I bought a foreclosure it was empty a few years. The water has done damage to the main floor ceiling. Slat and lath falling down on main floor and the beam in the basement has mold etc. Got up on the roof and the leaves had basically composted into dirt. Threw it all down. For some reason I thought maybe it was the mortar in the chimney; friend helps me patch the chimney. That wasn't it. Going to post several pictures of the actual situation.
This is behind the chimney. This is mostly to show the dirt and why there is not that normal flashing setup to divert the water to both sides of the chimney.
first off clean all that shit off your roof it won't be doing your shingles and favours. second leaks can be hard to track down but start by looking in the attic to see where it might be coming in from. if you find a suspicious spot you can go back on the roof and put some tar around the area
the shingles don't look too bad
it might have leaked from all that junk holding/pooling water
clean it off, let it dry completely, and look for holes or cracks....if you see any, fill with foundation coating and or asphalt crack filler
tried different roof products before and they were crap compared to the driveway stuff; applied it years ago and it still there and still hard
I'll be brutally honest; if you're posting here asking if this is a DIY fix, it probably isn't for you.
What you'll end up having to do is start by fixing the roof. Taking up shingles without damaging them to re-use them, or feathering in new shingles if some are un-usable. Then you'll have to repair the sheathing; replace the plywood under the shingles, and install new flashing and weatherproofing (paper).
Then you'll want to apply antimicrobial and sand water damaged framing to minimize rot, mold, or other water damages.
Then replace insulation from the attic where the water has affected.
remove about 25% more of the visibly affected material (drywall or plaster) and install new. Paint the room.
Next, trim the trees above your roof way way way back to prevent debris buildup causing all the damming and pooling.
>>953554
Last time I had one I had to climb into attic during storm with flashlight to spot it. In my case it was in a valley and I stripped ~8 courses of new shingles, put down ice shield, and re-shingled.
Your roof looks newer... I'd check valleys as primary culprits and be ready to strip shingles to fix it (don't just slap tar on it.) Luckily shingle look newer which makes patching possible... remove shingles from bottom going up till you get to trouble spot, fix and re-shingle.
A roof leak is not something to let go... quickly destroys houses.
Valley Between Chimney and roof where water should flow down towards the gutter. The general leak area is circled. This is circled based on water damage area on the inside of the attic relative to the chimney. This is a guess based on wet wood. I don't know how to find the leak from the roof??? All I can think of is to start pulling up shingles at the bottom. From the outside visually it looks ok to me. I also thought of just covering the entire area in roofing tar.
>>953560
>it might have leaked from all that junk holding/pooling water
I assume this is what started it. Pictured less than half of original amount. There were plant roots in the dirt up there I had to pull up. I think if it was summer they would have been live plants growing up there. However once I cleaned it off I think the leak may have gotten worse. Somehow all the leaves were slowing the flow.
>I'll be brutally honest; if you're posting here asking if this is a DIY fix, it probably isn't for you.
I'm pretty handy but I'm over the weight limit of most ladders so I'm not fond of being up there. It just happens to be pretty level right there so I thought I could give it a try. Plus a couple of attic beams are rotten. Trees are big and will probably cost more to cut down than fixing the roof. I'll get to it eventually. Thanks
>roof leak is not something to let go... quickly destroys houses.
It made it all the way to main beam in basement but luckily that is still solid but has weird mold/fungus.
>>953566
yikes, if things are rooting, that's really bad.....the owner must never have bothered to actually clean up there
whatever you do, don't wait to do something about it (been in that situation)
>>953564
How unbelievable stupid construction, lol. Having any kinds of valleys in roof without having a sloped channel draining the water away is just asking for water damage to the roof. And even with the channel you absolutely must inspect and maintain the channel regularly.
>>954298
Ha, want to know the worst part is that is not the only place like that. Here is a pic of the second spot where the roof meet from 4s side to one location and down. It too is leaking. I'm having a mexican come look at it tomorrow. I'm hoping he will cut out the rot and not just want to throw roof tar on it. A couple of the roof supports are rotted. On the right of this photo not pictured is another roof angle.
the other side of same photo. as a fat man on a roof its hard to get good photos. 4 roofs go down to one spot and the only 4'' available to a gutter. There were several shingles down here but I could only find where one came from. Its actually some seriously good looking compost but its all some sort of evergreen tree so I don't know if thats good for plants. I'm just hoping to get a grip on this.
>>954456
If you're still the guy who said he's over weight rating for ladders, that means you're over 250 for most consumer ladders, and over 350 for professional ladders.
I don't want to be a dick, but do some /diy/ on yourself and get to a healthy weight. That being said, I've seen some 300lb contractors up on roofs. It'll hold a large man, but the concern is when the sheathing is rotted, it won't hold more than a small woman.
That aside, you can redo the flashing at the chimney and add a ton of weatherproofing which you should redo after every 10 or so years. Most people never touch their roof until theres a problem, but they do need maintenance every decade.
>>953552
>>953554
>>953564
>>954452
>>954456
Residential carpenter, roofer here. It is hard to get a sense of positioning and location from your pictures, but from what I can tell, your problem is water build up behind your chimney. What others have requested will repair the damage but won't fix the problem. A chimney cricket (adapted to your roof slope) is needed to shed the water from behind
>>954569 Yeah I know I'm like 270lbs and then add tools the 250 lb ladder was very sketchy extended. Yeah I know I need to lose some weight. I borrowed some german ladder that folds up into 4 sections I think its 300lb rated and it feels a lot more stable.
>>955037
Maybe this will help. I was told by home inspector its a situation where normally you would put a cricket but its not possible to do so here.
>>953554 looking the the house I'm between the chimney and roof.
>>953564 i'm standing where all that dirt was
>>954452 to the left of satellite dish on the other side of the house. I didn't actually photo the most ridiculous part but its a shit show that also has a leak. I agree you can't tell anything from those two photos.
>>953561
>Taking up shingles without damaging them to re-use them
I don't believe I would do this.
>>955037
>chimney cricket
Instead of a cricket would you be better off with some yankee flashing a few courses above the problem area?
>>955496
That actually makes a more sense. A cricket would direct about 4 sq ft of water to one side and the remaining 500 sq ft would still flow down the channel because it can't flow uphill. However goggle shows very few examples of yankee flashing. My mexican friend has been too drunk to roof and I doubt he knows about yankee flashing. Yankee flashing looks like it would split the difference between the channel and the valley. Thanks for the tip I think it might be a step in the right direction.
