It was in the spring with cold nights warming days when a lady calls her roofing contractor and said, “You just put a roof in my house and now it’s leaking the same place it was leaking before.” The roofer sends Eddy his repair man out to see what the problem could be. In a little while Eddy standing on the lady’s roof he had checked the flashing, the valleys and the chimney. Everything looked perfect the roofing crew did an excellent job. But he observes a very curious thing; a small trickle of water was running out from under a shingle right below the corner of the chimney. Eddy knew it had been four or five days since there had been any rain and then it was just a shower. He checked the shingles in that area again and found nothing that could be the source of the trickle of water.
Inside the house the lady showed Eddy a small wet spot on the brick wall of the chimney right next to the ceiling. There were old stains in the same area. Eddy first reaction after checking the brick chimney again that maybe rain was being absorbed into the brick and is still running out after several days.
Eddy being a knowledgeable roofer told the lady he would come back and spray the brick with a masonry water proof sealer and that should solve the problem.
Several weeks went by before the owner called the roofing contractor again and complained that the problem still existed. So do we tell the customer that is not the fault of the roof, but it must be your chimney. Now we have a very unsatisfied customer.
While the problem may not be the roof that was installed, the roofer to save face should do all he can do to find the real problem.
So let’s go over the facts:
- The problem did not show up till 4 or 5 days after a rain.
- The chimney appeared to be in good condition, no missing mortar joints and no cracks in the chimney rain cap.
- Inside there were existing stains on the brick chimney at the ceiling.
- The water was running out from under a shingle near the metal flashing.
- Was the attic checked to see what the conditions were in that location, if not it should have been.
When the attic was checked it was discovered that the insulation around the chimney was not sufficient and warm moist air from the living space can travel into the attic. There were signs of moisture on the bricks and wood framing next to the chimney the source of this moisture had to be condensation. And the cause of the trickle of water running from under the shingle was also condensation caused by the warm moist air following along the brick to the back of the flashing where condensation formed on the cold side of the metal flashing.
Solutions:
- The customer should have the ceiling sealed where it meets the brick and more insulation installed in the attic
- And the roofer should always install moisture barrier behind all metal flashing.
This was an actual case that took place 1986 and the roofing contractor in this case did the solution work at their expense. Revisions were made in the way estimates were conducted, when there are signs of leaks these should be investigated and they should noted in the proposal that are sent to the costumer.
