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!
Michconnors says
We recently moved back to the States from Italy and where we were living there when it rained outside, it rained inside – so I feel your pain. Just wanted to comment because I saw a This Old House episode about cleaning up an attic and there were black spots on the wood beams of the attic that a specialist had to clean with a sort of power washer. I see you have a black area on the wood to the right of the spot where the water was coming in – could it be mold?
YoungHouseLove says
Oh no, we had a full house inspection last winter, including the wood in the attic, etc. That’s just a spot in the wood from the old roof (it needed to be replaced since it sprung a leak or two which darkened some of the wood, but the inspector said it’s in fine condition other than being discolored).
xo,
s
Sarah says
Horror story of the century: my parents were out of town for a week and when they walked in through the garage door, they splashed… Not good. After running frantically around the house, they found the culprit. The toilet tank had cracked in the upstairs master bathroom damaging not only the floor of the master bath, the ceiling and the walls of the floor below and all the way down to the basement. Gallons and gallons of water damage. They had to put in new floors, new walls, new electric work, etc ect. It was more than 150,000 dollars worth of damage. They also found asbestos and got to do even more repairs related to that discovery. Now they always turn off the water when they leave town.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh man, that’s so scary!
xo,
s
Lucy says
Glad it was such a simple “fix!” But it makes me think of a suggestion for future blog entries–all the things you need to do to maintain your house. It would be a huge help for those of us who are either thinking of buying a house or are new homeowners. Love you guys!
YoungHouseLove says
Yes, I have been planning to write a maintenance post for about two years about all that stuff- just have to get it together and actually write something! I think the fear of forgetting things is overwhelming but I need to just get over it and write the darn thing! Haha. Heck, we’re still learning things to add (like leaf removal on the roof, haha).
xo,
s
Maria @ All Things Luxurious says
Wow, I would have never guessed that leaf-buildup could cause a leak! My husband and I will have to keep that in mind in the coming summer months! Thanks so much for sharing!
Rob says
Hi Guys,
I did some work for a client that owned a local water leak detection service, and some of the stuff I learned was eye-opening. As some of the other commenters have noted, mold could be a pretty big concern. Once in your walls, water can get into all sorts of places – as evidenced by the fact that you had a stream from the rafter and out the switch hole. And that’s the water you could see. Insulation and drywall could have gotten pretty wet in hidden areas and without good airflow, could still be wet (especially in humid VA). Doesn’t take much for mold to start.
Suggestions about fans in the attic would have been good the day it happened, but not so much after about 24 hours. That’s enough time for mold to begin and turning a fan on in that area could end up distributing the spoors over a wider area. Anyways, glad you two caught it before it got worse!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Rob! We’re defintely keeping an eye out for any potential issues and are so glad it was just a one-time thing that only lasted an hour or so! We did hear from an expert who said that for the length of time that it occurred we should be just fine, but of course we’re not counting our chickens!
xo,
s
Susan says
My mother and father in law were having their roof replaced in 2010. They have an old bungalow, and the roofers were working under someone else’s license. As the licensed roofer got there to sign off on the job, and the whole roof was open to the attic, it started pouring rain. It rained really hard for about 30 minutes, and it was so bad that it was raining through the ceiling in the dining room on the main level of the house (which had a bedroom above it). Long story short, insurance did not cover it, they tore out the lath and plaster walls in the upstairs bedroom and closets, dining room, and living room, and of course had to get all new carpet in those rooms as well as new flooring and countertops in the kitchen. It wasn’t a total gut, but took a long time, a lot of volunteers and donated supplies, and a lot of patience! The renovations took about 8 months, and now their house is even more beautiful than before. So glad your problem was not a major fix like theirs was!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh no, that sounds terrible! So glad it’s gorgeous in the end though!
xo,
s
Kim says
Hey John & Sherry: I’m normally just a lurker and read you guys FAITHFULLY, like EVERY SINGLE DAY! I just wanted to take a moment to thank you. I’m a poor (no cash ever) single mom and you guys have given me the courage to try to do stuff on my own. I finally tackled my toilet today as it has been leaking. I followed the tutorials and took it all apart, had to hack saw the bolts from the tank and bowl though cuz mine were rusty and would not budge (it was horrible and took forever) and found the problem. I have a broken flange. It’s a pvc one and after watching some other tutorials on google, etc., I think it’s above my pay grade to try and fix it, however, I can now fix the vinyl tiles that were popping up due to water damage and then have a plumber come out and fix the flange. I bet it will be alot cheaper now that I have done all the tough work! So anyways, sorry for the long story but I wanted to let you know how you are helping people. I think you guys are the best. Keep up the good work and Clara is a doll! Kim
YoungHouseLove says
Aw, you have no idea how happy that makes us! You’re right about saving money figuring out what you can do (and hiring a pro to do what you can’t). Good luck with everything Kim!
xo,
s
Kim says
and p.s. I now have to clean the leaves off my roof that I noticed today.
