Roof's leak issues may warrant a day in court
Q. I look forward to reading your column in The Daily Herald every Sunday, as I have found it to be very interesting and informative.
In October 2006, I had the existing roof on our two-story home replaced. The roof was 18 years old, and although we weren't experiencing any problems, I figured that with the age of the roof, it was only a matter of time before a problem would develop. I had GAF Timberline Architectural Shingles installed, which have a 30-year manufacturer's warranty. I know that shingles never last the supposed warranty period, but I thought with a 30-year warranty, they would be good for at least 15-20 years.
All was well until September 2013. We experienced a heavy rain, and when I went out into the garage I noticed a small puddle of water on the garage floor. When I looked up at the underside of the garage roof, I noticed a wet spot and a slow water drip from the garage roof. When I looked at other areas of the garage roof, I saw a second area where the roof boards were wet.
As I had a 10-year installation warranty with the roofer who installed the roof, I called the roofer, who came out to the house and inspected the two areas that I saw water/wet wood. He had one of his employees get up on the roof, who said some nails had popped near the problem areas; he hammered the nails back down and applied roofing caulk sealant.
Unfortunately, this did not solve the seepage problem in either area. Since I discovered the initial leaks/seepage, nearly every time it rains, and even when snow on the roof melts, I can see that the wood underside of the garage roof in these two areas becomes wet. The roofer has been out five additional times, and each time just applies more roofing caulk/sealant. I didn't contact him the three most recent times, since it's become obvious that applying roofing caulk/sealant is not solving the problem.
Is there a repair that can be made to remedy this situation, or do I need to just get the garage re-roofed to solve this problem? And if re-roofing is the answer, can I just have the front roof of the garage done, or possibly just the entire first story? There isn't any evidence that the second-story roof has this problem, as both a handyman and I have looked into the second-floor attic to see if there were any water stains on the underside of the roof.
I have not, however, checked out the attic space above the back portion of the first-story roof. The seepage/wet wood is not near where the roof meets the second story of the house, although I understand that the source of the leak(s) can be farther up on the roof and not necessarily exactly where I'm seeing the wet wood.
A. I am sorry you are experiencing such problems, which should not happen. It sounds as if the roofer is neither experienced nor competent. Nails (if they are nails, and not staples) should not have popped if they were properly applied.
If you were present during the installation, do you remember if they used pneumatic guns or if they hand-nailed the shingles?
Pneumatic guns are used more and more, but their use requires experience to set the nails (or staples) properly, and unfortunately, many roofing workers are hired off the street and are not experienced.
The best old-time roofers I have worked with over nearly 60 years still use hand-nailing, which is more time-consuming, but, when done by experienced mechanics, is far better than pneumatic application.
Architectural shingles are trickier to install than three-tab or metric shingles because of their layered construction, which hides the joints.
With what you describe, my guess is the leaks are caused by a lack of underlayment (shingles applied on bare sheathing), and the misalignment of the joints between abutting shingles over overlapping courses. These joints are the most likely places where the roofer applied caulking. Unfortunately, it is likely that the problem is widespread throughout the entire roof.
I suggest you look for a very experienced roofing contractor and have the roof thoroughly checked over. It may be necessary to do costly major replacement.
Once you have found out what the problem is, and can document it, it may be time to consider litigation against the roofer, as he is unlikely to admit to any mistakes or agree to pay for the replacement of the shingles. If you go this route, take plenty of photographs during the teardown and the replacement.
Q: I have a question: We have cement walkways, which have been sealed. Can we use rock salt on them in the winter season?
A. The recommendation from the concrete industry has changed in the last few years. It used to be that the best way to melt ice was to use calcium chloride, but now the recommendation is to use sodium chloride, which has been found to be less damaging to concrete in the long run.
If your walkways have been sealed with a penetrating sealer, which is a permanent sealer, you should not experience any damage to the concrete. But if the sealant is topical, it should be reapplied every year or two to ensure proper protection.
Q. We have mildew/mold problems in the caulking in our shower and behind our faucet in the kitchen. The products I have tried in the shower are bleach, Tilex and X-14 Instant Mildew Stain Remover, which didn't do anything. I have not tried anything in the kitchen, as those products I mentioned cannot be used on granite.
The shower stall is made from Swanstone, and one of the other pictures I sent is from the bottom of our glass partition, right next to the glass door in the shower. Both the shower and kitchen granite are about 5 years old, as we had our kitchen and bathroom redone at that time.
Other than removing the caulking and re-caulking, are there any products out there that may be able to get rid of this?
A. The existing caulking is likely to be standard grade silicone, known for mildewing. The mildew penetrates the caulking and cannot be satisfactorily removed. It is best to remove the caulking, which may prove to be difficult.
Although there are caulking removers on the market, the only one I tried was not successful. You may have better luck. If I needed to remove silicone caulk again, one brand I would try is McKanica.
A hair dryer is helpful in softening the silicone to make it easier to remove, but it should not be used on acrylic surfaces. It's OK to use with tiles and granite or similar countertops.
Whether softened or not, you can break the bond between the caulk and the surfaces to which it is applied with a utility knife, and then peel the caulking bead off. Once the caulking has been removed, you will have to clean the area thoroughly with either alcohol or mineral spirits, using an abrasive pad to remove any remnants of the old caulk to ensure proper adhesion.
There are several brands of caulking compounds that guarantee they will not mildew: Sashco Mildew Free Sealant is guaranteed for seven years and will pay labor and materials to replace it if it fails within that time frame; GE Supreme Silicone Kitchen & Bath; DAP Kwik Seal 3.0 Advanced Caulk With Microban is silicone-based and advertised as mildew-proof; Locktite-U Can Seal white caulk was recommended by a reader who also said that a small amount of mildew developed after awhile, which he easily removed with bleach and water.
Q. My husband and I both enjoy your home-repair column. We live in a bi-level house with a deep crawl space (I am 5-foot-6 and can stand up straight and walk around) under the front of the house. It had a gravel floor, but a few years ago, we had concrete pumped in. The area has always been dry and good for storage, and the concrete has been a major improvement.
The problem is that the surface is now covered with white, sandy "dust." What would you do to eliminate this problem? Do we need to call in a professional? We would like to continue to use the area for storage, but end the tracking of white powder out of the area.
A. The white powder is efflorescence, which occurs when moisture from the substrate under the concrete permeates through the slab, dissolving some of the salts in it. Once exposed to the crawl space air, the moisture evaporates and the salts are left on the surface.
It sounds as if the concrete was poured on the gravel without a vapor retarder and a layer of sand to absorb the excess water in the concrete. These salts are harmless, albeit annoying, and can easily be brushed off with a dry brush. They are likely to recur.
Unfortunately, there is no way that I know of to seal the concrete to prevent efflorescence. Applying any kind of sealer would trap the moisture under the sealer and either damage the sealer or leave ugly marks under it.
You may want to consider placing your stored goods on pallets to safeguard them from moisture damage.
• Henri de Marne was a remodeling contractor in Washington, D.C., for many years, and is now a consultant. His book, "About the House," is available at www.upperaccess.com. His website is www.henridemarne.com. Email questions to henridemarne@gmavt.net, or mail First Aid for the Ailing House, Universal Uclick, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.
© 2016, United Feature Syndicate Inc.