How to Perform an Emergency Roof Repair
It’s a fact of life – you never know you have a leaking roof until you have one vital ingredient – water!
We usually discover a leak when we have a particularly heavy rainfall, that means during a storm and usually it has to be the middle of the night too! It’s just a fact of life we all have to live with but there are things you can do straight away to minimize the damage and impact on your home – but always remember, be safe first!
It is also a devil of a job to locate exactly where the leak is coming from when it appears, so it is better to simply cover off a section of the roof rather than spend time in inclement conditions, trying to specifically locate the leak.
You can make an emergency cover for your leaky roof using plastic sheeting and lengths of 2×4’s.
First, the plastic sheeting should be fairly thick (6-mil is good) and you need to unroll enough of it to cover off the section of roof. You are looking to have a length of sheeting which will run from the eaves to over the ridge line, and add another 4 feet just to make sure. Cut the end of the sheeting with a utility or craft knife. Use a length of 2×4 which is cut to the same length as the width of the sheeting and staple or tack the sheeting to it. Lay another length over this to sandwich the sheeting between the two lengths of wood and secure this using 3-inch nails.
Next, place the sandwich assembly along the eaves and then run the plastic sheeting up the roof and over the ridge line. Secure the sheeting on the other side of the roof using another pair of 2×4’s but don’t secure this section with nails or fasteners.
Do NOT nail any part of the temporary cover to the roof!
NEVER go on a roof during a thunderstorm, take care you do not step onto the plastic sheeting, especially if it is wet and do not try to perform this on a steep-pitched roof.