If you notice long gray stains running down the walls in your home, check the condition of your roof fast. The stains on your walls could be a sign of a major roof leak. If you don't do something about the leak today, it could cause additional problems for your home later. Learn how roof leaks affect your home's walls and how you can get through various issues below.
Why Are Stains on Your Walls?
You may associate the stains on your walls with a leaking plumbing pipe or damaged water line. Although leaking plumbing pipes and water lines can cause massive water leaks in the home, so can a compromised roofing system. Damaged gutters, loose flashing, and other structural issues on your roof can cause water to leak behind or on your home's interior walls.
Interior wall leaks can be difficult to locate and repair. Leaks may occur in areas of your roofing system you may not have direct access to, such as a chimney or a second-story attic window. Leaks may also develop in the drainage system lining the edges of your roof.
Each type of leak above can allow rainwater to seep inside the wall cavities in your home. The water will eventually stain, or discolor, the surfaces of your wall. The water may also cause the materials in your walls to rot or decay.
You can save your walls and find the leak in your roof by contacting a residential roofer for help.
How Do You Solve a Major Roof Leak?
A roofer will need to determine where the stains in your walls come from during the visit. A contractor will need to check things in your home that may cause water to leak behind your walls, including your plumbing system. If a plumbing leak caused the water stains on your walls, a roofer may suggest you call someone to repair it.
If your plumbing system isn't the cause of the water stains, a roofer will check the drainage system lining your roof's edge for damage. Your roof could have loose gutters, broken soffits, or something else that requires immediate repairs. If a roofer locates damage along the roof's edge, they'll make plans to repair it.
If your entire roofing system is in bad condition, it may be past time to replace it. In this case, a roofer will schedule the replacement appointment for you.
Learn more about interior wall leaks and stains by contacting a roofing company, such as JC Contracting LLC.
When you have something you like inside a jar, you probably put a lid on it — right? In a way, you can think of your house in the same manner. You like and value the items inside, along with the inside of the house itself. So, it only makes sense that you would protect the interior of your home with a lid. That lid is your roof.
Keep that perspective in mind as you read this blog. Learning more about roofing will feel more interesting if you remember what a roof does: it protects the inside of the home and the people who live in it.