Carl Tyler's Blog

1 - If you just had the roof replaced a few months ago, I'd call up the company that did it, tell them they did a shoddy job, and have *them* figure out where the leak is and repair it.

2 - Typical contractor, I keep calling, they keep promising to come out, I keep waiting...

3 - I had a similar problem and what was happening was snow was blowing into the attic space through the vents on the roof. Then, when it would warm up the snow (laying on top of the insulation) would melt and drip through. I would talk to your roofing company about that possibility. I think some roof vents are more prone to this.

4 - this happened to us; turned out to be the gutters

5 - Carl. Check the attic. If it is only a small leak, it could be as simple as condensation forming and leaking.

6 - Stupid idea: Go outside, estimate where the leak is in your living room, and look up on the roof. Is there a vent above the area? If so, that is where I would start, you may have to go in the attic and, with the light off, see if you can see sky around the vent.

It's the thawing snow that is throwing me off. But the above is what I did when I had a leak that only showed when it rained really hard. The sleeve around the vent had cracked.

7 - @5 - Jacques is on to a key thing often overlooked. Condensation in the attic spaces is common.

Beyond that, you need to think like water. It is almost impossible for it to drip straight down from the small leak. It's going to follow the underside of the OSB roofing until it reaches a rafter, and will follow the seam there or will run down the rafter and and run along the bottom of that, tending downhill. Remember, water is "sticky". Water also loves to run along wiring and drip out through sockets.

What's above the ceiling? Is there crawlspace or is it just drywall then insulation, then roof?

8 - Snow can build up on the roof and create a barrier preventing the flow of water off your roof. The melting snow can backup under your roofing martial. Most of the time this would be in a roofing valley or near the gutters. If you can do it safely take a broom and push the snow off the roof in that area.

I have also had the snow blowing into the attic space through the vents on the roof and the vents on the side of the house.

9 - Sounds to me like you probably have ice dams. Gutters may be involved, but they are not required.

Ice dams form when the air is freezing so the roof surface temperature above the overhanging eaves is freezing, but the roof surface above the attic space is above freezing due to heat from the house rising up. The ice build-up over the eaves traps melt-water that is trying to run down from above. The water backs up, gets under shingles and finds its way through a nail hole that isn't sealed.

Finding the nail hole where water is getting through and patching it does not fix the real problem. When the ice dams recur, the water will find another pathway.

There are two paths to solution: (1) prevent heat from getting into the attic, thus preventing melting until the outside air is above freezing; (2) improve air circulation inside the attic, evening out the temperature. The former is done by improving insulation on the attic floor. The latter can be done by installing an attic fan, a ridge vent, or soffet vents -- or sometimes just by unblocking existing vents.

And note: any competent NH roofing contractor should be very well aware of these issues. In addition to the above steps, roofing contractors will often be aware of other solutions, which they will try to sell to you: anti-leak strips that go under the first several courses of shingles, or refelective strips or heating elements raise the temperature above the eaves to melt the dams.

In severe cases, the roof work should be done ASAP. My neighbors had their roof re-done along with significant interior repairs in December. (The previous home-owner had done the last replacement himself.) In minor cases, the roof work can wait, and you can buy a "roof rake" at Home Depot (if you can find one in stock) and use it to remove the build-up of snow on the eaves before it gets a chance to freeze solid.

10 - Thanks everybody for the great ideas.

A little about the roof design, it's basically, plasterboard, insulation, air packet, roof (or something like that, no attic space or crawl space etc.

Ice dam had been my initial idea, which lead me to replacing the roof, with one big industrial strength rubber roof, basically, no nails. I also added an extra inch of insulation when they put down the new roof.

My theory is that's it's actually my chimney stack, the water sits on top there, and I think it's finding a way in and then down the roof to the first horizontal beam and then going, hhm no way except down.

I'm going to try putting tarpaulin over the chimney stack before the next snow and see what happens (don't worry Andrew, I won't light my fire whilse the tarpaulin is there)

11 - When I had my roof re-done, the contractor found that the original construction had a flaw. The metal flashing at the point where the chimney met the roof was not secured properly. Water pooled at the high side and worked its way underneath. Haven't had any water problems since.

12 - Two days ago a contractor put a new roof on our home. I later noticed that he had left one of the roofing jack clamps still intact nailed to the roof and in another area he left two nails from a second jack.
I suspect this act of negligence has totalled voided the guarantee on these new shingles. My question, how can this glaring act of negligence be remedied?

13 - Two days ago a contractor put a new roof on our home. I later noticed that he had left one of the roofing jack clamps still intact nailed to the roof and in another area he left two nails from a second jack.
I suspect this act of negligence has voided the guarantee on these new shingles. My question, how can this glaring act of negligence be remedied?