Expert: Brad Zacharia - 10/28/2009

Question
First of all I apoligize for my l;ack of roofing terminolgy. Electric/Electronics I can handle roofing well I usually leave that for the experts. However, the economy has me thinking otherwise. I have had a small leak on my sun porch for the last month or so, I knew there was already two sets of roll shinles on the roof so I needed to replace it. So I finally got up there and stripped off the old shingles and felt and inspected the decking. I was mildly suprised in how good a shape it was in. I did find one area that had dry rotted but, it was small maybe 2 " by 3ft. I was able to patch and fill. This was outside the sunporch over top the homes awning. The only other area I question was where the house and the sunporch roof meet. It looks as though whomever did this work, used tar to seal this area up? It is very tough to get to this are without pulling up the shingles for the  original roof. I am just guessing but, I think this may be where the trouble began. Before I go any further, could you tell me the best way to trace this leak? Thanks, Gene

Answer
One thing you know for sure - that the source of the leak is uphill from where it is coming in on the inside. There is no good way to tell you what to look for. If you have a leak then you have a hole. Look for openings. Experience helps the most here. If you can't find it you can try a hose test.

Brad