Expert: Brad Zacharia - 2/12/2007

Question
HI BRAD. OUR HOUSE WAS BUILT JUST OVER 2 YRS AGO. WE LIVE IN UPSTATE NY. THEREFORE, OUR WINTERS ARE SNOWY. WE NOTICED THAT OUR MORNING ROOM HARDWOOD FLOOR THAT ARE LOCATED NEXT TO AN EXTERIOR WALL IS WARPING AND THERE ARE SIGNS OF MOISTURE IN BETWEEN THE BOARDS. OUR BASEBOARD IS ALSO DAMP. WE KNOW ABOUT ICE DAMNING AND IT APPEARS THAT MAY BE THE PROBLEM. WE NOW KNOW THAT THERE ARE PREVENTIVE MEASURES SUCH AS KEEPING THE SNOW OFF THE ROOF (HA HA WITH ALL THE SNOW WE CAN GET). HOWEVER, WAS THERE SOMETHING THE BUILDER/ROOFER ALSO SHOULD HAVE DONE SINCE THE HOUSE IS FAIRLY NEW, THIS SHOULDN'T BE AN ISSUE AS THIS TIME OF OUR LIVES.   ANY LIGHT YOU CAN SHED WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED.

Answer
I know about your snow. It's a national story.

There are two main reasons for your leaky roof. One is that the slope is too low for shingles. If shingles are put on a low slope they will leak. Many roofers don't know any better. What's the slope of your roof?

The other thing is that most roofers do not install the Ice And Water Shield at the bottom edges of roofs as they're too cheap to spend the $100 dollars per roof or again don't know any better.

Or you could have a leak through the outside wall right at the baseboard but I guess the roof is more common a leak.

Or you could just have a hole in your roof.

Brad