Roof?

[outdoor ran]

The lady I bought my house from had a business put a new roof on the house I bought last year. So its not even 2 years old. Well last summer we noticed a leak in the bath room when it rained. So we tried to contact the company since it was still under the 1 year warranty. He avoided us and gave us the run around. Well now we got a nice day and theres water dripping from a light fixture.

I went up and looked in the attic to find that the most of the roof is soaked with water wich is dripping into the insulation and on to the celing and running out the holes.

How does this happen after a year and a half? Any ideas what would cause this or what I should do? Any advice would be great. Thanks

[MuskieSlayer]

Hail damage? If the roof was put down correctly, it should not leak unless there has been damage. I would continue to pester the company who installed the roof. In the meantime try to find the leak. Remember, the leak could be anywhere from where you are seeing water all the way up to the peak of the roof. Sometimes water will run down the sheeting and run down the trusses before you even notice the leak. Good luck.

[outdoor ran]

The last 8ft around the whole roof looks wet. Both sides of the peak. We've hardly had any snow. There couldn't of been more then a half of inch of snow on the roof when it started to melt. Almost looks like its soaking though.

[MuskieSlayer]

Are there ice dams? I know we haven't had much snow, but this weather is exactly the type that creates ice dams (above freezing during the day, freezing at night). The installer should have laid down ice and water shield around the perimeter of the roof. If not, that could be the problem. Ice and water is required by code so if it's not there the installer, and you, have a big problem. Although that puts you in a better position for the installer to remedy the situation.

If that's not the case then I would go back to either some severe hail damage on the entire roof or improper installation.

Have you had a chance to get up on the roof and look around?

[paceman]

Is it possible that the roof is not leaking. Perhaps there was a frost build up that is now melting? A guy from work has the same thing happening right now. Apparently his air vents were plugged and his whirly birds weren't working. he had a couple inches of frost develope on his rafters and it melted and dripped through the ceiling.

[swampman]

I am guessing along the same lines. you could be having a condensation problem, if you have a newer furnace with a air exchanger that would be one place to start and check at what level the humidity is set at. I am guessing the leak you had in your bathroom last summer and what your getting now are unrelated (bath exhaust vent and pluming stack would be prime suspects for bathroom leak). sounds like condensation to me.

[CFRay]

From your description that the entire perimeter is wet that sounds like condensation freezing and now melting. The soffit vents could be blocked by the attic insulation, The air needs to move from the soffit to the roof vents. There should be cardboard or styrofoam tubes at the underside of the roof sheathing that lets the air from the soffit move up the roof. You may also want to check if the vent ( fart fan) from the bathroom is being discharged into the attic space and not out the roof as it should be. That would put a lot of moisture into the attic space. The last three weeks of cold could have frosted up the underside of the roof sheathing and now its melting.

You mentioned a leak last summer. These events may be related. Good Luck.

[outdoor ran]

I havn't got up there and looked around on top yet. To be honest I don't know what to look for or if I would notice a problem. Its my first home that I've owned. I have lots to learn. I did notice ice in the attic on the inside of the roof.

I bet your right about the frost. That would make sense. Without the snow to insulate it. Explain why its wet everywhere. I'm going to keep after the guy who put the roof on and go from there.

Thanks for the help guys

[swampman]

good point about the vent tube for the bath fan possibly having come off but I have had to replce bath vents that have leaked,(stuck open flipper in them some times) thats why I was guessing unrelated. dont see it real often but some times dryer vents are vented through the roof also and the same thing could have happend either way I dont think its coming from the outside in. Alot of variables do you have a overhang with soffit vents? not all houses do, if you do they could possibly be plugged as mentioned. how old is the house, any other recent work been done besides the roof?

[lawdog]

If you had hail damage, you would be able to see marks where the hail dented the shingles and actually where it knocked all or at least a bunch of the top off in the dent and you'd see the black layer underneath the coloring. It should be obvious if it damaged brand new shingles enough to leak that bad.

