Roof leak repair in Mascouche

A leak only gets fixed properly once you know exactly where the water passes. On Mascouche-Heights homes touched up through several re-roofs, as on open lots where rain arrives sideways, the ceiling stain is rarely right below its cause. We cross-check what you've noticed, what the attic shows and what we find on the roof before proposing a repair.

Keep a simple leak diary

When the water shows up says a lot about where it comes from. A drip that only appears in windy thunderstorms points to flashing or a rake edge. A stain that grows during the March thaw points instead to ice building up at the eaves. Water in cold, dry weather suggests condensation.

Before we come out, jot down a few details. They save time on the roof and keep us from repairing the wrong spot.

• The date and time you saw the water
• The weather at the time: rain, snow, a thaw, strong wind
• Which way the wind was blowing, if you know
• A photo of the stain each time it changes

Forgotten penetrations on roofs that have been reworked

On a house that has changed owners and roofs several times, the surface hides openings nobody ever closed properly. A satellite dish that came down leaves screw holes daubed with tar. A dryer vent that was moved leaves an opening covered by a shingle laid flat. A chimney taken down below the roofline was sometimes boarded over with plywood and no membrane at all.

Those makeshift fixes hold for a few years, then the sealant dries out and water finds its way to the deck. We lift the shingles around each old installation, remove the patchwork and close the opening the right way, with sound wood, membrane and properly lapped shingles.

Sideways rain on open lots

On Mascouche's large open properties, rain doesn't always fall straight down. Driven by gusts, it climbs under rake shingles, slips behind wall flashing that's too short or blows in through a vent grille. These leaks often show up high on an exterior wall rather than in the middle of a ceiling. To confirm one without waiting for the next storm, we recreate the rain with a garden hose, one section at a time, while watching inside. If the test points to a vent grille, we swap it for a baffled model that stops wind-driven rain and rebuild the flashing at its base.