Author Topic: Leak in my house  (Read 2470 times)

Cromacster

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Leak in my house
« on: April 28, 2014, 06:53:45 AM »
Ugh, found a leak in my house yesterday.  We've been having a good amount of rain (2" yesterday).

My house has a breezeway which was an addition to the house some years after it was originally built.  The leak is in the breezeway, so atleast it is not in the main part of the house.  I do have access to the attic space above the breezeway, so I went up there and see what was going on.  It just looks like the water is seeping between the house and the roof of the breezeway.

I'm thinking just some silicone along the roofline in the crawlspace, and the new silicone along the flashing on the roof.  Just have to wait for it to stop raining....about 6 days away gah!

nereo

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Re: Leak in my house
« Reply #1 on: April 28, 2014, 08:01:03 AM »
tarp the offending section of roof, if you can.  then it'll be dry(er) once fair weather comes and you can do your repair.

Cromacster

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Re: Leak in my house
« Reply #2 on: April 28, 2014, 09:43:08 AM »
tarp the offending section of roof, if you can.  then it'll be dry(er) once fair weather comes and you can do your repair.

Good idea.  I'll have to rig something up when I get home tonight.

Greg

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Re: Leak in my house
« Reply #3 on: April 28, 2014, 09:56:17 AM »
Caulking probably won't help much.  Silicone is the wrong kind of caulk to use anyway, so use some polyurethane or similar instead if you do try to seal the leak with caulk.

Water is probably getting behind the siding or flashing above the leak area, and not able to find the correct path out.  A better solution than caulking would be to find the fault that is letting the water in.  Look for exposed nails, unflashed areas, flashing not overlapping correctly, cracked siding, that sort of thing.  Clumps of moss or other debris can also cause this.

The best solution is to shingle the siding, flashing and roofing so that water finds an outside path via gravity.  Where wind is also a problem, You might have to also use caulking, but doing so can cause dams that actually cause problems.

Cromacster

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Re: Leak in my house
« Reply #4 on: April 28, 2014, 01:55:50 PM »
Thanks for the response Greg.

I'm working off memory at the moment, but the siding on the main part of the house is stucco.  It is a 1 1/2 story house, and the breezeway is only 1 story.  There is flashing against the stucco, but since stucco is not a flat surface I'm guessing it won't sit tight against it without some sort of sealant.

I will go investigate tonight and try to take some pictures of what I find.