[minneman]

Ice/frost on the underside of the roof sheething could be caused by 2 things. 1 - Ice dam, usualy caused by a lack of insulation in the attic and the heat loss threw the roof causes the snow to melt at the shingles and refreeze over and over till it builds up under the shingles and eventualy comes in and shows up in the ceilings or walls in that area, usualy the sunny side.

2 - the frost under the sheething that melts on a warm day and shows up comming threw the ceiling is caused by too much humidity in the home and no where for it to go. there may not be a vapor barrier at the ceiling allowing moisture to go threw the ceiling and insulation and attach to the frozen sheething. the fart fan vent hose comming off could be it if you use it a lot.

One of my clients recently called me with the same questions and said they had'nt had this problem in the past, I asked what has changed? their living habits had'nt but they did add a whole house humidfier to their furnace this past fall. BINGO

get your self a humidity gauge and keep the humidity below 40%

[Blake]

Quote:

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From your description that the entire perimeter is wet that sounds like condensation freezing and now melting. The soffit vents could be blocked by the attic insulation, The air needs to move from the soffit to the roof vents. There should be cardboard or styrofoam tubes at the underside of the roof sheathing that lets the air from the soffit move up the roof. You may also want to check if the vent ( fart fan) from the bathroom is being discharged into the attic space and not out the roof as it should be. That would put a lot of moisture into the attic space. The last three weeks of cold could have frosted up the underside of the roof sheathing and now its melting.

You mentioned a leak last summer. These events may be related. Good Luck.

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My buddy had this same problem when he added on to his home, and at the same time, changed to a metal roof....everything was goin fine until winter....he had a huge buid up of frost inside his attic.....leaked everywhere...on the good side, he ended up fixing it by adding more ventilation, so it turned out o.k.

[Pooh]

how old is the house? my guess is that the roof sheathing has condensation on it from not having enough venting in the attic. if that is the case the warm/cold air in the house is hitting the opposite in the attic (warm house, warm air goes through the insulation a little hits cooler attic air and moisture forms, ITS RAINING IN YOUR ATTIC) if you have soffit venting and ridge vent the problem shouldn't exsist. my guess is the ridge isnt venting correctly or ridge vent wasnt installed at all. if the problem would have been there before the new roof the house would have fallen apart from rot already. that is my best guess if its not that it could be the bath fan like others are saying. i dont understand why the fan decided to go bad now.

[swandog]

sounds like a couple of things coming together for you. First you have warm moist air leaking into your attic. When that warm moist air hits your cold roof it frosts up...now when the weather warms up it "rains" in your attic. Second you never want your attic warm. The goal should be that your roof/attic space is the same temperature as outside. You do this by proper venting. It's just as important for the winter as the summer. So in summary I think you don't have enough vents and you have warm moist air leaking into your attic space. You didn't mention if you have a ridge vent or the other standard kind. With the standard kind I think the rule of thumb is 1 for every 150sq ft of attic space.

hth

Doug

[reddog]

Since you have a new roof, I'd look at how they addressed the ventilation of the new roof. There would either be new roof hoods, or a ridge vent. A new roof wouldnt have anything to do with what was pre-existing, regarding the soffit vents.

Like stated before, this is not a roof leak, its condensation on the roof sheathing from what could be a single source, or a combination of many sources.

Bath vent fans need to be vented to the exterior, not dumped into the attic.

There is alos the possibility of an attic bypass, like a built down soffit on in interior wall, that is acting like a chimney, drawing warm/moist air up into tyour attic at a faster rate that your attic ventialtion can clear it out.

Usually these bypasses are in the bathrooms or kitchen.

The are formed when a soffit is built down from the interior ceiling level without a proper air barrier to stop the stack effect/chmney effect.

Another air barrier bypass cold be in a fireplace suround that doesnt have a continuous air barrier behind or above the chmney stack.

Another overlooked area, is the attic access hatch. It should be insulated and sealed with a gasket of sorts to stop the air movement from the house into the attic space.

Obviously, the interior humidity level you tried to carry during the month of cold last month could be a key also.