The First Rain of the Year
When your business is Property Management in Orange County Ca. you don't have to worry about the weather too often, but the first rain of the season does make you think every time you hear the phone ring. The leaky roof is the most difficult repair, because many years in the construction business has taught me that if a roof leaks you probably need a new roof.
When you try and repair a roof, the first problem is trying to locate the leak. You may think that its an easy task, but it's not. Water always follows the path of least resistance. If you see a leak inside the home the leak is not necessarily coming from directly above. What often happens is that when water gets under the roofing materials is lands on a rafter and follows it down until it rolls off. That could be directly below the leak or 20 feet lower. You have to be a detective to find it.
In the diagram above you can see how once the water gets to the rafters, it can roll all the way from top to bottom or anywhere in between.
In order for a leak to happen, two breaches in the roofing material has to happen. The roof material that you see is just the window dressing, the real waterproofing is the material below the roof, If you ever watch a roof put on a home you see that before they put the shingle that you see, there is an under layment that is first installed. In the diagram below you can see how a roof is installed. Water can get past the shingle but still not leak in the home. The under layment should stop and leak. So you can see that if there is a leak, both the shingle and the under layment are damaged.
If the roof is a new roof, this means that the roof was improperly installed. If the roof has a few years on it, the damage is probably due to deterioration. Chances are that if one area is deteriorated then other areas on the roof are also getting ready to be breached. spending time and money to find a leak is probably a waist of both. The reality is, you need a new roof.