You have to act quickly if your roof starts leaking. If the flooring below gets soaked, it could be permanently ruined, as in the case of carpeting. Carpeting can be vacuumed with a wet vacuum if there is not an excessive amount of water. Other types of flooring can be mopped to remove the water on the floor, or towels can be used to soak it up. It is important to get a bucket underneath the drip as soon as possible. Although it is inconvenient to monitor the bucket and empty it, it will fill up quickly so someone will need to be home to empty it.
The next thing that you do depends on whether you will fix the leak yourself, or if you will call a professional roofer. Most people will call a professional because there could be more to the leak than the nonprofessional would see. If the roof is old, it may need to be replaced. It may just need repair if there is a spot where a shingle came loose or where damage occurred. The valleys of the roof need to be inspected for damage, holes, cracks, and deterioration. Sometimes chimneys or plumbing vents are the spots where the roof is leaking, and the water drips down through these areas. Skylights also leak fairly often, so this could be the source of a leak if you have one of them.
Once you find out the area of the roof that is leaking, experts recommend that you put a plastic tarp over the part of the roof that is leaking until you are able to have a roofer come to look at it. This will protect the flooring below if it rains again. If the tarp stops the rain, then the leak is somewhere in that area. The tarp can be held down with rocks or bricks on the edges to keep it in place. Every homeowner should have a heavy duty tarp in their garage, shed, or basement for this reason or in case they ever need to protect anything else in their house or yard from the rain.
If it is not possible to get up on the roof because it is too high up, then just continue to use a bucket to collect the water. Roofing can be very slippery, especially when it is wet. It is best not to endanger yourself by going on the roof unless you are used to doing this kind of work. Professional roofers make emergency calls, and it may be possible to get one of them to go to the house within a very short amount of time. A leak will not repair itself, so if the rain stops, the roofer should still be called.
The best way to prevent future problems with the roof after it has been repaired is to have annual roof inspections. Many roofing companies offer these for free. New roofs are guaranteed for at least 15 years or more in most cases. Other areas of the roof could cause problems though. The flashing that is around chimneys, a plumbing vent, or a skylight could result in leaks into the room below if they are not flush with the roof’s surface. Prevention through regular roof inspections is the best way to never need to empty buckets of water in the future.
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