leaky deck

It's a question of how much you want to spend and how much you care how it looks. If you want it to look good you have to rip it up, put down a waterproof membrane (there are brushable liquid membranes available), and then redo the tile. If you don't care too much how it looks you could use a roof coating on top of the existing tile.

The arrangement of a deck over a living space is one of the most troublesome arrangements in current design practice. Experience on the Carolina coast shows flashing to be the more usual failure. The most satisfactory fix is to expose the material intended to be water proof; check integrity of the membrane and flashing; check slope and drainage arrangements; work out a solution to the problems found; rebuild as determined by exploration.

A forensic engineer or architect would be most useful. TB

Do you know what is under the tile? Might be flashing, caulking, or bad membrane under the tile. We put sealer on a concrete deck, second story, to keep painted ceiling below from peeling (outdoors). Sealer and caulking the expansion joints fixed our problem.

If it was originally a flat roof system that somebody put tile on, you may need new roof.

While we're on the topic...

I designed a house with a second floor covered deck over the kitchen. EPDM membrane, floating sleepers, composite decking. What did the contractor, a longtime friend of the owner, do? Omitted the sleepers and screwed the decking down through the membrane. Hoo boy. Hundreds of holes in what is supposed to be a waterproof membrane. He said, "Don't worry. I'll squirt some silicone caulk in the predrilled decking holes before screwing it down." I told the owner it's not a question of if it will leak, but when, and you won't know until the water reaches the kitchen ceiling. By that time you'll have some serious rot. I'm also a long time friend of the owner and unfotunately won't have the usual pleasure of telling him, "I told you so."

It amazes me that people think they can cut corners and still beat water.

Hey, Rico, I know a couple of guys who could throw a metal roof over that, lickity-split. I think they just finished their last job and are available. ;-0

If he had room, what about a torch-down roof with those rubber pads on top so you can safely walk on it?

Hi, I had such a deck which made me sick and tired to keep it in shape. I had it enclosed to make it into an all season sun room. My final solution.

I started this reply first thing this morning but got busy on other things...........

IMO the reason no one wants to do it is.....they touch (try to fix it)....the own it when the fix doesn't work :(

With so much other (easier) work to do why take on a problem?

The good news is that since you're in SoCal (IE) you really don't have all that much rain to deal with.

The problem is really "designed in"......I've got a small deck that is partially above a downstairs room.

It's a wooden deck with a membrane roof below the deck boards, over the years (~10) dirt & dust has filtered through the deck boards such that now I have enough debris in there that the water is slow to clear. As long as water clears ok......no leaks. If the rain is heavy or slow to clear I get an occasional leak into the ceiling below (twice in the last 5 years).

I cannot convince my wife that I need to un-screw the deck boards to clean out the debris & check the condition of the membrane roof. I guess I'll have to wait until I get a major leak into the downstairs

In your situation it could be....bad substruture slope (do you have any pooling of water?) , a failure (or lack) of the water proofing membrane.

IMO the only way to guarantee success is to (if possible) take it back down to the framing elements & re-build it from there.

An outdoor "waterproof" tiled deck is kinda like the floor of a shower stall; you need a waterproofing membrane, a "wear surface" & a "drain" a place / direction for the water to go.

Cheers Bob

Have you thought of putting a roof over it? The waterproffing for a tile deck would have to be under the tile - hard to fix without tearing the tile up.

Bob