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The roof of my three year old house is leaking in three spots. The most troublesome is in the master bathroom where the light fixture fills up with water whenever there is a driving rain. In fact, the leaks happen only when there is rain accompanied by high winds. The builder’s recommendation was that I should caulk around the vent pipes on an annual basis. This did not seem like a good answer to me. I called a roofing company and had the plastic pipes replaced with metal ones. That seemed to work for awhile but then a big rain, leaks again. Called the roofer back and what did he do?! He caulked. This did not do the trick. I’m looking for suggestions on how to proceed at this point. It seems like the leaks are starting at the pipes but I looked in the attic and do not see any obvious entrance. I’m open to any suggestions.
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3 year old house... get a lawyer... have him write a letter to your builder.......
you are getting put thru the wringer...
*Mary, I'd call another roofer. Unless your builder expressly covers a three year roof warranty, I would say hes not going to be much help as hes already shown. I'm sure there is a qualified roofer in your area that would be able to pinpoint the leak and solve the problem. Just be sure to explain indetail what the previous roofer had done so they can work from that and not just try to get away with a 15 minute, $150 caulking job. If the plumbing vents are not leaking, do you have ridge vents, bathroom fans vented thru the roof, skylights, etc. These as well as any other roof penetration are possible points of entry. Being that you say it only does it in a driving, high wind rain, I'd suspect a vent where the water travels in diagonally due to the wind as a plumbing vent would seemingly leak with a large amount of water whether it was windy or not.Good luck!Mike
*If it only leaks with a wind driven rain, I would be looking at a sidewall flashing or the wall itself. This may not be a roof problem but a builders problem. Pictures would help.
*Mike:Thanks for taking the time to post your message. I'll certainly bring up some of your points with another roofing company. There are no ridge vents and only one fan venting where the leaks are occuring. I know water leaks are tough problems to solve so I guess I just need to perservere and keep my fingers crossed that the next contractor does a better job.Mary
*Flashings, Vents, Attic Windows, chimneys. All are likely suspects. Wait until it rains, and grab a flashight and some rags.
*Mary, Years ago I had a similar problem. Roof leaked only in a driving rain. I caulked my brains out and it still leaked. One day after a rain and a fresh leak I went on the roof and started to peal shingles off. What I found was a real eye opener. The water traveled horizontally from the rake of the roof about 8 feet till it hit a seam in the plywood and worked itself down to the living space. The house was under const. and no drywall had been installed yet. I pulled the shingles up following the water trail till I got to the edge of the roof. The shingles were cut nice and straight at the drip edge but as water ran down the edge of the shingle the wind pressure forced the water to travel horizontally aided no doubt by capillary action till it found a place to drip down inside the house. The solution was to nip off the top corner of the shingle along the roof edge (part that gets covered up with the next layer) thus any water forced under the shingle would hit the cut off corner and gravity would force it back down rather that run horizontally. It's been about 20 years and I have never had a problem since.
*Is this bathroom near a gable end or any wall that has vinyl siding on it? A leak through the siding - which is common - above the ceiling line could easily travel across the plastic air barrier, assuming you have it, to the first drop it comes to - a poorly sealed octagon box in your bathroom ceiling.
*Armin:You know I was thinking about doing something like this but thought maybe it was a harebrained idea. Your success has inspired me so I think I might be up on my roof this afternoon!Thanks for taking the time to reply.Mary
*Mary-I have no way of knowing how good your roofer is. I do know that I have put on roofs that leaked and have had to put in a lot of time figuring out just what the problem is. The most difficult to solve are the problem that happens irregularly and is not always discovered immediately. What is important is that the roofer keep at it until he does solve the problem. He knows that job better than a newcomer will and won't have to try remedies that have already failed. If he won't show up, then you may have to try a legal remedy.
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The roof of my three year old house is leaking in three spots. The most troublesome is in the master bathroom where the light fixture fills up with water whenever there is a driving rain. In fact, the leaks happen only when there is rain accompanied by high winds. The builder's recommendation was that I should caulk around the vent pipes on an annual basis. This did not seem like a good answer to me. I called a roofing company and had the plastic pipes replaced with metal ones. That seemed to work for awhile but then a big rain, leaks again. Called the roofer back and what did he do?! He caulked. This did not do the trick. I'm looking for suggestions on how to proceed at this point. It seems like the leaks are starting at the pipes but I looked in the attic and do not see any obvious entrance. I'm open to any suggestions.