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How do I know if my roof leak needs urgent repair? (aussie.zone)

submitted 1 month ago by codyreeves@aussie.zone to c/ama@aussie.zone

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I first spotted a faint stain on the ceiling after a light shower and didn’t think much of it. But after a recent storm here, the stain darkened and spread, and I noticed a slow drip in the kitchen. I placed a bucket under it, but now I’m worried. Our tiled roof is over a decade old. I’ve heard small leaks can lead to serious damage if left alone. It doesn’t seem major yet, but it’s clearly getting worse. Am I overthinking it or is it time to call in a professional?

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[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Finding the leak can be really hard. Water can travel quite a ways from its initial ingress point.

Never had a tiled roof, but I had an old house with a box gutter and it took replacing the entire roof and lining the gutter with rubber to stop the leak.

[–] jagungal@aussie.zone 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Tell me about it. I've fixed my fair share of leaky roofs and sometimes you just make an educated guess and hope. I hate getting up into the ceiling but sometimes it's the only way to trace the water from the end point to the source. With tiled roofs however, it can be nice and obvious with something like a cracked tile or a tile that's shifted out of place.

[–] jordanlund@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

^ This! Worked at a place that had a roof leak, there was a pipe in the false ceiling and the water leaked onto the pipe, then ran the length of the pipe dropping off at random points.

So we had this line of brown spots on the ceiling tiles, it looked like the whole roof was leaking, but it was just one leak following the pipe.

[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago

The craziest thing is when a wire loom in a car gets wet. Capillary action can make the water travel up from where it’s getting in