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It is important to fix roof leaks before they cause significant water damage to the interior of your home. Here are some tips on fixing a leak in your roof:
Get someone to steady the extension ladder when you are accessing your roof to inspect the leak. Also wear shoes with good traction to avoid slipping. Look out for pipes and vents to make sure you don’t trip over them. Always be extra careful whenever doing any work on your roof.
Go to the area of your house where you think the leak is. With a hammer, pound lightly on the area and listen/feel for any soft spots in the roof (similar to feeling for a stud in a wall). Look all around the roof for any irregularities on the surface, peaks, corners, vents, and the chimney.
Do your best to diagnose the cause of the roof leak. Check for loose shingles or faulty roof flashing around the chimney/vents/gutters. Also check for wind damage (fallen tree branch etc.) and see if backed-up gutters could be causing the leak.
Use a shovel to take out the shingles in the area of the leak. Examine the plywood underneath the shingles for water damage. Replace the water-damaged plywood with a new sheet of plywood and install new shingles over the plywood. If faulty flashing is causing the leak, install new flashing supported by ice guards. Remove any large obstructions from the gutters if they appear backed-up (causing a leak).
Allow the damaged area in the interior to completely dry. You can use fans pointed in the area to accelerate drying. Replace the damaged drywall with new drywall (see article on drywall repair). Apply a coat of primer. Repaint the area to match the rest of the wall/ceiling. Make sure to thoroughly fix the roof leak at the source before repairing the interior. It would be unfortunate to have to replace the drywall again after finding out you didn’t fix the leak!
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