Last week was shaping up to be pretty good week. Sherry celebrated turning 30. We declared the kitchen done(-ish). Spring was in such full bloom it was practically summer. In fact, we even got a pretty awesome thunderstorm one night. Seriously it rained buckets. Faster and harder than we had ever seen since moving into our new house. And then around midnight, it happened…
We were watching some TV when we heard a sudden, loud rushing sound. Like someone dumped a gallon of milk on the floor in the kitchen. Our first instinct was that the new-ish-ly installed dishwasher was leaking, so we both dashed towards the kitchen – only to stop in our tracks when a stream of water hit us from above before even entering the kitchen. It was coming from one of the beams in the living room. And then we noticed a pretty steady stream coming out of a nearby wall too. Crap.
It all happened so fast. We scrambled to grab a bucket to catch the water streaming out of the beam and stuffed a big ol’ towel at the base of the wall that was dripping. Since it was still pouring outside (with a fair amount of thunder and lightning), our only plan of attack was to go into the attic to see what was up (since going outside with a big metal flashlight or ladder sounded like a really bad idea). So I crawled up into the attic with a flashlight and my iPhone (so I could document the damage for Sherry by snapping a picture) while Sherry stood in the living room and tapped on the beam so I could orient myself in the attic and follow the sound. Sure enough, I found a general area where water seemed to be seeping into the house. Did I say “crap” already? If so, here it is again. Crap. It was so bad that Sherry came up into the attic with me and we both just sort of crouched there staring at it.
The area was too narrow for me or Sherry to get into (there’s no flooring in that area) and since things were starting to dry up outside (thank goodness!), we decided to call it a night. At this point it was around 1:30 in the morning, and we figured that in the am the roof would hopefully be dry enough for us to get up there and see what was going on (you know, without getting hit by lightning). The stream from the wall had stopped and we left a bucket out to catch anything else that decided to drip from the beam – but that had pretty much stopped too since the storm had finally passed.
As if this weren’t bad enough on its own, it had now gotten too late to finish our DVR-ed episode of Dancing With The Stars. Tragic, we know. Watching Urkel strut his stuff would just have to wait.
The next day was sunny and hot, so we figured the roof would have dried by the time Clara was down for her nap that afternoon, which was the first moment of the day that we both could tackle the roof thing together. First we headed back into the attic to see if the spot had dried up. Yup, it mostly had.
Next I went up on top of the house to try to identify whatever was causing our leak while Sherry “Afraid Of Heights” Petersik watched from the ladder. I sort of half hoped for / half feared finding a big gaping hole. At least then I would know what needed fixing. Oh and it bears mentioning that this roof (a 30-year asphalt shingle one) was installed the spring before the previous owners sold us this house, so it’s only a few years old.
And yes, we do have quite the smorgasbord of rooflines. In case you’re totally disoriented, here’s roughly how this lines up with the floor plan below (note the chimney, which connects to our fireplace which is between the kitchen and living room – that’s usually what I use to orient myself).
When I headed to the area above the leak, it was pretty obvious that I was looking at the culprit. Not a big hole, just a big ol’ pile of leaves.
I try to keep the roof pretty clear of sticks and leaves, but I guess this pile had collected since I was last on the roof in the fall. And since it’s completely invisible from the ground, I had no clue this troublemaker was lurking up here. So after a few sweeps of the rake, the leaf collection was no more.
How does a pile of leaves cause a leak? It wasn’t so obvious to me at first, but having googled “find source of leaky roof” a bit the night before, I had a better idea. Shingles are overlapped in a way to allow rain to flow down over them. But when water flows up them, or rather builds up around them (like if there’s a leaf dam preventing water from moving off the roof quickly enough), it can seep under them and find its way into nail holes or other less waterproof surfaces. And you can see from the wet mark above just how high the water had built up. It must have finally found a way in, and swoosh, down it came, into the attic and the living room below.
I couldn’t be 100% sure that clearing the leaves would solve our problem, but I was pretty darn hopeful. Hopeful enough that I was even able to enjoy being on a roof a bit. Why yes I did tell Sherry to go into the sunroom and look up at one point. Skylights = a rip roaring good time.
We got to test our repair theory when we got a lot of rain over the course of a few storms that came through Richmond in the last week since the leak. It rained for hours on more than one occasion. And we were actually happy about it for once since it meant that we could test Operation Leaf Removal to make sure we had truly solved the issue.
