How To Repair Leaking Roof In Winter

Locate the leaking source and search for the damaged or missing shingles and make a list of the areas to be repaired.

How to repair leaking roof in winter.

Make use of the flame carefully on the curled shingle edges. Patch the nail or screw holes by slipping a piece of roof flashing underneath the shingle. The tar strip needs to be about 60f to activate. The roof shingles should be softened and flattened as the shingles tend to curl up in winter.

In the winter a dab of roofing cement or tar should be added to each shingle to bond them together until the tar strip is activated in warmer weather. To stop the leak use a long handled roof rake to remove snow from your roof or blow cold air onto the area of the roof that is leaking in your attic using a box fan. If a leak is difficult to find enlist a helper and go up on the roof with a garden hose. Start low soaking the area just above where the leak appears in the house.

While temperature is below freezing at 7 degrees and ot. The shingles can be warmed up with a propane torch. For example soak the downhill side of a chimney first then each side then the top on both sides. This will freeze the leaking water in place but you ll still need to deal with the ice dam or it will melt and start leaking again.

Small nail holes left behind from old vents satellite dish brackets or anything previously attached to the roof can allow water to enter and cause damage for years before leaking is noticed. Insert a nail in the hole where water is leaking through the roof. Shingles that aren t stuck to one another are very susceptible to damage in winter winds.