Leak in New Foam Roof?
Last summer we replaced our old tar and gravel roof with a new foam roof.
After the first big storm this winter, several spots right above our bed started to drip. Not a huge leak, but several (2 or 3) visible droplets of water forming on the ceiling, along the tongue and groove. Every few hours a droplet will come down, usually hitting my wife in the head during the night and waking her up! This has subsided a bit between storms, but comes back after each rain.
At first I thought it must be condensation, because I did not even think it was possible that our brand new foam roof could not be leaking. Inspecting the roof showed no pooling or other potential problems (like downspouts, etc) over the area where the droplets appear. Airing out the room made no difference. My neighbor, an engineer, then informed me that it is highly unlikely condensation would even be forming on a wooden ceiling.
So, now I am back to the possibility that it is indeed a leak. Is this even possible with a new foam roof? I have a call into the roofer, but I thought I should see if anyone here has any insights before I talk to the roofer.
The best advice I can give you is to: 1. Go immediately to the 24-Hour Safeway nearest you. 2. Purchase the most expensive floral arrangement you can find. 3. Give the flowers to your wife while insisting that you trade sides of the bed with her.
You should call the roofing company owner and state your case. No roof that is that new should have these types of problems. Problems can occur however any good business owner would promptly address them.
If you aren't able to get a quick response or resolution from the company that installed the roof, I would quickly escalate the issue to your local Better Business Bureau and then (worse case scenario) to an attorney.
Most importantly, make sure that you are documenting/photodocumenting everything.
It seems obvious that you have a leak. You should have called the Roofing Contractor long ago. (If he knew he was being pilloried on the internet, he would have called you).
Regarding Condensation
Foam roofing insulates the roof surface (and your Eichler) better than anything else. The ceiling in corners of the room ceases to mildew in the winter because the ceiling is now room temperature instead of cold. Inside your Eichler, moisture condenses on cool surfaces. Droplets of water can form on skylight frames, glass, inside exposed duct-work etc. On wood with no insulation ...all the moisture you would get would be the slight dampness that mold and mildew need to survive.
Along those lines, how much pooling is normal on a new foam roof? We have a new roof, that has several wide indentations in it. Some of the puddles we have accumulating on the roof are a couple of inches deep. Is this normal? Or should these areas have been built up so that no pooling occurs on the roof, which was my understanding before the roof was put on?
Thanks.
It's always a good idea to eliminate large roof puddles when foam roofing. It is very easy to do this....but it needs to be done on purpose. If you showed Adam, Keith or Chuck from our office just a roof plan of an Eichler, they could draw in the puddles and be right 90% of the time. When we estimate a roof job, we draw the puddles on the contract and indicate that extra foam will be installed in these areas to displace the standing water. Since there is no gravel on a foam roof, puddles large and small are going to be quite visible. Naturally, the weight of the water and gravel can make areas sag over the years....i.e. over the garage where the beams are small and the span large.
The industry says:
1. It's not a pond unless it averages an inch deep and is one hundred square feet...this seems pretty large to us.
2. Standing water must evaporate within 48 hours...they don't mention time of year, as in; Will it evaporate if it is frozen solid?
And yes, two inches of water is a lot. You should make every effort to get delivery of the roof you purchased.
To follow up on my original post:
The roofer came today, and indeed found a small hole, about 1/8" diameter, which he patched and said should solve the problem. The hole was a couple of feet towards the end of the roof from where the drip was appearing in the ceiling, but the roofer said the moisture was likely coming in at the hole, and then seeping along the tongue and groove to the point of the drip. He assured me that moisture already in the ceiling structure does not present a problem; with redwood and the minimal amount of water that got in, it should dry OK.
When I asked what might have caused the hole in the first place, he shrugged and said maybe termites, but then as he thought about it more said it was probably not termites, but could offer no other explanation.
