Roofing/Siding Referral Needed

[xxsn0blindxx]

I have water coming into my kitchen ceiling and I think it's due to a leak in the roof or siding. It's a 2-story house with the kitchen partially covered by second level bedroom and part covered by a roof that cover only the first flor office and part of the kitchen. I was able to get in the attic over the first floor and could not find any water coming through the roof and no moisture on the top side of the drywall that is saturated on the bottom side. My theory is that the water is coming in where the first floor roof meets up with the side of the second level wall. There does not appear to be any plumbing in that area and the 2nd floor bathroom is on the opposite side of the house.

Any thoughts? Anybody know a good roofer/siding repair company/contractor?

[77thor]

Callen Construction, they are on Janesville Road in Muskego.

[stenchmiester]

greater south milwaukee roofing and gutter 414 570 0776 i work for them

[xxsn0blindxx]

Know of a good way that I can figure out if this is a roofing/siding issue? I'm pretty sure that it is, but I haven't totally ruled out plumbing yet.

We first noticed the water Monday morning and there was more again this morning. I'm not sure if that means it isn't roof/siding or if the water is just pooled up in the ceiling.

These are the two spots in the kitchen where water has come through. The spot on the left is under the first level roof, the spot on the right is under an upstairs bedroom.

http://i335.photobucket.com/albums/m451/xxsn0blindxx/House/kitchen.jpg

The spots are barely visible, but I enhanced the photos to make it easier to see.

http://i335.photobucket.com/albums/m451/xxsn0blindxx/House/corner2.jpg
http://i335.photobucket.com/albums/m451/xxsn0blindxx/House/corner1.jpg

I don't have a picture of the back of the house, but there is a room behind the garage on the left side and the door from the garage on the right side goes in to the left side of the kitchen. Where the roof meets the 2nd level wall is about 3 feet to the right of the left kitchen wall. Both the front and back of the house have gutters from the 2nd level roof dumping on to the first level roof. I know this is a no-no, but I just didn't get a chance to fix it before winter hit.

http://i335.photobucket.com/albums/m451/xxsn0blindxx/House/outside.jpg

http://i335.photobucket.com/albums/m451/xxsn0blindxx/House/floorplan.jpg

[DirtyMax]

Given the timing of when you noticed it and it's specific location, I'm going to make a guess that with the rain we had all day Sunday and then the RAPID freeze overnight, you might have been the victim of a sort of ice damming. The water was freezing on your roof , as well as still getting some runoff in those upper downspouts, and kept freezing deeper and was pushing what water was trapped up inside and gravity took over from there.

That being said, don't ask me how to fix it... (aside from what you already know which is that those spouts dumping where they do probably didn't help)

My friend's house has the exact same configuration (second level gutters/spouts dropping off to a small bit of roof, then down to first level gutters) and it happened to them over the summer when we got that 5 inches of rain in a few hours (aka my wedding day) and it was just that the gutters and downspouts couldn't keep up and it backed up through back into the house.

I don't know if/how they did anything about it because it wasn't something that happens very often. I'm willing to bet those drop off gutters tie into the main level gutters somehow now on their house. It never happened to them in ~8 yeard of living at this house since they built it new and it may very well have never happened by you before.

[1997 Trans-Am]

ice dam is my guess also. if you have an overhang on the first floor somehow the heat from the house warms the overhang from lack of insulation then melts the snow on the roof then it freezes back in the gutter and can push shingles and stuff around since water expands.

we had a problem like that with a customer. we installed a bay window in a kitchen and only in winter time it would leak. we tried everything to fix it and nothing worked. we caulked every seam. nothing worked. there tricky

[JC70SS]

Anyone do insulation....under Al siding?

[Silver350]

I have done some shingling in the past and am no way a professional but.......

Do you have gas heat or do your home use water? If its water it could be a pipe going to the second floor the bed room heat.

If you dont have radiant heat.

I do not like the configuration of the second floor down spout. I never seen a home thats the down spout poors on the roof usally it goes off the side of the home all the way to the ground. I think Dirty max has the right Idea with the rain and freezing and thawing. I would look into changing that set up and see if that solves the problem. Maybe extend that downspout down to the lower gutter and Check for loose shingles that you can lift up a little. If the shingles do lift apply some sealant to them an get them to stay down. The water is probably also running along the siding. Check to see if the flashing were the siding and roof met might be damaged

Cut out the water stain drywall and see if the leak continues if it does its something else. When it comes to fix the drywall if you do it yourself and need tools I have a ton of tools you can borrow for dry wall.

[Reverend Cooper]

yeah I say the ice is damming up under that flashing by the area of the downspout that
would seem to make the most sense

[xxsn0blindxx]

Thanks for all the advice guys. i can' say enough how much i appreciate it. I have come to the conclusion as well that this is likely an ice dam issue. There is no longer any moisture in the ceiling and the water main has been on all day today. I know that the 2nd level gutters need to be extended to dump in to the first level gutters. This was on the long list of things to do, but didn't get done (we just moved in at the end of September). My guess is that water came in where the roof meets the side of the house since there was no water in the first floor attic. Again thank you all for your advice.

[Car Guy]

If you have anything done be sure to post up some feedback on the work performed, I need similar work done on my garage and don't know if I really want to tackle it myself or not (yeah that's a NO).....

[84 Regal]

Look and see if the tins are rusted thru(tins go underneth each shingle and lay againts side of house) leaks are tricky to find, been doing this for 18 years.

or the j-channel could be blocked and water is getting behind th siding

Thanks Mike M.

[stenchmiester]

justin pm me your number i can come look at it ive been roofing/siding for over 5 years now

[Exitspeed]

I recommend Wetzels Home Improvements. They are a little more expensive but his service and quality are almost unmatched in my experience. Cheap price is fine until you need some warranty work or even trying to get the people to do the work in the first place. They are one of Shorewest's preferred vendors and I have had almost nothing but positive feedback about them. My wife (who is a realtor) uses them quit often for her clients because they COME THROUGH when others won't. And they don't half a$$ $hit.