Leak in Walls and Ceiling
#1
12-07-10, 06:55 PM
Leak in Walls and Ceiling
Hi folks,
Brand new here, brand new to owning a home. We bought our house two months ago, and about a week ago, got a ton of snow (about three and a half feet).
Three days ago, we noticed a leak in the ceiling. It extends down our family room wall (and is spreading into the kitchen), all the way to the basement. The paint is bubbling, and the leak is dripping onto electrical outlets and switches (we've taped plastic over them, though I doubt that helps).
We had a friend who does home repair come over, and his advice is to wait for a thaw, and then clear the ice and snow off the roof, before fixing the walls and ceiling. His logic is that scraping the ice off now will damage our shingles. In the few hours since he's left though, the leak is getting visibly worse. Honestly, I can't imagine how much more damage we might sustain by waiting longer.
I'm pretty much looking for any info, here. Is our friend right? What damage are we *not* seeing? Where do we start, essentially? How much of a financial hit can we expect to have? We would try to do the work ourselves, pretty much.
The house is 17 years old, and had a second layer of shingles put on two years ago. Again, we've only been here two months.
I admit I know very little about home repair, but figured this is a good place to start, right?
ANY info or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
Brand new here, brand new to owning a home. We bought our house two months ago, and about a week ago, got a ton of snow (about three and a half feet).
Three days ago, we noticed a leak in the ceiling. It extends down our family room wall (and is spreading into the kitchen), all the way to the basement. The paint is bubbling, and the leak is dripping onto electrical outlets and switches (we've taped plastic over them, though I doubt that helps).
We had a friend who does home repair come over, and his advice is to wait for a thaw, and then clear the ice and snow off the roof, before fixing the walls and ceiling. His logic is that scraping the ice off now will damage our shingles. In the few hours since he's left though, the leak is getting visibly worse. Honestly, I can't imagine how much more damage we might sustain by waiting longer.
I'm pretty much looking for any info, here. Is our friend right? What damage are we *not* seeing? Where do we start, essentially? How much of a financial hit can we expect to have? We would try to do the work ourselves, pretty much.
The house is 17 years old, and had a second layer of shingles put on two years ago. Again, we've only been here two months.
I admit I know very little about home repair, but figured this is a good place to start, right?
ANY info or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
#2
12-07-10, 08:30 PM
Group Moderator
You likely have ice damming that is causing melting snow to back up under your shingles. This usually occurs directly above your exterior wall (a few feet away from the gutters) and snow melting above that point backs up behind the ice and leaks in.
Snow can be removed carefully without damaging shingles, but you have to be careful. Much of the snow can be removed with a shovel, provided the shovel doesn't come close to the shingles. Shingles are only damaged by snow removal when the person clearing the snow tries to clean the roof as if it were a sidewalk! Remove as much snow as you can without touching the shingles. A broom can also work, but again, don't broom the grit off the shingles. Your goal should be to leave maybe 1" of snow on the roof.
Once you do that, you will probably get down to the ice that is causing the "ice dam". What you'd want to do then is try to melt a few pathways through the ice so that water coming down the roof can get away.
The safest thing to use is a dusting of powdered charcoal dust, which will help melt the ice if the sun comes out. Chemical ice melt can be used, but it's a little more risky. But like you said if the alternative is $10000 worth of damage inside I think i'd rather use a little ice melt. You can also use a heat gun to melt a path through the ice.
Again, you aren't necessarily clearing ALL the ice, just making a few paths for it to drain. This would help tremendously, imo. But if you start scraping on the shingles or trying to "pick" ice off of the shingles you are just asking for your shingles to get damaged.
Snow can be removed carefully without damaging shingles, but you have to be careful. Much of the snow can be removed with a shovel, provided the shovel doesn't come close to the shingles. Shingles are only damaged by snow removal when the person clearing the snow tries to clean the roof as if it were a sidewalk! Remove as much snow as you can without touching the shingles. A broom can also work, but again, don't broom the grit off the shingles. Your goal should be to leave maybe 1" of snow on the roof.
Once you do that, you will probably get down to the ice that is causing the "ice dam". What you'd want to do then is try to melt a few pathways through the ice so that water coming down the roof can get away.
The safest thing to use is a dusting of powdered charcoal dust, which will help melt the ice if the sun comes out. Chemical ice melt can be used, but it's a little more risky. But like you said if the alternative is $10000 worth of damage inside I think i'd rather use a little ice melt. You can also use a heat gun to melt a path through the ice.
Again, you aren't necessarily clearing ALL the ice, just making a few paths for it to drain. This would help tremendously, imo. But if you start scraping on the shingles or trying to "pick" ice off of the shingles you are just asking for your shingles to get damaged.
#3
12-15-10, 09:29 PM
All messed up
Thanks for the input!
We shoveled off the roof, and there was no evidence of an ice jam (though that seemed to be a great guess). We asked our previous home inspector to take a look, and he didn't have much to tell us. Upon our own inspection, there was evidence of shoddy previous patching (like, roof tar dribbled everywhere). This tells us there was a previous problem. We installed heating wires near the gutters though, and this has seemed to help a little.
The problem area is where the previous owners put in an addition. Now we're finding that we're getting cold water on our bedroom baseboards (also part of the addition). I think we're pretty much totally screwed by the previous owners.
It sucks. Our home had a pristine inspection, and it's leaking like a sieve. Lesson learned - buyer beware.
We shoveled off the roof, and there was no evidence of an ice jam (though that seemed to be a great guess). We asked our previous home inspector to take a look, and he didn't have much to tell us. Upon our own inspection, there was evidence of shoddy previous patching (like, roof tar dribbled everywhere). This tells us there was a previous problem. We installed heating wires near the gutters though, and this has seemed to help a little.
The problem area is where the previous owners put in an addition. Now we're finding that we're getting cold water on our bedroom baseboards (also part of the addition). I think we're pretty much totally screwed by the previous owners.
It sucks. Our home had a pristine inspection, and it's leaking like a sieve. Lesson learned - buyer beware.
#4
12-16-10, 09:14 AM
Group Moderator
Try posting some digital pictures of the roof, areas that have been tarred, the siding, windows, etc. in the areas that are leaking, along with a detailed description of where you see the leaks occurring.
If they used tar to seal up the roof, they likely didn't flash things correctly. If you'd like further suggestions we'll try and help you out.
If they used tar to seal up the roof, they likely didn't flash things correctly. If you'd like further suggestions we'll try and help you out.
