Water Leaking From Roof Into Walls

Water can travel down as many walls as exist.

Water leaking from roof into walls. Foundation walls crack and leak when water soaks into the walls and eventually begins to drain inside of your basement. Systematically look for the leak open the walls and fix it. Slow roof leaks sometimes show up in the strangest places too like water leaking from wall outlets or light fixtures. Sometimes the water shows up at a ceiling spot distant from the leak.

Sometimes water leaks behind walls and leaches straight into your hardwood floors or floor underlayment and causes damage there as well. If given enough time a slow leak can result in very serious structural damage that will make the restoration process longer and more expensive. If your ceiling has a plastic vapor barrier between the drywall and the attic insulation push the insulation aside and look for flow stains on the plastic often water runs to openings in the vapor barrier such as at ceiling light fixtures. When you notice pooling water on the floor dampness on a wall or discoloration of drywall you re seeing the symptoms of a water leak.

The only means of prevention is to install membranes under the roofing. Ice dams block the natural flow of water down a roof. Water leaks are often because of pinholes in your plumbing system or small failures in caulking or other exterior materials. Once water begins to flow into the house it can drip for days.

Some roof leaks are tough to locate. In severe situations this water can leach under your eaves and shingles leaking down into the walls of your home. The water begins to back up under flashings shingles tar paper etc. These leaks are seldom caused by faulty plumbing.

Identify the leak. Water takes the easiest path down to the ground so it will often travel along the framing in the walls. Because ice dams occur along the edges of the roof the ceiling damage or leaking is often near the edge of the room or may even appear on an exterior wall since the water may be dripping directly down into the walls. What you might have thought was a roof leak could be a leaking deck flashing letting water into a wall from one or more stories above.

The membranes won t stop the ice but will stop water leaks if installed properly. Hidden water leaks behind walls can be especially dangerous because the water will get absorbed into flooring drywall and ceilings as well as wooden support beams and sheetrock. Depending on the kind of leak you may have to cut and replace part of a pipe. During a hard rain you might also see.

Gain access to the attic and look for areas of insulation that show. Given the right conditions water can seep into your house through the foundation walls. Leaks in foundation walls are usually fixed in 1 of 2 ways.