Who Do You Call When Your Roof Is Leaking
If roof leaks are not repaired as soon as possible, you face damage to your walls, personal items, the structural integrity of your property, and maybe even your health.
Though it may cost you money in the short term, repairing roof leaks promptly will help you avoid problems in the future.
Knowing who to call to address roof damage will put your mind at ease if a roof leaking event should ever occur.
Let’s talk about the important information you should gather about your roof leak and who you should be calling with this information when you need your roof leak repaired
How To Spot Signs of a Leaking Roof?
There are many signs to watch out for if you suspect you may have a roof leak. Depending on the source of the leak, you may anticipate seeing roof leaks in heavy rain, but end up disappointed. It may take time after a period of heavy rains for signs to show themselves
Anyhow, here are some things to watch out for that may indicate you have a leak:
- Leaking ceilings
- Walls are covered in water streaks
- Paint blistering–peeling off the walls (not always a sign, but one to watch out for)
- Spots showing on the ceiling or walls
- Roof shingles are buckling, curled or cracked
- Gutters are overflowing
- You can hear the sound of dripping water somewhere in your home
- You can smell a dampness in the air
- Visible mould
- Visible rot along the roofing (rafters, beams) or walls (especially the baseboard
Why Is My Roof Leaking?
The sources of roof leaks are likely to originate at the seams of your property’s roof; where two separate surfaces or materials join.
If safe to do so, explore these areas of your roof:
- Chimney
- Roof vents
- The intersection between your fascia and roof sheathing
- Gutter
- Natural angles in your roof’s architecture
Non-seam related locations for the origins of roof leaks may be:
- Any valleys of rain on the roof caused by heavy downward pressure over time by rain and snow
- Improper nail positions on shingles
- Damage caused by debris
- Natural rot, decay, or wear-and-tear of roofing components
Whatever the cause of your leaking roof, it needs to be repaired immediately. In many cases, a leak that starts off as a small drip from the ceiling may be a more serious roofing problem that you’re unaware of.
Many property owners fail to realize that by the time water is making its way through the ceiling, the roofing issue has likely existed for several months.
Who Do You Call When Your Roof is Leaking?
Now that you’ve gathered all of the information you can–why the roof is leaking; where the roof leaking is coming from–it’s time to call the professionals. You’re going to call a professional roofing contractor–someone experienced in roof leaking repair.
The professional roofing contractor will help you address what you may believe to be the cause of your roof leaking. More importantly, the roofing contractor will provide an entire roof safety inspection to check for any unidentified roofing problems that you have probably missed.
Once a proper damage and repair assessment is made, your contractor will work with you to come up with a roof leaking repair cost.
After you’ve agreed to the costs, they will work with you to schedule a convenient time to complete the repairs. Depending on the size and scope of the project, this could take anywhere from days to months; they’ll let you know.
Finally, after your roof has been repaired, your roofing professionals will work on how to prevent future leaks from occurring; they should help educate you on safety measures to make sure you can protect your roof from future roof leaking problems.
Teaming up with your roof contractor early will help prevent you from making mistakes that would otherwise lead to costly errors in assessment and remedy down the line.
You rarely, if ever, want to avoid consulting with a professional when dealing with water leaking from a roof. With all of this said, you might not be able to contact a professional roofing contractor right away.
Let’s talk about what to do if this is the case.
How to Stop a Leaking Roof
You’ve confirmed you have a roof leaking on your property, you may or may not know the origin, what now? The answer to that question depends on timing. There are two periods to concern yourself with once you know you have a leak. The immediate and non-immediate.
Immediately, you probably won’t be able to stop the leak. Instead, you’ll want to contain the falling water. Use a bucket or other sizable container; it’s best to have two so you can swap one with the other when needed.
Also, use old t-shirts and towels to make sure water doesn’t penetrate the floor beneath the leak(s). Once you have the most urgent threat handled, you can move on to gathering information for the inevitable call to the roofing contractor.
Remember, if safe to do so, figure out:
- Where is the leak coming from?
- Where and what has been damaged? By how much?
Finally, call a professional.
Even if you are experienced with home repair–especially if you’re experienced with home repair–you should call a professional licensed in leaking roof repairs.
Proper assessment of damage, estimates of costs for fixing your leaking roof, advice on insurance claims, and the corresponding repairs required, needs to be done by a team of qualified roofers.
We are the best providers of roofing and gutter cleaning services throughout New South Wales so please don’t hesitate to call our trusted team of roof and gutter experts. We’re here to help.