heat from the sun to seal the shingle was built in as an engineered function.
sierraeast
18 years ago
If your sunroom roof line is lower than the main house and bumps up against the main house wall, it could be a flashing/siding problem that when the weather is warm, the source of the leak is closed due to expansion, leaks when it's cold due to contraction.This could be the case if your sun room roof ties into the main with a valley as well.I would try the leak test on a cold day and if you have attic access in the area of the leak, have someone crawl up with a flashlight. The drips will shine in the rays of the light and hopefully you can trace the dripping to the source.

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