After we survived about 5 hours of rain in the first of two storms, we decided it was time to check the attic to see if perhaps the water just hadn’t made its way into our living room yet (but was stealthily building up in the attic or something). Thankfully the attic looked totally dry. Victory!
And we had the same luck with the second big rainstorm (once again we checked the attic, and it was nice and dry). So for the time being, we’re considering the problem officially solved – and thanking our lucky stars that the leak didn’t ruin anything in our house, and didn’t cost anything to fix. And now we’ve learned our lesson about letting so many months go buy without checking the roof for leaf build up since there are some spots that we can’t see from the ground – and apparently leaves can be sneaky little buggers. We’re mainly just beyond grateful that the leak didn’t happen while we were in Hawaii. We can’t imagine coming home to a living room full of water.
Who else has a leaky roof story to tell? Was yours easy fix? Did it do more damage? Did you catch it just in time? Did you think your dishwasher was leaking at first? Any tips to pass around to the group about preventing, finding, or fixing leaks would be much appreciated – especially since we felt so inexperienced and unprepared this time around!
Antoinette says
Hi guys,
We had a leak last week from our upstairs bathroom into our kitchen ceiling. Once we stopped the water, we cut two holes into our wet drywall and rented a dryer and de-humbidifier from home depot for 2 days. We ran these almost continually in both areas. It was amazing to me to see how much water was coming into the dehumidifier. If you’re at all concerned about mold, maybe you should do something like this to be on the safe side. Now I have two holes in my kitchen ceiling that need to be repaired! Good luck.
Antoinete
YoungHouseLove says
Great top Antoinette!
xo,
s
Emily says
Ever wonder what you’d look like with a beard? I found your doppleganger John. I think a bearded man would have handled this roof leak better. Just look http://i.imgur.com/CYRMu.jpg
YoungHouseLove says
Haha- I totally see it! Of course John doesn’t, but he never does!
xo,
s
Lucy says
Yep, I’ve been there and done the leak things a couple of times! The worst one was at my work when I was called to investigate ‘a bit of a leak’. On entering the room I was foot in water with more water pouring through the light fittings, sockets and the glass roof sidings! Did I forget to say I am a nurse and work in a hospital! Torrential rain and a lack of leaf maintenance on the roof was the cause too! I spent my last day before going on maternity leave rearranging patients, doctors and getting in maintenance guys and cleaners so it was go for the next day!
YoungHouseLove says
Wow- that’s crazy!
xo,
s
Whitney says
Goodness! I’m glad it was such an easy fix…us DIYers don’t like unexpected repairs… (I don’t anyway)
Kate says
In my last home, we had to replace the roof two times in two years. We owned the bottom half of a 2-unit condo in a renovated townhouse, and the top unit was occupied by renters. The renters told us about the first leak, so we managed to fix that, but the roofers we used did a really terrible job—so bad, in fact, that mere months after they finished the job, the roof started leaking again. This time the renters didn’t say a word, and instead my husband and I discovered there was a problem when we found a giant water stain on our kitchen ceiling (three floors down from the roof) after a big storm. When we went up to the top floor to check things out, we were horrified to see the giant water stains in almost every room on the ceilings up there. Bad roofers, bad renters! It was a horrible experience all around.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh no, that sounds like a nightmare!
xo,
s
Kim says
So glad that you were able to fix the leak quickly and for free! When I was in grad school in upstate New York, I rented a room in an old house with some other students. We had an ice damming problem with the roof that caused serious leaking. Since I’m not from the snowbelt, I had never heard of ice damming before. (Here’s a good explanation: http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/housingandclothing/dk1068.html) It was a huge pain and the landlord had to install a new roof, which was an even bigger pain. At least I didn’t have to pay for the new roof!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes, we’re learning a lot about ice dams today! So crazy!
xo
s
Diana says
So glad you were able to fix the leak!
We once had a leak in the living room of our old house. Water was streaming down the wood beam ceiling right in the middle of the room. We ended up having to get a new roof.
The only other leak of note in our present house was when the ice-maker broke in our fridge and stained the hardwood floors in our kitchen. Speaking of ice-makers, I’ve also learned that when moving a fridge, be very careful to not run over the water line leading to the ice-maker. This could cause the line to crack and lead to flooding. (This happened at my in-laws’ house and warped their floors overnight.)
