Last week was shaping up to be a pretty good one. Sherry celebrated turning 30 and we declared the kitchen mostly finished. Spring was in full bloom and even brought a dramatic thunderstorm one night. It rained harder and faster than anything we’d seen since moving into this house. Then, around midnight, something unexpected happened.
We were watching TV when a sudden rushing sound filled the house—like someone had dumped a gallon of milk on the kitchen floor. Our first thought was the dishwasher, so we ran to the kitchen, but a stream of water hit us from above before we even reached it. Water was pouring from one of the living room beams and also seeping from a nearby wall. Great.
Everything happened quickly. We grabbed a bucket and stuffed a towel at the base of the dripping wall. Because the storm and lightning were still active, the safest move was to inspect the attic rather than head outside with a metal ladder or flashlight. I crawled into the attic with a flashlight and my phone to document the damage while Sherry stood below tapping on the beam so I could follow the sound. I located where water seemed to be seeping in. Needless to say, we were both pretty worried.
The attic space above the leak was narrow and had no flooring, so neither of us could safely get into the exact spot. By then the storm had calmed somewhat, so at 1:30 a.m. we decided to call it a night and tackle the roof in daylight. The stream from the wall had mostly stopped and the beam drip had slowed to a trickle, so we left a bucket out and hoped the worst had passed.
As an aside: it was tragic to miss the end of our recorded episode of Dancing With The Stars. Urkel would have to wait.
The next afternoon it was sunny and hot, so we waited until Clara’s nap when both of us could check the roof together. First we inspected the attic again; most of the wet spots had already dried. Then I climbed onto the roof while Sherry stayed on the ladder. I half-feared finding a gaping hole and half-hoped for a clear, fixable issue. Our roof is a 30-year asphalt shingle system that was replaced the spring before the previous owners sold the house, so it’s only a few years old.
There are quite a few rooflines on our house, which can make tracking sources tricky. I used the chimney and the fireplace—between the kitchen and living room—to orient myself and find the section above the leak.
When I reached the area above the leak, the culprit was obvious: a large pile of leaves collecting against the shingles.
I try to keep the roof free from debris, but this pile had accumulated since I was last up there in the fall and it was invisible from the ground. A few sweeps with the rake cleared the leaves away.
How can leaves cause a leak? Shingles are layered so rain flows down them, but when water pools—like behind a leaf dam—it can work its way under the shingles, into nail holes or other vulnerable spots. From the wet mark on the roof, you can see how high water had backed up. Eventually it found a path in and the attic and living room took the hit.
Clearing the leaves didn’t guarantee the leak was fixed, but it was a promising theory. Once it was gone, being on the roof felt a little more enjoyable. I even asked Sherry to stand in the sunroom and look up through the skylights just for fun.
We got an opportunity to test our fix over the next week as several long storms rolled through Richmond. Each storm gave us a real-world check on Operation Leaf Removal. After the first five-hour rain, we inspected the attic and found it dry. Victory.
The second big storm produced the same result: a dry attic. For now, we consider the problem solved and are grateful that nothing in the house was ruined and that the repair didn’t cost anything. The experience taught us not to wait months before checking the roof for hidden leaf buildup. Leaves can hide in places you can’t see from the ground and cause surprisingly sneaky damage.
We’re especially relieved it didn’t happen while we were away in Hawaii—coming home to a living room full of water would have been awful. Do you have a leaky roof story? Was your fix simple or costly? Did you catch it in time? Any tips for preventing or finding leaks would be appreciated since we felt pretty inexperienced this time around.