It’s that time of year again: rainy season.

Whether you expect monsoon-like thunderstorms to drench your home, condominium, or business, or you expect relatively light rainfall but worry because you live in an older home, you want a systematic way to check your roof for leaks before all the action begins.

The biggest challenge is finding the spot or spots that are leaking.

This is because the information you get from the leak itself (where the water is dripping) may tell you very little about where the actual problem spot is. For instance, water might penetrate through your roof at one location, run down for several feet or longer, and “leak” through a second location. Where you spot the damage – where the insulation is wet, shingles are rotting, etc. – is the distall (far) problem. You want to find the proximal problem (the root cause).

Grab a flashlight and a helper, and let’s get going.

You might want to do this leak hunting during a rainy day, since that’s when the leaks will be most active. If not, you can actually jerry-rig “fake rain” by spraying a hose on your roof. Head up into your attic (or the room right below the roof) and scour the sealing and other areas for water, damp spots, spots that “don’t look right,” or spots where the paint is blistering. Places where moisture can accumulate include gutters, shingles, gaskets, flashing, rubber seals around vents and pipes, and ridge caps.

Once you identify all the leaks (or possible leaks), wait until the rain stops (or turn off the water). Once things have dried off, go up on the roof while a helper stays in the room below. Turn on the water and use trial and error (communicating with your helper via a cell phone or a walky-talky) to identify the proximal location based on when the distill areas activate, when you spray water on the roof. Don’t flood potentially problematic areas, or you will have a harder time locating the proximal problem area.

If this all sounds too complicated, convoluted, or time consuming, you might be right. It might be a lot easier to connect with the Bay Area’s leader in lightweight roof systems, Century Roof and Solar.

For over a decade and a half, our Bay Area roofing contractors have helped East Bay residents and business owners solve their roofing problems permanently and affordably. Learn more about the solutions we can provide for you at www.centuryrooftile.com, or schedule a consultation with our Diamond-certified company by calling us at 888-233-7548.