Million Dollar Homes Leak

Archive for the ‘Roof Leaks’ Category

Roof Leaks: What a Leaking Roof Might Be Trying To Tell You

February 3rd, 2012 by John Carter

Have a leak in your roof? Get an honest and professional answer as to what is causing your roof leak. Watch Daniel White as he describes to us the surprise he found when investigating a leak for a homeowner in Cornelius.

Script:

“Today we’re out in Cornelius looking at a valley on this roof. We thought initially it was the debris that was backing up inside this valley (causing a leak) but it is not. A couple of things are going on here. One the roof has two layers. Two when the homeowner bought the house it already had this roof and they didn’t realize whoever put the roof on completely installed this roof wrong. There’s an area called a nailing zone, you have to hit that nailing zone with your nails or the roof is just not going to function right.

I’m going to show you what we noticed right away. This part of the shingle started pulling out. These are called the dragon teeth. What’s happening is there are no nails holding this part on. There’s a nailing zone right here where this line is. This line is where the nail should be. If there had been a nail here this piece would have never slid out but they are. So now the water is feeding back in behind the shingle running back in behind this piece of metal and finding that second layer of roofing and leaking on the inside. We did find some nails on this roof though, way up at the top of the shingle, completely wrong. Every shingle has about 3 nails, here, there there’s one over there all those nails should have been right along that line, minimum of 4 nails. They didn’t (install them correctly) they put them up here and this entire roof is installed incorrectly so there is absolutely no warranty on this roof and unfortunately this homeowner really needs to replace this roof.”

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Posted by John Carter Posted in Debris, Roof Leaks, Roof Maintenance, Roofing | No Comments »

DIY: Roof Leak Band-Aid

December 22nd, 2010 by Jesse Liebman

Winter is officially here and now is the time of year when weather related roofing problems occur. Are you prepared if a roof leak occurs without warning? Roof leaks can appear at any time and your home’s well being is dependent upon on how calm and quick you respond to the problem.

What does a major roof leak problem look like from inside your home?

If your ceiling looks like this, or you can visibly see a wet spot that is getting larger, then you have a major roof leak problem.

If you’re not able to get someone out to your home to take care of your roof leak what are you going to do, let it ruin your entire home? We recommend having a 10×10 tarp, ice pick, large bucket and hand towel grouped together in case a major roof leak arises.

Here is our DIY roof leak band-aid process we recommend:

Locate the visible area on the ceiling where the leak is coming from.
Place your 10×10 tarp underneath the leak area.
Place your large bucket on top of the tarp, directly underneath the leak area, and place your hand towel in the bucket to prevent splashing.
Position your chair or step ladder underneath the leak area.
Using your ice pick, gently pierce the ceiling material to allow the collected water to escape without causing further damage.

If this is done in a timely manner, the process of funneling the water into the bucket will keep the water from collecting in your ceiling and causing more damage in your home. This will afford you time to have a professional come inspect and repair the roof leak.

Don’t let a major leak ruin your home. With our step-by-step process you can turn a roof leak from an emergency into a manageable problem.

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Posted by Jesse Liebman Posted in Roof Leaks | No Comments »

Proactive Rather Than Reactive Roof Maintenance

December 14th, 2010 by Jesse Liebman

Yesterday we noted all the things that will be making an appearance on your roof this Winter Season. As part of our week long focus on getting your roof ready for Winter, which officially begins Monday December 20th, today we’ll examine the act of being proactive rather than reactive.

The import thing to remember is you can’t weather proof your roof, but doing something is always better than doing nothing. We hear from clients all the time, “I just want my roof to make it through winter,” because no one wants to worry about their roof when they should be spreading holiday cheer to their loved ones. Unless you physically get up on your roof and poke your head around it’s nearly impossible for homeowners to tell if your roof has a problem. Even when you get up on the roof do you really know what you’re looking for? Does your wife or husband really want you climbing up on a ladder just to have a look around? The way the weather has been the past couple of weeks we actually recommend you DON’T get up on your roof.