P.S. Love your photo of John peaking through the skylight!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes, that’s a great tip! It could make for a huuuuge mess!
xo,
s
Julie says
We had a hose break on our dishwasher, which ran into our basement (over the fuse panel!). The damage was only in one roon. After the insurance fix, and some extra work we did ourselves, it was all repaired. A month later, we came home to 8″ of water over the ENTIRE basement. Our new laminate was floating! A pipe had been insulated incorrectly in the original fix, and had frozen and burst! We had quite an extensive basement reno that time!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh no! That’s so sad! Hope the extensive reno was at least a little fun though!
xo,
s
Mamaw03T says
Good job! Man, y’all lucked out on that one!
laxsupermom says
Luckily you guys were home when this happened! We had ice damming our first year in this house that caused a little bit of water leakage. Since then, we’ve been really good about getting the first few feet of snow cleared off with a roof rake during the winter.
Bridget says
Alternate post title: Dam Leaves. Heh.
YoungHouseLove says
Hahaha, nice.
xo,
s
Kelsey says
We discovered some water in our utility room and at first feared it was our ancient water heater leaking, but then we looked up to see the ceiling paint peeling and some obvious wet spots directly above the standing water. We had just had the roof replaced the year before so it was still under warranty. However, when we called our roofer to come look at it, he said the leak was actually from a vent that had collapsed, thus allowing condensation to build up and drip back down. Evidently, the vents weren’t a part of our roof replacement, but fortunately our roofer was kind enough to fix the problem for us anyway. We’ve learned our lesson to ask contractors if there is anything that isn’t included in a repair or replacement. The worst part of it is, after the vent was replaced, the water reappeared and we learned that our water heater WAS leaking. How ironic that the ceiling leak was in the exact same spot! Ugh.
YoungHouseLove says
So crazy! And so glad he fixed it for you even though it wasn’t technically covered. What a nice guy!
xo,
s
Rheanna says
The fact that you thought it was the dishwasher actually reminds me of a disaster we dealt with once that WAS the dishwasher, and it DID happen when we were on vacation.
My parents were taking us to Vegas one year and just before we left, my mom thought it would be a great idea to run one last load of dishes. She hit start, we ran out the door Vegas-bound. Well, about 3 days later we come home, and I of course race up to the door first because I have to pee like a race horse. I jiggle the knob, but the front door won’t open. I try to put some weight behind it, thinking the door just stuck a little, but it won’t budge. That’s when I hear the howling. And a strange swooshing sound.
Still having to pee like crazy, I decide to go to the pantry door downstairs and try getting into the house that way. I get in, come upstairs and walk up to the kitchen. I finally realize what the howling was: our poor cat, stuck indoors for 3 days is standing like a terrified castaway on our dining room table that is now serving as an island amidst a small ocean. And bobbing along like a taunting lifeboat was her food bowl, floating its way into the living room.
A valve of some kind on the dishwasher had popped (probably as soon as we left) and for 3 days it had been spraying water until the kitchen, living room, dining room and hallway had filled up to about 3 inches deep, causing the front door to swell (which is why I was stuck doing a potty dance on the front porch for far longer than I bargained). It was a nightmare, and the cat seemed to think that we did it on purpose (not sure if she ever forgave us for it).
So, we finally got all the water bucketed out, but the repairs we had to make were extensive.I’m definitely sorry that you had to deal with your own leak, but I’m just glad that you caught it on time and didn’t come home to find Burger swimming for safety!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh my gosh that’s so crazy! I loved the picture you painted though. Poor kitty! I can just imagine the food bowl floating by…
xo,
s
Amy says
I commented earlier, but I just had to add that the more I think about this, the more I am glad I have a very simple, highly sloped roof. Nothing is going to be able to hang out on mine! We never even see squirrels up there!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes, that’s lucky for sure!
xo,
s
Original_Ann says
This story gave me a knot in my gut. I have a mystery leak on my roof. No one is able to figure it out. They patch, it still leaks. I have been procrastinating putting on a brand new roof because it seems like such a big bandaid. But seeing your post made me realize I better do something before it really comes in like this.
I’m so, so happy that yours had an easy fix! Whoop-Whoop!!
