How To Manage a Roof Leak Until Help Arrives

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How To Manage a Roof Leak Until Help Arrives

Most homeowners have experience dealing with serious repair issues. Millions of dollars are spent on fixing home repairs every year. Discovering serious problems early on is the best way to limit the amount of damage your home experiences. A damaged roof can cause a significant amount of damage if it is not fixed in a timely manner. Leaks are one of the most common roofing problems a homeowner will encounter. Once you discover a roof leak, you need to take action and call in professionals to perform necessary repairs. Here are some things you can do to manage your roof leak until professional help arrives.

Inspect Your Crawlspace or Attic

Tracking down the source of your roof leak is important when trying to tell roofing professionals what is going on. As soon as you notice signs of water coming through your roof, you need to grab a flashlight and get into your attic. You need to realize that the way water travels from a roofing leak can be deceptive, to say the least. In most cases, water from a leaking roof will not travel in a straight line. Usually, the water from your roofing leak will travel downward towards the nearest joint. When you discover where water is coming in, you need to put a piece of plywood across your joists. Once you have the joists protected with plywood, you need to put a bucket under the leaking spot on your roof. Until professionals arrive to repair the roof leak, you need to keep the bucket emptied to avoid putting excess weight on the ceiling tiles between your attic joists.

Sweep Away Standing Water

If water from your roofing leak has made its way to the floor level of your home, then you need to take action to limit water damage. Roofing leaks can cause large puddles of water to form on the floor of a home. If this water is allowed to sit for extended periods of time, mold and water damage are bound to occur. This is why you need to sweep away and soak up any standing water in your home immediately. If there are standing puddles of water on your roof, you also need to think about using a soft bristle brush to remove it. If you aren’t comfortable getting on your roof to remove these puddles, then wait for professionals to arrive.

Get a Tarp To Cover The Hole

Once you accurately identify where the hole in your roof is, you can limit the amount of water it allows into your home. The best thing you can do when discovering a roof leak is to cover it with either a tarp or a thick plastic sheet. This will act as a temporary patch until professionals arrive to adequately fix the hole in question. Is your old roof leaking in multiple places? If so, it is time to let the team at Innovative Roofing find and fix these leaks.