When water drips into your home, you have to act fast to stop a leaking roof from the inside. Luckily, you’ve come to the right place!
Roofs leak from old age, poor materials, weather patterns, fallen debris, storms, and pests. Unfortunately, you can’t let these leaks continue for weeks while waiting for an insurance adjuster or roofing contractor to quote you on a new roof. You must patch them yourself until a professional can resolve the problem.
At Aspect Roofing Company, we want to help homeowners protect their properties from water damage, so below, we discuss exactly how you can patch a leaking roof while waiting for a permanent repair. Our team provides emergency roof leak repair services in Iowa City, Coralville, and North Liberty, Iowa.
If you’ve got a leaky roof, call our team at Aspect Roofing Company today at (319) 382-0073!
Why You Should Fix Roof Leaks ASAP
You must patch roof leaks as soon as possible because water poses serious risks to your entire roof and home. As moisture soaks into sheetrock, your insulation gets wet, and your home’s foundation might lose its stability.
If left untreated, a minor leak could cause entire collapses, severe mold growth, and damage to items inside your home. By patching the leak quickly, you minimize the water damage and prevent further moisture from entering your home.
1. Access Your Attic
To stop a leaking roof from the inside, you must access the home’s highest interior point, the attic. Once here, find the leaking area and assess the current damage. Remove all wet insulation from the ceiling or walls and soak up any puddles of water with a sponge.
If you have more standing water than you can collect in a couple of buckets, you should immediately call a professional before the attic floor collapses. Do not stand on top of wet areas, as the structure could fall through, and practice caution when placing down any of your tools.
2. Locate the Leak
Finding the leak is often the trickiest part. Water travels far, especially during heavy storms. The liquid might seep into your attic in multiple directions that all lead back to one leak, so how can you find the source?
First, you can try to find the leak by following moving water. If it’s still raining outside, look for any drips coming from above. Often the water might trail across the ceiling, so follow the stream to find the source.
We also recommend using a flashlight to examine the situation better. Occasionally, if the damage is significant enough, you might be able to see the hole. If everything looks too wet and you can’t find the culprit, keep reading to learn what to do when you can’t locate the leak.
3. Add a Temporary Patch Inside
After you find the leaking area, mark it with a pen and wait for the material to dry. You cannot patch the leak until everything dries; otherwise, the patch won’t stick. Once all of the moisture evaporates, create a roof patch.
Use roofing tar for the temporary patch and spread it across the area using a putty knife. Next, place a piece of shingle or plywood on the putty and seal the edges using more tar.
Apply caulking around the patch for an extra-strong seal.
4. Patch the Outside
To resolve the problem, you also must have the exterior damage repaired. Measure the distance from the leak to the edge of your attic to gauge where the damage is outside.
To avoid any warranty concerns, patching your roof should only be done by a professional, so give us a call for immediate service (319) 382-0073. If you can’t find the leak you may need a tarp.
What to Do if You Can’t Find the Leak
Have a Roof Tarp Installed
Sometimes water damage is so expansive that locating a leak is impossible. Other times, the leak could be so little that you can’t find it. When you can’t locate the leak, use a roof tarp.
Roof tarps cover the entire top of your home to prevent water from entering at any angle. Purchase the tarp from your local hardware store, cut it to size, and anchor it down with wooden planks. Roofing tarps are only temporary fixes, so you should contact a professional as soon as possible.
Emergency Roof Repair Service
Now you know how to stop a leaking roof from the inside, though a patch is only temporary. To prevent further leaking into your home and water damage, you must contact a professional roofer to resolve the problem. At Aspect Roofing Company, our team provides emergency services or complete repairs after you’ve installed a temporary fix.
We operate throughout Iowa City, Coralville, and North Liberty, IA. Call our team at Aspect Roofing Company today at (319) 382-0073 for a free roof inspection and estimate!