Jill says
Boo! That stinks! But thankfully it isn’t as bad as it could have been. :)
Last year, I was up really late organizing my room. I walked out of my room to go the bathroom and heard a clicking noise. Being the paranoid person I am, I jumped at what I thought was A) a big bug B) a curled up snake or C) a rodent. The hall light wasn’t on so all I saw was a dark spot on the carpet which led me to believe one of the above things were there. I flipped the switch on and saw that it was a puddle of water (the clicking noise that I thought I heard was the pattering of the water on wet carpet), and the light bowl was filled and the ceiling was wet. I quickly turned it off, thinking that electricity and water could be dangerous! I ran into my parents room (it was close to 4am at this point) and announced “there’s a leak!” I probably could have been a little nicer and not so alarming, but that never works between my 2 snoring parents. LOL We ended up going to the attic and there was water all over the floor on one side. Turns out the AC was working overtime and the drain in the water pan couldn’t keep up, so all of the water/condensation had built up and spilled over. Poor Dad had to lug up the wet/dry vac and Mom and I took turns throwing buckets out of the attic window. Needless to say, we were all exhausted… but so thankful I was awake to hear the leaking because nothing got damaged. Just put some fans on the wet spots, and they were good to go!
YoungHouseLove says
So glad it wasn’t too hard of a fix!
xo,
s
Jeri says
So glad it was something minor for you guys!! Same thing happened to us 3 years after we moved into our home. The roof was only 5 years old. We were sitting in the family room and I hear ::drip::drip::drip coming from the dining room. I go running in the room and see a steady stream coming from my daughters bedroom, she had gotten her own apartment a couple months before. In her room is a big closet that’s part of the eves in our house. Well, to make a long story short, it was winter time and a big piece of ice was frozen where the old part of the house met the addition. The previous owners had not installed a vapor-lock. I guess it’s like a tarp or sheet of plastic that goes under the shingles to keep out any water if it seeps under the shingles. Thankfully it hasn’t happened since but I know how freaked out you must have been when it happened!
xoxo
Jeri
Margee Krebs says
I’m so glad your leak was easily fixed! I had the opportunity to replace my roof after squirrels took up residence in my attic by chewing through some rotten wood. No leaks through to the second floor (nor to the first), just a family of furry unwelcome guests!
Sabrina Riggs says
Thank you for the visual of you guys running around late at night trying to stop the leak! I have done that too, and it is not a pretty sight! Great Friday morning laugh out loud at work!! (though I am sorry you had this happen!!)
Emma says
Whew!! Now that was a money saver! Much more than a Lowes coupon or buying stuff an outlet store. The roof is where the big $ is. I’m so happy that you guys diagnosed the problem and (fingers crossed) took care of business. Water is kind of the nemesis of a homeowner. I had a drainage issue that caused a minor leak in our basement. However, we addressed the issue (downspout water wasn’t diverted far enough away from the house), things have been better. Sometimes I wish I lived in the dessert southwest rather than the northeast!
Wendy says
A Kurtz, Amy, J and S,
Just a note about being hit by deer/sheep/other animals and dealing with the insurance companies.
When we lived in SW PA, we were advised to keep a roll of clear packing tape in the car. In the event that a deer hit the car, any “evidence” (fur, nails, scrapes, etc.) was to be taped down.
The insurance company told us that they get so many calls about cars being hit by deer, that the proof helps to keep truth tellers in the a-okay area.
YoungHouseLove says
So interesting!
xo,
s
Sasha says
Something like this happened a few years ago to my mums garage. Unfortunately we didn’t catch it in time, so we only noticed it when the electricity went. In order to get electricity again an electrician had to come and disconnect the wire that connected to the house – that was not easy at ten at night in pitch black.
The next day I went onto the roof and low and behold the roof was filled with leaves – We didnt realise that leaves on an eternit roof would cause these kind of problems.
Happy to hear that your roof experience went much better. :)
Nicole says
Oh leaky roof stories! Yes, it rained in our bedroom for almost a month once! Not through the ceiling though. It was through the decorative molding around the windows. Sheetrock was bone dry we had no clue what was happening, checked the window installation and everything. After several diy attempts and a “roofer” we had a builder friend over one day and explained that our gutters were not the correct size for the house and they were not installed properly. So the hubby got yet another excuse to climb onto the roof. He made some adjustments to the gutters (they were clean btw) and low and behold…the weather in the bedroom changed! Glad it all worked out for you guys. Don’t know about you but water makes me nervous because with it comes the worry of mold.
