Hi, this is Steve from Roofer 911. Today I was at a home in Leesburg Virginia that had two separate leaks because of melting snow on the roof. Now when you look at this main picture there was 14 inches of snow on this roof and it was all the way up to the top to the ridge vent and this can cause all sorts of problems especially if the ridge vent is not installed correctly or if it’s not waterproofed properly underneath. This is an aluminum ridge vent and the contractors who initially did the installation they just nailed it into place and didn’t seal underneath so when the heat inside the attic is melting snow outside the water is backing up and leaking inside the home. Here, this was an infrared photo that I took it inside the attic and in this area where you see dark purple, that’s all wet plywood.
So the first thing we needed to do was removed this entire line of ridge vent but before we could do that we had to clean off all the snow. Now once the vent has been removed any shingles that are damaged will be removed and replaced with new. Next, we seal the deck heavy with polyurethane then the new ridge vent will be pressed right into the sealant and fastened into the rafters underneath. Now with the polyurethane, it will block any water from melting snow, driving rain or heavy downpours.
Now when you look at this other infrared photo, this was taken right inside this bedroom in this area and there’s a window here and the leak was about two to three feet straight back in and the reason why is because the ridge vent here was not sealed underneath as well so when there was a melting snow the water was backing up underneath the ridge vent and dropping down inside the attic and the insulation became will saturated. Now when the insulation became completely saturated the water lets loose and then you see the damage inside so we had to perform the same procedures here and there was a maybe 26% moisture here so with that type of wetness the whole ceiling in this entire area here had to be removed and replaced with new insulation and drywall because otherwise they could have developed mold.
My name is Steve from Roofer 911 and we service all areas of Leesburg and Northern Virginia for ice dam removal and the roof repairs. Thank you and have a wonderful day!
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