I’m almost 50 and on my 2nd house, but what I don’t know about basic upkeep would fill a couple novels. I have a problem with the house and I’m really just paralyzed.
I have new roof, new gutters and the chimney is tuckpointed and weather proofed. Yet I still have moisture coming in. Roofer said it was due to ice dam, but it seems to be moist all summer. The whole wall affected has paneling, so I really can’t see what exactly is going on. No water in the basement.
Question, roofer says it’s not his problem Stone guy says it’s not his problem. I’m at a loss of who to call next. I just need like a home consultant, I don’t want to pay someone $80 just for walking in the door but I need an answer and I need a solution. I had painting guy over, but my fear is that I can get all the repairs done, but I’m still leaking somehow.
House is 1950’s ranch. Any help will be super duper greatly appreciated.
I had a roof leak I couldn’t identify. I ended up using a tarp, and by moving it I was able to stop the leak and ID the area which was quite a distance from the evidence of the leak.
My sister-in-law had a water heater in a little closet which had no floor and whose only door opened to the outside world. One day she got curious and opened it, and that damned heater had been leaking in there for who knows how long. The whole closet was a mass of mold and fungus, and since it shared a wall with her kitchen she had to have a major part of her kitchen rebuilt to eliminate the mold.
I myself have experienced mystery leaks, occasional drips inside the house, which were caused by water infiltrating a brick chimney (bricks aren’t as waterproof as you’d think). Sealing the chimney with something like Thompson’s Water Seal fixed it; but you’ve got to redo it every now and then.
And my skylights have leaked once or twice, from a corner joint of the framing which had decided to gape a little. A daub of asphalt roofing cement fixed that.
Here’s what ya do. Make pot of chili, preferably a recipe you’ve never made before, or at least one that you’ve only made for family.
Then find a home consultant, and set an appointment for about noon. When the consultant gets there, pay them the $80, have them figure out the problem, and then invite them to stay for lunch.
After lunch, ask if they have any suggestions to offer about the chili.
There! Now you didn’t just pay tor the consult, you also got some free feedback on your cooking!
P.S. It doesn’t HAVE to be chili.
Has the roof leaked in the past? If so, there is a possibility the inside of the wall is wet, moisture trapped between the vapor barrier and insulation and or outer sheathing.
When I worked in structural drying and mold remdiation, I had a customer whose first clue that he had a problem was the mushrooms on the siding just under the eaves. I did the demo work on his corner office, the roofers and siding people did their respective jobs and the general contractor took care of the insulation, sheathing and vapor barrier (the roof had been leaking right at the eaves for years. )
You could also have moisture coming up through the walls from the basement or crawlspace and getting stuck there (called moisture stacking)
Basically, I’m gonna tell you, have someone come out and inspect, for moisture, I’d say Servpro or someone who does structural drying. They should (SHOULD) be able to track down pretty well where the water is and isn’t and give you an idea of where it’s coming from and what sort of repairs are needed.
That is what I was going to ask. Were you experiencing this moisture before? I imagine that is why you had all the work done. When you hired the roofer, did you just say, “Give me a new roof?” Or did you say, “I have a moisture problem. Please do what is needed to fix it.” Same with the tuckpointer.
Because if you hired them to fix a problem, and if they said their work would solve it, yet the problem exists, then it IS their problem.
Even if they didn’t, and just said they were giving you a new roof, the implied warranty is that the roof would be weathertight.
You probably DO need an independent investigation. But depending on what they find, you might have recourse to the folk you’ve already hired (and paid.)
Good luck. This sort of thing can be quite frustrating. And don’t beat yourself up too much about your home repair ignorance. Chances are, the repair persons are just as ignorant about YOUR profession.
To be honest - it make no sense that you don’t want to pay $80 to find the source of a problem that could do thousands of dollars damage if it continues.
I’m not a home repair expert but I’d say I’m pretty experienced and have had several roof related water issues over the years at various properties: ice dams, flashing between roof lines, flashing at the chimney, missing shingles & skylights leaking
All the posts here are possible, but without knowing a lot more details and seeing the damage it’s speculation. Options to repair will be just as much speculation.
My advice - get a qualified person to look at it and ask the appropriate questions. A lot of companies will do the diagnostic and estimate for free if you end up hiring them, ask about that if they want to charge you for the estimate.
I asking for a qualified person to call. Servpro was a good idea and I will get to them today. I don’t even know who to call, I’m sorry if that wasn’t clear in OP. I’m not asking for guesses on possible causes, I just want to make sure I contact the right person
Yeah - it can be confusing who to call. We’ve found that it can be hard to even get tradespeople to come out to give you a quote - especially if a job is too small. And then you can get 3 proposals, all of which contradict each other as to what is needed.
Your sitch sounds especially frustrating, because water issues such as you describe should be right in the wheelhouse of a roofer and a tuckpointer. We had a roofer out, and pointed to a water stain on the ceiling. He looked in the attic and identified it as a loose nail, climbed up on the roof and pounded it down. Then, after we DID have the roof replaced, we had water coming in a bathroom vent. Roofer came right out, assessed the sitch, and replaced the vent.
What I’m saying is that what is baffling to you ought to be ascertainable to a pro. I don’t understand why roofer/gutter/stone guys would disavow responsibility. If you are not able to get them back out, I’d definitely spread the word about them with the appropriate governments and on-line resources.
Anecdote: Years and years ago, my now-ex-wife and I noticed a small water stain on our kitchen ceiling. It was a two-story house, and above the kitchen was a bedroom and part of a bathroom. My mind immediately went to the roof, where I knew the plumbing vents for that bathroom and our downstairs half-bath ultimately exited.
I had a guy come out, he looked at things and told me, no, the tub spout in the upstairs bath was letting water get past it when the shower was being used, and that’s where the water was coming from. He caulked it, I paid him, and immediately harrumphed myself into a fit of pique for having dealt with this fraudster, knowing I was going to have to have another guy come out later and fix the roof.
Nope. He was exactly right. To the best of my knowledge, that ceiling is bone-dry to this day.