Tamrah Ryan says
We haven’t had a leaky roof but I do have a water story. We had JUST purchased our house (and hadn’t even moved in yet) a few days before my husband’s birthday. I decided to surprise my husband on his birthday by moving in our bedroom stuff, getting a sitter for the kids (at our old place), and planning a romantic evening for two in our new home. LUCKY for us, because that evening the hose connected to the washer blew, and water started spraying everywhere. We heard the noise from upstairs, ran downstairs, frantically tried to remember where the shut off for the water was, and spent the rest of the evening cleaning up water. We were SO SO thankful we were there, or the damage could have been really bad.
YoungHouseLove says
Yikes! So glad you were there too!
xo,
s
Kelly says
Skylights = a rip roaring good time; love it!
Jessica says
After my husband and I purchased our first home we completely renovated the basement ourselves. It took a long 5 months because we did all the work on the weekend. Three days after we finally finished the basement we accidentally caused a small flood. We have a washer which drains into a utility sink. We accidently dropped a sock in the utility sink; it stopped up the sink so when the washer emptied into the sink it overflowed on to the floor. Made a huge puddle which seeped into the basement family room and ruined the new tongue and groove laminate floor we had just finished laying down. It was so frustrating to have to rip up new flooring and re-do it.
YoungHouseLove says
That sucks! So sorry you had to redo it!
xo,
s
Liz says
Not a roof story, but I lived in an old historic (un-renovated) house with roommates for a couple years. One night at like 4am I was woken out of a dead sleep by a loud crash. I stumbled into to kitchen where the noise had come from and stared rather confusedly at loads of debris on the floor. In my groggy state and without my glasses I was trying to figure out what happened…did the dogs get into something…but what was it? I then rubbed my eyes and looked up into the enormous gaping hole where the ceiling used to be. Evidently who ever had re-done the bathroom above did a piss-poor job and had left a slow leak, which then built up over the years. Our landlord fixed it, but definitely fun times!
YoungHouseLove says
Yikes, that’s so crazy! I love how it took your brain a few seconds to put the pieces together!
xo,
s
Kristen says
We had a similar situation last spring only the culprit was an ice dam. Like the leaves, the fix for an ice dam is clearing out the snow and ice causing the issue.
The spot dried up and we have had no problems since.
I feel your pain, it is such a stressful situation.
Shannon says
My parents just had a leak come through their roof/attic/ceiling in their bedroom…not the best way to wake up. Anyway, one thing I learned was to get a utility knife (or kitchen knife if necessary) and slice an x where the water is seeping through the celing – just make sure you have a bucket underneath. That way the water will not build up and create the big bubble and it won’t totally ruin your drywall celing…still a big pain, but getting the water out of one of those bubbles is it’s own type of miserable. :)
AngieC says
So glad your leak is fixed!
Speaking as a professional (I’m an Industrial Hygienist by day and blog stalker on the sly) your main problem areas for mold will be in the attic where the insulation was wet and possibly under your flooring – I hope it wasn’t near your new floors!! If the water that leaked down the wall was able to get below any flooring, it can remain trapped there, won’t be able to dry and can become a problem area for mold growth.
Same principle in the attic, if the wet insulation lies on top of your ceiling drywall, trapped moisture due to the wet insulation can lead to mold growth on the backside of the ceiling. The box fan suggestion someone else made for the attic is a good idea! Or just replace the compromised insulation.
Sorry to get long winded but it’s my job :) Overall though, since it was a one time event, you are most likely in good shape!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks for the tips Angie! Thankfully it wasn’t near the new floors and the insulation upstairs all looks dry and has no odor or anything! We’re so thankful it was just a short amount of time and not too much water! We’ll definitely keep an eye on the back of the ceiling and the insulation and dry things out or replace them if we notice anything!
xo,
s
Lindsay @ Me, Ed and Pea says
Yay! So glad it wasn’t anything major. This would have scared the crap out of me!