Kristie says
Learn something new from you guys all the time! After reading this yesterday, I found myself observing leaf piles on strangers’ roofs while driving today. I want to ring their doorbells and say “Dude, get on that!”
YoungHouseLove says
Hahaha, that’s too funny.
xo,
s
Caitlin says
OK, now I’m going to rain on your parade a bit.
My friend had a similar thing happen around Chanukah a few years ago in her family home… above the family room was an unused balcony that leaked one night as they were watching television… and started a fire behind the couch. They caught it immediatley, HOWEVER (and this is the really depressing part) we had a terrible blizzard a few weeks later, and her father was so concerned about cleaning the snow off that roof to keep his family safe that he trudged up there alone to shovel… and passed away from a heart attack. Now mind you he was older, but I really want you to be careful with this sort of thing. It was terribly tragic. So if you feel there may be something up with the roof — leaves or snow or whatever — please make sure you keep an eye on each other the entire time (even though I’m sure you do).
YoungHouseLove says
That’s so sad Caitlin. Whenever John is on the roof I’m usually holding the ladder and keeping an eye on him, but it’s a great reminder to be even more diligent while he’s up there.
xo,
s
Chris says
Oh gosh, yes. We were actually doing our roof when a rainstorm hit, and we got it tarped in time but one of the tarps failed. It was actually really bad. Water came down in the attic so heavy and so quick that the result was we had to immediately remove all of the insulation in our attic (picture bag after bag of insulation…yuck–by the way, heavy with water for added pleasure:)
We also had extensive ceiling repair in our office, front entry, and livingroom. It was really awful and thank god we were home or our hardwood floors would have been damaged as well.
Water in a home is one of the most devastating things, and the damage happens SO fast.
Not fun at all!!!
YoungHouseLove says
Ugh, sounds so not fun!
xo,
s
Jen says
We had a new roof installed before we purchased our house, and after a couple of good rains, we had a leak through the wall, out a radiator in the office. Water all over the floor. Turned out when they installed the roof, it wasn’t long enough in the back. We’re lucky the mess wasn’t much worse, and that they fixed it for free!
YoungHouseLove says
So lucky!
xo,
s
Jenny Williams says
Hi Guys! Gosh, glad you guys and the house are ok and this was small. Nevertheless, I showed this to my mother-in-law who is a home insurance adjuster. She said mold and the attic is minor now that that is dry. Might want to check the insulation in the “leaky area” or replace if you are worried about this being wet/damp etc. to prohibit mold growth. And you guys of course did the right thing checking out the roof and removing the leaves. The areas she was concerned about was inside the wall and inside the outlet area. Her recommendation was to put a few holes in the walls to ensure the inside is drying properly. And to replace the electrical that got wet. Always the areas we can’t see, eeek. And technically you can call and put in a claim to your home insurance, even if small like this. All just suggestions and wishing you the best.
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks for the tips Jenny! We’ve checked on the insulation and the ceiling from the attic (all dried out) and removed the electrical box (with the power off!!) to make sure it’s nice and dry in the wall too. Thankfully it’s all looking promising, but of course we’ll keep an eye out for any red flags!
xo,
s
.:Van:. says
It’s a pit there’s no april fools post this year, even though I believe the leaves have set up a prank all right…
have a nice sunday you guys…
XOXO
YoungHouseLove says
Aw, sorry Van! We did just post a quick bathroom update this afternoon!
xo,
s
Mel says
As I was reading this I was groaning “oh man”, and then sighed in relief “oh good”. This lead my husband to shake his head because I was so sucked into this post.
We had a water leak that would pour through our basement fireplace through the ash door. It took us weeks and several major storms to determine where it was coming from. Turns out it wasn’t from the chimney, but our foundation. Weirdest darn thing. Nearly $9000 later we got everything repaired. That whole mess occurred about a year into owning our house.
Boo to water leaks.
