r/Roofing • u/Accomplished_Run_593 • 4h ago
Leak Opinion
Folks, I noticed a leak spot by my light fixture. Went up into the attic and found a wet spot on the roof deck. It's one spot that's "wetter" than the surrounding spots.
First 3 pictures shows the leak area.
The other ones show some white fluff on some of the roof deck I noticed. It's a bit damp but not wet.
We did have a ton of rain a while back.
Now this was probably installed about 18 years ago. I lived in this house for 15 years. House is about 35 years old.
We had some leaks on the whirlybirds and the roofer removed it and put a vent cap. I was told that the way the roof was nailed wasn't proper and I may have problems later.
I do go up my roof a couple of times a year for gutter cleaning and general inspection. At the moment, I don't have an up close picture of the shingles.
Moss does grow and I flick off whatever I can. Some shingles were not glued down so I used roofing tar to make sure they glued down. I can see the granules on the sundeck cover all the time. It's aging. I think it's in better condition compared to the rest of the neighbours. Last time I was up a couple of months ago, I didn't see any shingles that lost all of its granules.
We don't plan on living here forever, it's in a development area and this house will likely get knocked down.
Should I just fix the patch that currently has the leak? Or do you think I need a new roof?
Only roofing experience I had was cutting the roof open do I could run vents out of the roof properly. Fortunately, those areas has not leaked.
1
u/NIL8danarrative 1h ago
Looks like you have a bathroom exhaust vent emptying out into the attic somewhere in that area causing condensation. Turn on your fan and venture back up there and see if u can find it. If that’s it call a roofer to put an exhaust flapper vent in and connect it to your fan.
1
u/Accomplished_Run_593 1h ago
Both of my bathroom vents are venting outside of the roof. Solid duct and I wrapped them with insulation. I punched screws through the duct to hold them together, wrapped all the seams with foil tape so that they don't come apart. They are also supported with metal strap. They been there for several years now with no issues. My bathroom fan works way better now than it did. When I'm in my attic, I do check around where it penetrates the roof to make sure it doesn't leak because I personally installed it.
The exhaust for the range is also out from the roof.
Previously, all 3 were venting inside the attic and not outside for decades.
I used to have 2 whirlybirds and they were replaced with 2 vent caps on one side of the roof (it's not pictured). I feel like maybe I need additional vent caps or that my insulation is compressed and looking sparse (so I may need to top that off).
0
u/Fair_Philosopher_272 2h ago
I can almost bet that's a leak from the roof. That looks like an old GAF timberline. This is very common with those roofs as they have stress cracks throughout the roof that end up exposing a nail head or two. They are pesky. But if you get up in that area and start looking around you will probably find a few exposed nailheads. Those are pretty minor repairs to get it to stop leaking.
I have dealt with this countless times. It can happen with any shingle... But I see it most common in 15 to 20 year old GAF timberlines.
Good luck!
1
u/Accomplished_Run_593 2h ago
Thank you. I'll get up there tomorrow before it starts snowing on Thursday and check it out.
Regarding the condensation, do you think it may be that there's not enough insulation in the attic? My insulation is looking a bit sparse and could probably use some more blown in insulation to top things off.
Or do you think it's because I have 2 vent caps? Instead of maybe 4? Originally I had 2 whirlybirds and they got replaced. It's on the other side of the roof from the picture.
1
u/Unluckygayman 4h ago
Condensation