Athena says
Thank goodness for the internet, and you knew some things to look for so you could maybe solve the problem yourselves. My husband and I live in an apartment complex in Portland, and the maintenance here is very hardcore about preventing leaves on the rooftops, because once winter hits we just get rain, rain, rain (how we get our reputation). We didn’t know why they were doing it until we asked and they explained about the leaves. If we’d have bought a house before learning about it, I’m sure we would have had the same problem you two did. Fingers crossed that the leak didn’t cause any additional problems for you!
Heather says
Wow, you guys SO lucked out that it was just leaves! We have a 1960 ranch in upstate NY with a low pitched roof. It used to have shingles which ended up being really bad for ice damming (low slope, snow just sat up there, melting, freezing, getting under shingles, dripping into newly gutted and refinished spaces). Very bad! We had a rubber roof put on (basically our roof is now just one huge membrane of rubber) which solved most of our problems. I wouldn’t wish the experience on anyone!
YoungHouseLove says
Urgh, how frustrating. But at least you’ve got it resolved now, right?
-John
Samantha McNutt says
Sorry that this happened. We did not realized that there were leaves piled on a spot of our roof until last weekend when my husband climbed up there to help my dad cut back some limbs that were over our house. While he was sweeping of the roof he stepped on a spot an almost went through :)everything was rotten underneath.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh my! Glad he was okay.
-John
Ami says
Oh man. I’m so sorry this happened but glad you were able to fix it and even more glad you decided to share b/c I sure learned something. Thank you.
Kathleen says
Wow! A few years back a similar thing happened to my parents house. The roof was being re-shingled and a monsoon storm came through. The guys doing it said it would be okay if it rained, but late that afternoon the ceiling started leaking. A bulge started forming in 2 bedrooms and the living rooms’ ceiling and then that night a large portion of my room’s ceiling and a small part of my parents’ ceiling had collapsed! They had to (obviously) replace all 3 portions of ceiling (2 bedrooms and living room) and remove all the carpet since it had gotten drenched :/
Lucky your problem ended up being minute!
YoungHouseLove says
Wow, that’s such a bad time! So glad they replaced it all!
xo,
s
Meg W says
Oh we definitely had a leaky roof issue a few weeks ago…. Got a phone call at work from my husband at 9am asking if I had seen the puddle on the kitchen table… Turns out that the back half of the roof over our kitchen was older than the shingles on the front half of the kitchen and the garage…. (weird, but the previous owners doing not ours) Fourtunately it was a nice day and he only had a few appointments so he measured the roof, bought shingles, borrowed a nail gun and had a new layer of shingles on the roof before dark!
Only thing left to do is paint the ceiling to get rid of the water stains
Brandy in Nashville says
No roof problems as of yet (knock on wood), but we did have a flood in our master closet, only to find out that our children and poked a hole in the tub. I had let them play in it prior to that and I don’t know if they rammed a hot wheel through it and cracked it or what. Kids constantly amaze me. =/
Ashley@AttemptsAtDomestication says
During Isabel there was a leak in our roof and the entire ceiling of the master bedroom caved in. Luckily we weren’t home when it happened so we didn’t get hurt, but it was a crazy thing to come home to. We were renting at the time too, so we didn’t have to pay for the repair.
Crystal @ 29 Rue House says
So glad you guys figured that one out! It is always such a great feeling when you realize you can do something for yourself!
Maggie says
We had a landlord who ignored our warnings that their were shingles missing from the roof for six months. Then a tropical depression settled over us, and low and behold we had a leak. Luckily it was very obvious and I got help moving our mattress out of our master bedroom where the dripping was constant. Lo and behold less than 12 hours after I initially noticed the leak our bedroom ceiling caved in! Happily I was sleeping in a different room. Actually beyond the hassle factor of not using our bedroom and having a bed, mattress, and box spring in our dining room, the worst part of the whole thing was the smell of all the wet insulation. Oh, and did I mention that I was five months pregnant and my husband was on a business trip at the time?
Moral of the (long-winded) story? Repair your roof right the first time and save yourself a lot of hassle and money!
YoungHouseLove says
No way! That’s so crazy! So sorry it happened so fast (I would have thought it would have taken days to cave in!) and that your hubby was gone and you were prego. I probably would have lost it!
xo,
s
Michelle says
We had a BIG leak in the ceiling of our finished basement a few months ago. We knew it was right near where the pipes diverged, so we figured there was a leak in the connection. After the plumber cut a giant hole in the drywall, he found that it was a pin hole leak in the pipe itself! Has anyone else had a pipe just spring a leak? It seems really strange to me. My dad’s theory is that someone weakened the pipe in that spot when trying to install a water line for the fridge.