“I just want my roof to make it through winter”

Instead of taking the risk of getting up on your roof why not let one of our certified and training roofing consultants come out and inspect your roof for free? All it takes is a phone call [503-925-0125] or filling out a simple form for us to fire up our vans and ladder up to the tip-top of your home. If you’re not convinced that winter can play havoc with your roof, just take a look at the picture below. As a result of not being prepared, the Metrodome roof collapsed this past weekend in Minnesota. Don’t let this roof become yours, call Roof Life of Oregon today.

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Posted by Jesse Liebman Posted in Roof Leaks, Roof Maintenance | No Comments »

Santa & More: Coming to a roof near you

December 13th, 2010 by Jesse Liebman

You’ve probably heard our December radio ad discussing the amount of weight Santa’s sleigh is going to put on your roof this Christmas, but Santa isn’t going to the the only thing working it’s way onto your roof. There’s an array of roof debris that has either fallen or will be falling on your roof in the near future.

In addition, storms like last week, dumping over 4 inches of rain in some parts of Portland, are going to become more and more frequent. The Greater Portland area averages about 40 inches of rain per year, but we get the majority of that over the course of two to three months during the heart of winter.

We’ve received countless calls from concerned homeowners complaining about recent roof leaks which begs the following question:

Will your roof be ready when Winter officially starts on December 20th?

Visit our blog all this week for tips and insight to ensure your roof is ready for whatever mother nature throws at it.

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Posted by Jesse Liebman Posted in Roof Leaks | 1 Comment »

Pipe Flashings: The Key to Leaks

November 18th, 2010 by Jesse Liebman

Roof leaks are a huge problem during the winter season of the Pacific Northwest. One of the main contributors is not having properly function roof components, specially pipe flashings.

Our team member Ken explains below exactly what a pipe flashing is and how they can cause a roof leak.

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Posted by Jesse Liebman Posted in Pipe Flashing, Roof Leaks | No Comments »

When you don’t blow off your roof

November 10th, 2010 by Jesse Liebman

It may not be obvious to you, but roof debris can cause major roofing problems. Our blog post yesterday discussed how to deal with roof debris, but if you decide to roll the dice and skimp on preventative roof maintenance your ceiling may soon look like the one depicted below.

A roof leak is your roof’s way of saying, “You haven’t been taking care of me.”

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Posted by Jesse Liebman Posted in Roof Leaks | 3 Comments »

Roof Leaks Are Half The Problem

August 9th, 2010 by Jesse Liebman

When heavy rain or severe weather occurs, are you confident that your roof is prepared? Sometimes freak weather can cause an unexpected leak or two. This Roof Life of Oregon client had a few leaks occur during March and called us to come identify the source of the problem. What were found were a lot more than a few problem areas. The client was not prepared or ready to do a partial roof replacement on this side of her house.

What she needed, and what we often do in sudden leak situations, was for us to put together a ‘band-aid’ solution that would help keep the water off her hard wood floors until we could perform a more permanent solution. In my experience, I have seen roofs with one or a maximum of two shims used per roof. [A shim is a thin piece of metal that is used as a spacer to fill gaps between the roof deck, or house interior, and the great outdoors] On this particular home, you can see this roof has seven shims used in this one area. I’m not a roofing expert, but this is an obvious indication the roof in this area needs to be replaced.

From this view you can see another ten shims being used, which again are only a temporary solution. They are temporary because they will eventually blow off your roof. Additionally, more leaks will pop up, especially with a roof that is as worn as this one. Fortunately, this homeowner has a few months before trouble pop ups again, giving our crews plenty of time to get her on the schedule.

The important thing to remember is, roof leaks are an indication of a severe roof malfunction. Not all leak incidents lead to a roof replacement and not all roof replacements include the entire roof. This homeowner still has a North and East side that are maintainable and will last potentially 10-15 more years. If you had a roof leak this past winter, and didn’t have it inspected, please give us a call or fill out a roof inspection form to have one of our roof consultants come take a look. As a Portland roof replacement company, we take our craft very seriously. We believe that with just one inspection, we can help stop leaks and other long term damage from occurring.

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Posted by Jesse Liebman Posted in Roof Leaks, Roof Replacement | 3 Comments »