Dawn says
Thanks for posting this! I have a similar “valley” where two roofs meet and after reading your post, went out to check it. Sure enough, there was a dam of leaves and debris in there. I think it was only a matter of time before it backed up, which could have cost us hundreds to repair. So thanks for the education and for saving us from a potential disaster!
YoungHouseLove says
So glad you checked Dawn!
xo,
s
becky says
OY! I wouldn’t wish leaks on my worst enemy! We’ve had a doozy on our hands for the past 3 years. No one has been able to track down the culprit. We live in Philly so we had the roof checked, the side wall stucoo checked, the small roof checked, the back wall checked…everything! But nothing seems to fix it. Every time we think its fixed, it comes back. Water sucks! Every time it rains, we’ve got this crazy system of buckets, vinegar and pumping dry air up to where we *think* its coming from.
It is enough to make a person insane. So glad yours was a one time gig. :-)
Rachel Quivey says
What’s the big black spot on your roof next to where the water came in? Looks like black mold!! We had a spot like that on our roof and a mold remediator had to come treat and encasulate it. In fact he ended up encapsulating our ENTIRE attic because he said once you can visibly see mold, the spores are every where and if there’s ever more water or a leak you don’t catch as quickly…BAM more icky mold!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks for the tip Rachel! That’s not mold, it’s just an old water stain from the old roof (with the previous owners replaced when they learned it was going bad). But we had a full inspection to make sure there’s no real damage to the wood or any mold! Whew.
xo,
s
Jen @ West Street Story says
How scary! I haven’t had a leaky roof problem, but with an old house I am constantly worrying about something like that. I am glad that you got it figured out (and I hope you got to watch Urkel strut his stuff later one!!)
Ashley @ The North Carolina Cowgirl says
No story to tell but OMG did you give me a great laugh with the picture of you looking through the skylight LOL. I couldn’t help but think of being a kid and smashing your face against the window and having a pig nose. For a split second I could imagine what John would look like if he did that. hahaha :D (Sorry John)
Cheryl says
I’ve owned my first home for 1 year this week, and every time it rains (and it tends to do that a great deal here in the PNW) I pause, look around at my ceilings, and worry my roof will leak. Weird, huh?
Glad your fix was a simple one. Hope it’s done for good! :)
Ashley says
Ahhhh that doesn’t look fun to go through. Glad you got everything worked out :)
keisha says
Ugh, ugh, ugh! We have had lots of leaky roof stories. :-( Several were d/t vents on the roof that were 1) placed too low and 2) older style, took us a little while to figure out what our problem was, unfortunately (I can’t lie – denial played a part in it as well, hence the one problem being the cause of several incidents). We have also experienced ice damming. Roof / ceiling stuff is so bad – glad yours was a quick and easy situation to rectify!
Heather says
I once lived in an apartment where the roof leaked so bad we had ELEVEN spots that it came into our home. I ran out of large pans and bowls and once had to run home during a lunch break 10 miles away to put out bowls and pans because of a freak thunderstorm that hadn’t been predicted, only for it to stop raining on my way back to work.
A roofing company came by to ask if we wanted to roof done and I told them how bad it leaked, they informed me that the landlords would actually be required to fix it and if the roofers notified the landlords of how bad it looked from the outside, they would also have to inform the city which would REALLY mean they had to fix the roof. Just to protect us-the-tenants, the roofers said that we weren’t home and no internal inspection was done, but that the outside was in bad enough shape for legally required replacement since the apartment inside was occupied. Our landlords were sooooooo mad. I baked the roofers cookies.
YoungHouseLove says
Wow, what a fiasco!
xo
s
mike s says
I am now dealing with a leaky roof. Thanks for the tips, they’ve helped a lot. My leak dripped down to my 1st floor ceiling. Any tips for redoing a ceiling? Is it just paint and patch or is there more to it? Also, for the patch, any suggestions on how to make it extra smooth?
Thanks,
Mike
YoungHouseLove says
Hmm, you really want to get it to dry out to make sure you don’t have mold. Not sure how that should go, so maybe try googling to see what others with a wet or leaky ceiling do to fix it? Maybe there’s a tutorial on youtube?
xo
s
Lydia K says
My only leaky story involves our french door fridge. It began with buying a knock off brand filter on Amazon, and ended with a fridge spewing water overnight, filling itself up with water, then my husband and I mopping up water from our kitchen floor for a few hours. So yeah. Buy the name brand filter. It’s worth it. :P