Home Improvement Adventures

Tim the Tool Man is back for another home improvement adventure. This time he offers a step-by-step guide for any DIY project when his house has an unexpected leak coming from the roof inside his house. One of the first thoughts when you first notice moisture, a water stain, or hear that dripping sound when it rains is that somewhere in your roof there might be a crack, a small hole where a roofing nail or some missing sealant. around the flashing around the roof vents. In any case, trying to find where that leak in your roof is coming from is like finding a needle in a haystack. In other words, an impossible task to locate exactly where that crack or hole is in one’s ceiling.

There are many options to consider when faced with preventing further water damage inside the home from a leaky roof. The most obvious is the idea that the roof is old and could use a total replacement. That is the most expensive option. One that will cost upwards of $5,000 or more depending on the square footage of your roof. For many of us, especially senior citizens living on Social Security, that’s not the option. The best chance to eliminate any leaks, protect the home, and at the same time, if you live in a hot climate like Florida, keep your interior cool on those extremely hot and humid days, is to apply a waterproof silicone barrier over the entire ceiling. .

With the advent of today’s silicone roofing technologies, they have created several sealants that would be more affordable and more practical to apply directly to your roof rather than a total roof repair. Through due diligence and research on the many types of silicone sealants, I recommend Eterna-Lote S-100. Of all the recommendations out there, this is by far the best option for any type of roof. You can order it online but, out of sheer conviction and cost, Home Depot carries this brand. They say timing is everything because I was lucky enough to be at Home Depot when they had Eterna-Lote S-100 for sale. Originally a 5 gallon bucket would cost a little over $200, but it was brought down to $70. The square footage of my roof required two 5 gallon drums of this sealer. A much better price than if I had opted to replace my roof. In addition there is a 50-year guarantee. What a good offer.

There really isn’t much to do once you have the necessary equipment to complete the task of applying this sealant to your roof. 5 gallons covers almost 500 square feet without the need for a primer. What I recommend for a single story home is an 8 foot. ladder and extendable roller handle with a paint roller designed for rough surfaces considering our roof is a rolled tile roof. Next you will need an empty 5 gallon bucket. Once you have these necessary tools, the application is easy to do.

Another word of caution is to check the weather forecast before applying. For best results, your roof should be dry and free of debris. If rain is forecast, wait until there are at least two days of warm, dry weather before and after applying this sealer. What I did was wait until the weather was a warm sunny 65 degrees. And in Florida, during the winter months, 65 degree days are quite common. I started by pouring 2 gallons of Eterna into the empty 5 gallon bucket, which gave me easy access to lift it up to the ceiling. This is because I’m not a Hercules anymore and 5 gallons of this caulk is almost 100 pounds. So lugging that weight onto my ladder would have been quite a chore to say the least.

With a slow pitch A-frame roof, it’s pretty easy to get around without safety lines. Just be careful when you get close to any edge. That’s why having this extended roller handle came in handy. Starting at the back of the house, I proceeded to roll this caulk covering the roof, easing my way to the front. Two and a half gallons of sealant covered 1/4 of the surface of my roof. Four hours later, exhausted from all the non-stop app, I was finally done. It was around 3:45 pm, just as the instructions said “for best results, do not apply after 4 pm.” All he had to do now was clean up.

Cleanup is relatively easy Paint thinner is the best choice for cleaning up your roller and any caulk that may have splattered on it. No such luck, though I did look down and my legs were splattered with caulk. I probably had more caulking on it than some parts of my ceiling. It’s a joke though. Anyway, with a clean cloth and paint thinner I managed to clean up any mess I made.

It’s crunch time to see how effective this roof sealant really is two days later. It was around two in the morning and it started to rain heavily. Wind gusts exceeded 50 mph and for four hours torrential rain pounded the roof. Sometime during that time, two large tree limbs snapped off and landed just short of our outdoor kitchen, missing the roof. Despite everything, not a drop got through our roof. Our house was safe and dry.

So if you have a leak somewhere in your ceiling and you know it’s not coming from a bathroom upstairs, it could just be coming from a crack or a leak somewhere in your ceiling. Rather than replace his roof, Tim, the tool man, recommends Eterna-kote S-100 Ultra Silicone Sealant for repairs to his roof, even if he can trace where the leak is coming from. Works. Tim the tool man says goodbye until next time.