The roof on your home is the first line of defense against rain, hail, snow, and wind. It helps keep the cold air out in the winter, and hot air out in the summer. The roof also keeps unwanted animals and pests out of your home.
As one of the most important elements of your home’s construction, it needs to be taken care of. If there’s an issue, it needs to be remedied immediately, lest your house suffers additional damage.
Wondering what to do if your roof is leaking? There are a few steps you can take to protect your home, prevent bigger issues, and get your roof fixed. Keep reading below to learn who to call for water leak in the ceiling, and how to fix a leaking roof temporarily, until help arrives.
Risks of Roof Leak
If your roof leak is minor and doesn’t look like it’s causing any damage, it might be tempting to ignore it, so you don’t have to pay any expensive repair bills. But ignoring a leak is the worst thing you can do.
If there’s water getting through the roof, then your shingles have sustained damage somewhere. Water is getting in and it’s causing damage to your roof and ceiling joists. Too much exposure to moisture could compromise the structural integrity of your roof.
Now, instead of just replacing your shingles, you’ll need to pay for even more expensive joist repair.
And if water is getting into your attic, then your insulation could be getting soaked. Wet insulation starts to clump and isn’t able to prevent air from passing through. Your insulation becomes worthless and needs replacing.
Anywhere that moisture gets to inside the home is likely to develop mold and mildew, unless you can find the moisture and dry it.
And as water makes its way down further into the home, it’s likely to cause sagging drywall on your ceilings and walls. Throughout your attic, ceiling, and walls, you like to have electrical wiring. Exposure to water could create a fire hazard.
So your roof leak, even if it’s only a small amount of water, is a really big problem.
What to Do If Your Roof Is Leaking
It makes sense to fix your roof leak before any of the bigger problems listed above take place. Roof leak repair costs will be much cheaper than fixing those issues. So if your roof leaks in heavy rain, whether it’s a big or small leak, here’s what to do.
Clear the Way
If water is getting into the home, be sure to move any personal belongings out of the way. You don’t want your TV or couch also suffering from water damage.
Clear the area and make sure you know exactly where the water is coming from.
Contain the Water
With water falling into your home, likely from the ceiling, you’ll want to contain the mess. Flooring can be costly to replace if they are soaked for long periods of time.
Placing a bucket under a leak to catch the water is the most basic thing you can do to collect the water. You should place towels on the ground around the bucket to catch any splashing water.
If you have to leave the house for a period of time, put the largest container you can find under the leak, in case you are away for a while, or in case the leak gets bigger.
You might need to bring in a garbage dumpster or extra-large tote if you can’t find anything else.
Cover it Up
In many roof leak cases, the damaged roofing shingles are easy to spot. Shingles may be missing, or ripped, chewed through. If you can safely access your roof, it is wise to cover up the affected portion of your roof with a tarp.
You can tuck the ends of the tarp under the singles above the affected area to prevent water from sliding underneath the tarp. If it’s going to be a few days before help can arrive, using a staple gun to hold your tarp in place is a better option than praying it stays in place.
Collect Photos and Details
There’s a chance that your roof leak, and any additional damage caused by your leak, will be covered by insurance. You’ll want to check the details of your policy or contact your insurance provider to find out.
To file your claim, you’re going to need to provide details about the incident, and will probably need to include photos. Before taking steps to remedy the situation, take the best photos you can take for an easier claim filing process.
Call a Professional
Want to know how to stop a roof leak once and for all, so you can sleep in peace at night, even during a heavy rainstorm? You’ll need to call local roofing professionals.
Having a professional examine your affected roof will give you an idea of how much it will cost to repair the affected area. They will also give you a status update on the rest of the roof, to let you know if it’s time for a replacement or if you’re good for a few more years.
Your roofing expert can also look under the hood to figure out if any additional damage was done to the home, in the attic, or behind any walls. While many of these issues will be beyond the scope of their services, they can provide guidance and recommendations to ensure you get the right person to your house right away. Click here for more info regarding your local roofing experts.
After experiencing a roof leak, you’ll become much better at taking care of your roof. Since you know what happens if your roof is neglected, you won’t make the same mistake twice.
The Sooner the Better
Now that you know what to do if your roof is leaking, it’s time to get off your computer and go contain that leak. And the sooner you call a professional and schedule service, the sooner you can prevent your home from sustaining any additional damage, which could be costly even with insurance.
Need more home repair advice? Be sure to check out the rest of our blog after taking care of that leak.