Keeping a SOUND ROOF

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How to keep your roof on while all around you are losing theirs.

It is the steady, purposeful sound of water falling a full story, ceiling straight to floor: the sound of a leaking roof. Unattended, roof-leak water will saturate your insulation, soak your wallboard, infiltrate headers, studs and flooring, and penetrate your footings to create the moist channels that attract termites and carpenter ants. It will spread into wet spots that encourage wood rot and play host to the molds, fungi and slimes that can gang up to convert your home into a pile of moist sawdust. That is, if it doesn't short out the wiring in the walls to cause a house fire first.

It is these and similar nightmares that conspire to keep us awake at night the first time we hear a leak from the part of the house that is a total out-of-sight-out-of-mind mystery: the roof.

To compound the worry, let us suppose the leak is the result of the single most common cause of open-roof-area leaks in wooded-country homes ...something yours truly has encountered four times to date. You awaken after a stormy night of howling, high winds, open the front door and step out into an unexpected wall of wet, leafy green to discover that a great spreading lawn tree--trunk, limbs, twigs, leaves, squirrels, birds nests and all - has fallen onto your roof.

A TREE ON THE ROOF

First, check carefully to determine damage, if any, to your house. Get up in the attic and check if rafters are cracked or if roof sheathing appears bowed or dished in. Look for punctures through the roof, where a "flying missile" from a broken branch or the stub end of a splintered branch pierced the shingles and sheathing - perhaps the most common form of serious tree damage to a roof.

If there is a new water leak, some damage occurred for sure. Nonetheless, it might not be sufficient to trigger insurance coverage. Since rogue windstorms have proliferated in recent years, many insurers have quietly expanded the deductibles that you must pay before insurance kick in. (These changes generally show up in the fine print of each year's new policy, as well as in the periodic coverage update sheets you get in the mail. But who reads the fine print? We all should.)

If damage is substantial, contact your insurance agent and get an adjuster out to investigate before you do anything. However, if you're certain the cost of the repair is within the deductible, or if blow down damage isn't covered, or if the tree hit the uninsured barn or shed, you're on your own.

If rain continues to fall, the quickest way to staunch a severe leak is to cover the damaged area (treetop and all if need be) with a large tarp. Contractors use them to cover homes till the roof is on. Then, take a breath and take action.

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