Hello all, heavy rains in Texas alerted me to a set of roof leaks in my home.

Some background, I have a flat, concrete deck that makes up the roof of about 1/2 of my home. I routinely seal up the edges to prevent water penetration, but nothing is perfect.

It makes up would be the 4th floor of my home, if you consider the patio it creates the 4th story. Under it is a guest bedroom, the laundry room, and small hallway. There is a wall that separates the concrete flat, from a sloped, shingled roof. The shingled section and the concrete section are separated by an interior sheathed wall, which then opens into the attic above the master bedroom.
Below is a link to the floor plan w/ the deck superimposed over the area I'm talking about.

link to image ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting

Well, after the last set of really heavy rains, I discovered two leaks. I checked the sealant, and it wasn't so bad, so I patched it up, and scraped away the nasty paint.

2 weeks pass, and it's leaking more, so this time, I decide to just tear out the affected area, and discover this inside.




link to image ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting
link to image ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting

Sadly, the sheathing you see is UNDER the concrete. I can't imagine replacing this w/o tearing up the entire rooftop deck, which is on the 4th floor of a condo.

Does this sheathing require replacement, and is there any method to cut out the affected sections w/o having to tear up the concrete deck?

Note, in preview, the image links were not displaying, so I tried pasting in the raw link.

Thanks for any help you can offer,
Ken

 

There should be a way to seal it without tearing it apart. The first question that comes to mind is the drainage. How many roof drains are there, are they clear & is there any pitch towards them?

 

Sealing is already in progress. I'm renewing silicon all along the edges of the concrete deck where it meets the walls of the 4th floor patio. I'm renewing a roll-on waterproof epoxy. Any cracks are sealed with an outdoor, waterproof, flexible concrete patch compound. I typically maintain the sealing every Spring, but this year, the heavy rain beat me to it. This caused the nasty leaks.

The leaks caused enough ceiling damage that I didn't want to wait for it to dry, so I tore it down.

That's when I saw all the staining around the sheathing joints. I'd have never found them w/o tearing out the ceiling. The trusses all look solid, except for some staining around nail penetrations in the worst part.

The damage indicates that there were gaps there for some time that were undiscovered until this last storm. I imagine it was remaining wet, but not so bad that it was dripping, collecting and coming through the ceiling.

I'm more concerned about long term damage. I plan to install a new exhaust system (not sure where our how yet) to make sure that crawl space stays dehumidfied.

That wood is pretty nasty in the closet area. One corner had rot (you can see this in the pic where the nails are rusted) but was still hard to the touch. Everything was dry to the touch, not spongy, and I couldn't penetrate, even with the tip of a screwdriver. I didn't see any obvious spores, just the staining. The 'wispys' are not mold, they are bits of insulation that stuck.

Replacing that sheathing, I imagine would require tearing out the concrete deck on top of it, and the thought of that scares me to no end. I simply can't afford it, and I'm terrified insurance will consider it a maintenance issue, even though I 'suddenly discovered' this as a result of a nasty storm.

There are two roof drains, and there is a pitch towards them. I'm confident I can prevent further damage, and put in precautions to keep the area dry. What I need a little help with, concerns the current damage. Is it so bad I need to replace it now, or can I put in better waterproofing on the exterior and keep what I have (ie, the sheathing and trusses)

 

First have someone look at the sheathing to determine if it needs to be replaced. I can't tell by the pictures. However, it there is no mold & it is hard to the touch, even with a screwdriver, I doubt it needs to be replaced.

If you decide that it needs to be replaced, file the claim with the insurance company. That's why you pay them.

 

While I am new to this page and to your particular situation, I cant help but wonder if you your annual sealing/resealing/leakage issue are not symptomatic of a larger structural and/or design issue. among concerns are: 1) Is there sufficient overall slope to prevent water from pooling along the margins??? 2) Does the leakage appear to be in the same area each time? 3) Is there a wall that butts into the deck edge (and encourages water pooling/seepage).

I am facing a similar situation with my rooftop deck and plan to 1)seal the existing deck with a roll-on elastometic. 2)overlay this with a new deck (marine quality sheet lumber) with additional slope 3) flashing and sealing with an industrial edpm membrane 4)building a standard treated lumber deck (5/4 treated decking). The edpm has a self sealing quality in the event of puncture.

maybe this can help