Detecting Leaks in Your Roof

Hiring a professional to conduct an annual inspection of your roof to detect leaks is one of the best decisions you can make as a property owner. Especially if your area has experienced extreme temperatures, high winds, storms with persistent or driving rain, or heavy snowfall. All of these events can cause damage to shingles, joints, and the vents and various other vulnerable points in the roof. Here are some of the ways a roof inspection can help detect moisture and a leak before it becomes a real problem.

Visual inspection from the outside. What a pro is looking for from the exterior view is missing or damaged shingles, shingles that have “curled” or lifted a little bit, or bent and rusty flashing. If any of these issues are spotted on your roof, it’s likely the cause of a leak, or will be after a driving or persistent rain. Repair the roof immediately. Maintaining the integrity of the roof is essential to prevent more expensive damage later. Unsightly water stains, mold growth, and compromised structural integrity can all result from neglecting your roof.

Visual inspection from the attic space. If water is found in an area of your attic ceiling or plywood, the leak is either directly above that or further up the slope of the roof. So that can at least help narrow down the area to be inspected from the outside. Because of seams and overlaps, the moisture barrier and the insulation, the leak may not be directly above the area of moisture because water may be streaming from an area nearby. The area where the water is actually beginning to flow under the shingles may be offset a bit. This is where having an inspection done by a professional is really essential. The actual area where water is penetrating may be a bit tricky to narrow down. An annual inspection of your roof by a professional is the most practical way to head water damage off before it can cause more complicated issues.

Moisture detection using moisture sensors. Another benefit of hiring a professional to inspect your roof is their access to moisture sensor technology. Moisture sensors can find leaks even before there is any damage visible because they can sense a lower temperature relative to the area around it. This is an indicator that there is moisture (and likely bacteria / mold growth) in that area behind a moisture barrier, insulation, and/or drywall. A moisture sensor is a powerful tool that a professional can use to help detect a leak in the roof, allowing immediate repair and preventing further damage.

Roof inspections should be done annually, especially if your roof has multiple features like chimney, dormers (dormer walls often hold moisture), or skylights. These are in addition to the standard plumbing and air vents in every roof. An inspection by a professional will know what damage to look for in vent boots, around vents, and flashing around chimneys, joints and dormers. Some repairs are as simple as roof cement or replacing a few shingles. It’s much easier and less expensive to fix a small issue after an annual roof inspection.