If you have asphalt shingles overhead, repairing your roof can be a simple project that involves locating the leak and then sealing it correctly. Follow the steps below to wrap up this repair quickly without even having to call in roofers.
Step 1: Find the roof leak
The first step to repairing leak on your roof is to identify it. If you find out that your roof is leaking, take binoculars and go outside the house to find out the roof leak. You should look to see whether there are any missing, cracked, or curled shingles. Leaks can always occur at any point where flashing or caulking has been compromised. Also check end caps, which are the tent-shaped shingles covering the roof’s angular peaks.
Step 2: Secure Curled shingles
You can re-secure curled-back shingles by scrubbing on a coating of asphalt roofing cement or by finding its equivalent compound in the tubes for use with the caulk gun. When you are repairing a leaky roof, you should apply enough amount of roofing cement, especially to the underside of the shingle in order to ensure that the corners and the edges are secured. After that, press firmly to set.
Step 3: Replaced missing or damaged shingles
If shingles are rotten, cracked, or missing, replacing them could be another simplest option for repairing a roof leak, as long as the replacement shingles are available. To remove a damaged shingles, get to the edges of the surrounding shingles and lift them and use a spry bar to remove the nails carefully. The shingles will easily slide out once you have removed the nails. Scrap away any of the present residue cement from your roof and remove or level protruding nails.
Before replacing any new shingles, use a utility knife to round the back corners. This will make it very easy for the shingles to be slid under the one above and to also align it correctly with the others on either side. After positioning it, lift the corner of all the overlapping shingles and then fasten the new replacement’s top.
Step 4: Fix flashing
Metal flashing around dormers and chimneys can also cause roof leaks. Roof leak repairs in this case should involve resealing joints by utilizing a caulk gun, which is filled with roofing cement. In case there is any damage to the joints that had previously been sealed using roof cement, use a putty knife to apply a fresh new coat.