We are getting a lot of phone calls from homeowners that they have a leaky roof. It hasn’t rained for four weeks, it’s the middle of January and we haven’t had more than an inch of snow. What is going on? Well, chances are it’s a ventilation problem. Here are a few roof ventilation tips to consider when diagnosing your leaky roof.
- There is either no soffit vents or they are plugged up. Without an intake in the roof, you can get a number of problems in your attic. During the winter months with cold air outside and warm air in your attic, you can get precipitation from you exhaust vents. With the sun shining on your roof one can get radiant heat in your attic, warm air in your attic and cold air outside precipitation will form from the air vents at the top of the roof and run down from the inside of your attic and cause a water leak in your house.
- You have an air leak coming from your hot water heater and furnace stack. Hot air escaping from your stack/pipe, may be from a seam. When hot and cold air meet, it creates condensation.
You may have a bathroom vent exhausting into the attic. You should always have a vent exhaust to the outside of the house.