Have you ever been awoken in the middle of the night by a violent storm? It can seem very frightening: rain pounding the roof, trees swaying about, winds pummeling the sides of the house. The worst part is knowing these sounds may mean damage to your roof. You may not be able to get a repairman to the site immediately, which is why you should perform a temporary roof repair for leaks after a storm. This guide will show you how.

The first thing you need to do when your roof is leaking is take care of your house. You should mop up any leaks from the floor so that there is no internal damage along with the external damage.  When you find the leak put a thick towel down.  On top of the towel you need to place a watertight bucket or cooler.  This will stand to gather and hold the water that leaks through until a repair can be made.

As soon as it stops raining, you need to determine the source of the problem and how extensive it is.  Work your way up to the roof by first checking out the attic.  Inspect the insulation to see if it is wet and to make sure there is no mold.  Many people will encourage you to caulk the leak to deter further leaking, but unless you have prior roofing knowledge you shouldn’t do this.  Caulk could actually damage the shingles and roofing rather than help.

Covering your roof with a temporary cover will allow you to stop the roof from leaking even more.  You will need a tarp, some wooden stakes, rope, a ladder, and gloves.  You need to measure the distance from the roof to the ground and get twice that amount in rope for each corner of the house.  Install the stakes into the ground as an anchor for the rope.  Tie a rope to each hole in the corner of the tarp and lock it into a stake.  Do this for all four corners so the house is entirely covered by the tarp.  This should hold until a roofer can come by and fix your roof properly.

Continuing Problems

If you need professional help as soon as possible, use TalkLocal. This free concierge service will  search for reliable local roofing businesses that can meet on your schedule, even if that means right now! Simply go to the TalkLocal website, input your problem, location, and availability to be connected within minutes to  someone who can help.

This entry was updated on Wednesday, July 1st, 2015 at 1:31 pm. This entry was originally posted on Thursday, December 6th, 2012 at 2:00 pm and is filed under Roofers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.