Your roof is one of the most critical components of your home, sheltering you from excessive natural elements such as the hot sun as well as wind and rain. It would definitely not be an understatement to say that having a roof above your head is one of the biggest blessings one could have in their lives. Yet, like any external weather facing surface, your roof can be vulnerable to damage if not maintained properly.
Consequently, a damaged roof will allow for water leakages. Should you be alarmed by water seepage into your home? What can you do to safeguard your roof? In this article, we shall be answering these questions and more.
The Dangers Posed by Water
Water is seldom thought of as a destructive force, yet for our homes, it is. Not only is water capable of damaging our homes, it is also incredibly deceptive. Often, homeowners only discover the presence of unwelcomed water in their home’s structure long after it has first penetrated in.
What makes water so tricky to deal with?
Mobility
For starters, water is a highly mobile substance, capable of travelling great distances within the infrastructure of your home. This means that a leakage in your roof might not necessarily become evident from your attic or ceiling, instead it could manifest from a wall in your living room.
Enabling water’s mobility is its ability to easily change its state, from liquid to gas. Thus, allowing it to travel through all sorts of pores or gaps. Furthermore, a capillary force no unlike that in plants, could suck water upwards or sideways.
Long Term Damage
The presence of water enables the creation of a highly damp or moist environment. Coupled with a space that is devoid of sunlight, and what you have are conditions ripe for mould growth. Mould slowly eats away at whatever material that it has grown on, starting a process of decay. Given sufficient time, your home’s structural integrity will be compromised as its foundations are weaken.
In addition to compromising your home’s structure, mould also poses health risks to your friends and family. This is especially so for individuals who have sensitive respiratory systems. In particular, it might agitate those with asthma or allergies.
Signs of Roof Leakages
When looking for potential roof leakages, two types of signs exist – general water leakages as well as roof damage.
General Water Leakage Signs
As covered before, water can travel long distances in all directions once it has seeped into your home. As such, if you spot signs of water leakage in your home, there is a possibility that the source of the leak was from your roof.
An obvious sign of water leakages would be seeing pieces of your ceiling falling off, revealing dark black spots in their place. In such a case, mould growth would have been sufficient to eat away at your ceiling, thus causing loose pieces to fall down. It is also possible that you will find water droplets seeping through your ceiling and thus dripping into your space.
The two signs covered above are indicative of fairly advance water leakages. Yet, before either of this occurs, it is likely that you would be able to spot other less severe symptoms. For example, you might be able to spot peeling paint, discolouration of your walls or the appearance of yellowish spots on your walls. These are all symptoms of mould damage occurring on the other side of your walls.
Roof Damage Signs
A visual inspection of your home’s roof might reveal damaged or broken shingles. As the outermost surface of your roof, shingles are prone to breaking of falling off due to strong winds, heavy rain or when damaged by falling tree branches. To confirm that your roof’s shingles have indeed being broken, you can search the surroundings to find any that have fallen off.
Another area of your roof that is vulnerable to damage is its flashing. Flashing is a piece of metal that has been installed on your roof’s joints in order to improve its waterproofing capability. Flashing can be damaged due to extreme weather, or when the nails that are used to keep it in place come off.
Ponding is tell-tale sign of likely water leakages from your roof. It occurs when water gets trapped on your roof, thus being allowed to accumulate in a select spot. When a large volume of water is gathered, it exerts tremendous pressure on your roof’s existing waterproofing systems. Over time, with the pool being formed repeatedly, the area underneath it will likely start to experience water seepage.
What Should Do When You Suspect a Leaking Roof
If you suspect that your home’s roof is leaking, a visual inspection should first be conducted. Check for any visible gaps, holes or damages on your roof. Furthermore, you should have a look at your drainage paths and drainage points. At all times, these should be kept free of debris such as leaves, while water should swiftly travel from your roof to the drainage point without being diverted elsewhere.
Next, you should immediately engage a waterproofing contractor to conduct a full inspection of your home. Using more sophisticated methods, they will be able to find spots of dense moisture and reveal hidden areas with decay. With this, they can then pinpoint the areas of your home that is housing leaked water and trace it to the leakage point.
Finally, the contractors will be able to dry out these areas while reapplying waterproofing measures to your roof. In particular, layers of waterproofing membrane might need to be applied to your roof in order for it to be penetration proof for the coming years.
Trust Flux Solutions to Help You Fix Your Toilet Leakage
Flux Solutions Pte Ltd is a waterproofing Singapore specialist that services many different waterproofing issues. We are continually researching and evolving to be at the frontier of the industry.
Flux does water leakage repair and solves other kinds of leakages such as toilet leakage, roof leakage, ceiling leakage. Trust us to handle your toilet leakage issue today.