foam roof leak
I have a leak in one of the smaller (guest) rooms in an eichler, I inspected the foam roof (flat roof about 9 years old) and don't see any clear sources of the problem around the area of the leak. There is no standing water or pipes around the area..the closest is a rain gutter about ~2.5 feet away. The roof where the leak is does not seem soggy or soft. Any tips on finding/fixing the problem.
Eichler ??? Owner
Tip #1....call the people that installed your roof. They might (should) have a big interest in your roof NOT leaking.
Tip #2....a rain gutter on an Eichler? Really? If somebody did some 'ad-libbing' on your roof, maybe they made a mistake and installed the gutter wrong. 'Wrong' in this context means...In violation of the Laws of Nature.
Law #1...water usually tends to run downhill.
If you post a picture, you may get a whole bunch of solicited opinions.
Randy from Dura-Foam Solar Center
I think maybe you mean down spout and if you do this is a classic place for a foam roof to leak (two of mine did.) My ceiling was caulked so the water traveled a ways before finding a hole. The hole in the roof seemed small but once cut around the area I could see water got in and changed the color of the foam.
Since the foam and the down spout (out of metal) are out of different materials they tend to expand at different rates with the change of temperature and especially the heat of the summer. Classically this is solved by using Secaflex (sp?) (or some other good roofing sealer that is flexible) around the downspout area. Your roofer should fix this for a nominal fee (about $150?) and ask them to check the other downspouts as well.
If you really want to do this yourself and won't cut yourself :-) or fall off the ladder: Use and old sharp kitchen knife, cut the foam around the down spout to the metal, using a caulking gun and roofing caulk, build back up a slope to the foam roof. You can use a piece of cardboard (several) to smooth everything over.
BTW most new foam roofs should do this at installation (is what I was told. Darn I'm just really a parrot :-)
Regards,
-- Ralph
