Last week we had 2 thunderstorms in the afternoon 2 days in a row. On each day there were 2 seperate roof leaks in 2 different locations. I never had leaks before so this was kind of a surprise. I went into the attic immediately each time and I noticed where the leak was coming from. Fortunately I have wood slats and not plywood, so the leak could not have traveled as far. I narrowed it down to where 2 roofs meet ( there is a section on each side of the house). I put captions on the pics. I could not find any holes or anything that caught my eye. One thing that did was that the gutter was pitched up to a point that it pushes up the shingle at the edge, causing water to pool on the shingle. So I lowered it down and ran a hose for a good
5 minutes and did not notice any leaks. I hope this was the problem. These were torrential downpours so maybe this was "the perfect storm" and just a fluke. My question is is it ok for the gutter to pitch toward the roof so the shingles are pitched more downward.Also is it worth it for me to call a roofer or are there no guarantees he will find the leak.
Do you have a fhashing in the valley? How is the water routed when it flows down along the valley? It is impossible to change the direction against it's natural flow.
Besides that indication there's been a problem somebody has tried to cover up...
1) The gutter shouldn't be dumping out onto the roof at such a close distance and especially w/ such a low pitch. When it really rains hard a virtual river will be coming out of that end gutter and running back under the shingles of the projecting roof.
Ideally that gutter end should be closed and a down spout removing it from the roof; failing that it needs to at a minimum have a diverter to direct it away in a downward instead of upward direction. Cutting it back several inches in doing that would also help.
2) A garden hose full blast is nothing in volume as compared to the volume during even a moderate rain, what more a downpour. Your "test" result isn't of much comfort you've solved the problem. Next hard rain will probably find the same unless some corrective action is taken.
The caulk just gets in the way of the water flow - it's more likely to cause a leak than stop one. If the valley didn't leak, there wouldn't be caulk.
It's not normal. It's a huge red flag. No one would do that unless they had a leak and they had no clue as to how to locate the leak. It's a bad idea to have clueless people on your roof for any reason.
When you see lots of roofing cement and caulking on chimney flashing and around valleys you know you have a hack on your hands.
Hose technique in locating a leak is key. It requires two people. You have to start at the bottom and flood the lowest area in question. Use a regular hose stream, not a jet setting. Angle the stream up under the shingle a bit to approximate wind driven rain. Work on an area for five or ten minutes to make sure it's thoroughly soaked. If you do it after a rain it will take less time to find the leak. Work your way up the roof doing that. It might take an hour to work your way up a twenty foot valley. Since you already know the approximate location you can use a smaller hose stream and concentrate in that area.
I would definitely consider redoing the valley. At the very least you have to replace the shingles messed up with the caulk. While I was in the area I'd probably pull the old valley flashing and install Ice & Water Shield then a half closed valley (aka half woven).
RicodJour wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@r66g2000hsg.googlegroups.com:
Just some further info building for Mikepier on your suggestion.
Assuming by half closed valley (aka half woven) and what link you provided calls a closed valley, you mean what I learned as a closed-cut valley...
I did 3 of these valleys on a house in the northeast 50mi from Canada. Lots of ice and snow. Never done these before. No leaks. I did lots of reading but my bible turned out to be Roofing with Asphalt Shingles, Mike Guertin, Taunton press. Bookstores have it.
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Ice and water shield (aka WSU): Grace is more expensive. But when you have a piece of it in one hand and a piece of another brand in the other you see why. For all the work you're doing, you'll want the Grace. Make sure at the bottom of the valley the WSU goes OVER the metal drip edge.
Follow the advice diligently abut no nails within x inches of the valley. Often written as 6". Guertin recommends 8".
Pay attention to determining which roof plane will be laid up on to the other plane decking and which will be cut back from the valley center. You need to determine which plane sheds the most water.
- but...Guertin recommends that the first row of shingles be woven to shed water better.
Pay attention to part about no shingle butt joints within x inches of the valley center. This is a lot easier with architectural shingles since there's not tab spacing to worry about.
Note about clipping corners (dubbing) on some of the valley shingles. Simple thing. Some claim it's critical.
The edge of the cut plane MUST be sealed with roofing cement, or better yet polyurethane IMHO, to the shingles on the first plane they rest on. Also, the edges that overlap on the same cut plane should be sealed. You have to remember that in a downpour/wind driven rain, a lot of water will be driven into this area. Just think as you are doing it that if you were to take a garden hose and shoot it into this area with force, is there a chance water could get under?
The one thing I noted in that link is that they appear to say to cut the
2nd plane at the valley centerline. From just about every source I've read, including Guertin, they say to cut it back about 2".
It looks as if in order to correct this, I would have to do a complete ripout and start from scratch, which I'm not ready to do yet. The rest of the roof is fine , its just these 2 problem areas. Maybe what I'll do for the time being is buy one of those leak diverters and route the hose into a nearby drain. Like I said, this is the first time it started leaking. I know it sounds like a band-aid solution, but at least I can contain the leak until I'm ready to re-roof.
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