How to Find and Fix Roof Leaks

There is no shortcuts, glue, adhesive,leak tests. Remove the panels, replace the roof, re-attach the panels. Make sure you change the gaskets for solar panel tracks/bracket system.

Some home inspectors will have a thermal-imaging camaera

Even roofers i had dealt with only do visual inspection.

I do visual checks twice a year, outside and inside. Outside I check from the ground with binoculars. Anything that looks out of place I check, a different colour or shadow. Lot of times its a lifted tab, that I then either nail down and then cover with a dab of tar or just use tar and tab it down.

Inside I check the roof the same, with a light and binoculars for any staining of the wood, which usually means water was there and dried. I pay special attention to any ares that have vents to the outside, either my rood vents or vents from bathrooms fans. I have never ran a water hose on my roof to check for leaks, rain will do that anyway. I also make sure my eavestroughs and down spouts are clean and secure, and fix whatever I find as needed

So far in all my years of home ownership, I have yet to have a leak. I fix very small problems right away and so far so good. Water leaks are my biggest phobia, as Im sure the same as many home owners. Even with all I do, last year we had a leak at our wood stove pipe in the roof, but it was coming down the outside of the pipe, so no roof damage. What it was because of a strong wind, the rain was actually being blown uphill a bit outside on the roof cap, and then just blew it into the pipe, and it found a seam. Fix to that was just tu put some calulking around the rim of the pipe, so water cant get over the "dam" I made.

Really, was a freak thing, just the right amount of rain and wind/angle.

^ What tar do you use?

For nailing, what equipment do I need? Will this drill/driver do?
https://www.homedepot.ca/en/home/p.18v- ... 51350.html

Seems I need a compressor to drive these roofing nailers?
https://www.homedepot.ca/en/home/p.roof ... 64444.html

alanbrenton wrote: ↑^ What tar do you use?

For nailing, what equipment do I need? Will this drill/driver do?
https://www.homedepot.ca/en/home/p.18v- ... 51350.html


I think I just missed the $68 HomeDepot nailer.

For tarring the tabs, I just used tubes of Blackstrap. It goes in a caulking gun. I was getting tired of losing shingles, and it wa happening because whoever owned the house before us when they did the shingles, they didnt do the tabs correctly, some shingles didnt even have the plastic removed from the back so the tar could set. I live in a high wind area, and it took an entire weekend, but I "tabbed" down each tab with tar. Basically a small dab of tar, and then step on the tab. Ever since then, I have yet to loose a shingle.

Nailing, I just use a regular hammer and shingle nails. But Im not re-shingling my entire roof either, just doing fixes. My shingles are only 9 years old, so I plan on making them last.+

If you dont need to do that, any roof tar will do. I bought the stuff you can apply even wet, just in case something happens in the rain for a I need to do it now fix.

^ I tried searching for Blackstrap and tar on homedepot.ca and couldn't find any. When you get some free time this week, can you share what that product is.

http://www.amazon.com/Sashco-Through-Se ... oofing+tar


Roofing tar led to these products, Blackjack was one:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_ ... oofing+tar


Similar issue as yours:
Edit:
Question: can this be applied with a paint roller on a shingle roof?
Answer: I agree with Dave M. Especially if you have shingles (composition roofing) that haven't sealed between rows. This happens when roofers DON'T remove the plastic strip on the back side of the shingle exposing the adhesive meant to hold the shingles together tightly. You also want to be able to get the Through The Roof to fully cover the overlap of rows with no 'holidays' which is where additional leaks can start. When I used it I found that almost all of the Through The Roof soaked into the shingles where they were porous sealing them but was almost completely invisible after drying, so it won't look like you used an on the surface cold patch. Throught The Roof Also will keep popping nails or staples from popping up through the coating. see less
By Timothy C Taylor on January 10, 2016

alanbrenton wrote: ↑^ I tried searching for Blackstrap and tar on homedepot.ca and couldn't find any. When you get some free time this week, can you share what that product is.

http://www.amazon.com/Sashco-Through-Se ... oofing+tar


Roofing tar led to these products, Blackjack was one:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_ ... oofing+tar


Similar issue as yours:
Edit:
Question: can this be applied with a paint roller on a shingle roof?
Answer: I agree with Dave M. Especially if you have shingles (composition roofing) that haven't sealed between rows. This happens when roofers DON'T remove the plastic strip on the back side of the shingle exposing the adhesive meant to hold the shingles together tightly. You also want to be able to get the Through The Roof to fully cover the overlap of rows with no 'holidays' which is where additional leaks can start. When I used it I found that almost all of the Through The Roof soaked into the shingles where they were porous sealing them but was almost completely invisible after drying, so it won't look like you used an on the surface cold patch. Throught The Roof Also will keep popping nails or staples from popping up through the coating. see less
By Timothy C Taylor on January 10, 2016

https://www.homedepot.ca/en/home/p.wet- ... 78480.html

Mine was in a yellow tube, so it may have changed over the years. Basically you put it in a caulking gun

My fixes have never needed a huge amount of tar. Usually a small flat edge trowel is all I user, or even a break knife for smaller spots, like a crack starting, etc. I check anywhere on the roof to where shingles meet, and fix anything I think could be an issue