YoungHouseLove says
Anyone with pipe leaks who can weigh in? So strange if it wasn’t at a joint or something!
xo,
s
Sam @ The Junk House says
Last summer I came home to a puddle in the hallway! It had rained the night before, so I figured it was the roof. My boyfriend went into the attic (in Phoenix in the summer…it was probably 1000 degrees up there) and found out it was the air conditioner. The tray that collects condensation was tilted causing it not to drain correctly. Luckily it was an easy fix, but it pretty much ruined a section of the ceiling in the hall.
John says
Yes an ice dam can create the same problem. The key is to have the attic well insulated and vented. If heat is allowed to enter the attic the snow will freeze at the edge of the roof overhang where it is cold and create a dam. Water will then back up behind the dam and enter under the shingles just like your leaf problem. Of course adding more insulation will save you money in heating and cooling bills.
You can always see where attic insulation might be added by how fast the snow melts on the roof. A energy audit still would be fun to see.
Maggie Rose says
No roof problems (guessing we might have if I’d stayed at my last house cause it was questionable) but once when I was in high school and babysitting there was a storm and the power went out. Then OF COURSE the toilet overflowed and there was water filling the bathroom and starting to creep into the hallway. Luckily the kid I was watching was old enough to help hand me towels as I mopped up the bathroom by candlelight. Of course the storm delayed the mom getting home so it was a long evening in the dark with a 9 year old!
YoungHouseLove says
I know that story probably isn’t funny to you, but picturing it made me smile. You and a 9 year old in the dark. I wonder if he had a crush on you and was so excited about your little adventure together.
xo,
s
Sasha says
We had a leak in our first home- a garden-style condo. The sound of water dripping onto a sopping wet carpet woke us up out of a dead sleep. Thankfully, we were able to position a bucket up in the attic space. The roof was patched 3x by the condo association before we finally conviced the roofer to look at the sheathing from inside our attic space (something we wanted him to do the first time around). Only then, did he believe it was rotted through and needed to be replaced.
Jasmine says
My husband and I were living in a one bedroom apartment. We had stayed the night at his parents house. We came home the next evening to a 3 foot diameter bubble of water hanging from the ceiling! It was dripping right onto my microsuede couch!!!
Two days later we came back and management had taken the bubble down-don’t want to know how- and a bunch of other problems ensued. End all: we got our security deposit back and ended the lease early. :-)
YoungHouseLove says
Wow- that’s horrible! So sorry that happened Jasmine!
xo,
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Leah says
Thankfully I have no leak stories… but in roof related news I just learned that organic shingles have been discontinued. We are getting our roof replaced after hail damage, and one of the things our insurance adjustor mentioned is that the organic shingles (they were there when we bought our house 5 years ago) were about twice as deteriorated as they should be given their age. Might be useful info for others with organic shingles, or hail/wind damage claims for insurance!
This is my first ever comment here, love you guys! Tell Burger that a chihuahua in Wisconsin named Zephyr says hi :)
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks for the tip Leah! Anyone with organic shingles? Hope it helps!
xo,
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Ali says
Good for you guys for trying to figure it out! I think I would just have panicked and then called… well, I don’t know who. Ghostbusters?
Well, it’s a good reminder to keep leaves off the roof!
YoungHouseLove says
Hahha, we were standing there panicking and wondering who to call, so Ghostbusters would have been awesome.
xo,
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Tirsa says
So Glad yours was an easy fix!
We had a leaky pipe in the basement a couple months ago. My husband heard a hissing sound late one night and followed it to the basement. There was already water on the floor! Thank fully it was mostly on one side – away from the boxes that we have yet to unpack… Anyway, it turned out to be the main pipe from the water treatment/filter apparatus to the rest of the house. (In our neighborhood we all have wells, hence the need for a water treatment/filter apparatus.) We got it fixed the next day, but the plummer said it would break again as it was original to the house (1974). “Thankfully” the water treatment apparatus failed soon after which forced us -or rather the insurance company- to replace it along with the old pipe. It was a close call though as some of my paintings we leaning against the wall near where the water had come. Scary!
YoungHouseLove says
So glad your paintings were ok!
xo,
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