Cut to movie scene inside an abandoned cabin. Water pours in streams from the roof onto the floor and into buckets. It’s wet everywhere, and the outside rain isn’t helping. That’s what you might see if you let your old leaky roof continue to leak without replacing it. It doesn’t have to get as far as that movie scene at all. In fact, there are plenty of telltale signs that your roof is leaking, and you need to fix it now.

Trickles of Water Down a Wall

Unless you’re looking for it, or you hear it, you might not see this sign. Tiny beads of water or thin little rivulets running down a wall are a sign that your roof is probably exposed and not likely to prevent water from entering the home. It also means that your gutters aren’t quite doing their job. If you find a puddle of water on the floor you can’t explain and it leads back to the water coming down the wall, your roof is definitely in trouble.

Bubbles Under the Paint on the Ceiling

Whether dry or wet, these bubbles are obvious. They start out small and then grow to the point where it looks like your ceiling is going to pop in several places. It means that there is a lot of moisture in the attic above these areas and the water is seeping down through the wood and sheet rock to the paint level. What you don’t see is just how much water is in the attic space above these ceiling bubbles. It’s extremely likely that the size of the water puddles up there are several inches to several feet across!

The really troubling thing is that when these paint bubbles on the ceiling cannot hold another drop of water, they burst. Then the water coming in through the roof has a direct line through to the floor in your home below. Whenever there’s a really heavy rainstorm, no number of buckets, pots, or pans will keep the water off the floor. 

Discoloration From Water Damage

Some walls and ceilings never show paint bubbles or trickles of water. Instead, they just show you big, brownish rings. This is water damage, and it will continue as long as the roof isn’t replaced or fixed. In some ways, water damage is worse than the other signs mentioned because it means that there is already a lot of rot. Not only will you have to replace the roof at this point, but you will also have to pull out all of the areas of water damage and replace all of the walls and ceiling areas too. 

Another form of water damage is colored black and is mottled. This is definitely NOT something you want to see because it means that the water damage has turned to mold and mildew. You are staring at dangerous mold and mildew and not just water damage. Now you will need a mold remediation specialist and not just a roofing contractor so that the mold spores don’t spread while the roof is being replaced. 

Walls and Ceilings That Squish When You Push on Them

This is one sign that tends to creep out a lot of people. There doesn’t appear to be any other sign that there’s a roofing leak or water damage. There’s just these areas in the walls or on the ceilings that squish when you press on them. They are extremely soft, and if you press too hard, your finger goes right through. You can feel how much cooler to the touch these spots are, and how very wet they feel when pressed. If you don’t see signs of water damage or leaking water yet, it will follow after these soft spots collapse.

Peeling and Cracking Paint or Plaster

All houses have plaster and/or paint on the walls and ceilings. If the paint or plaster just starts cracking for no apparent reason, it might be your leaky roof. Structural issues develop as a result of rotting trusses and rotting wood in your attic. The weight of the waterlogged wood and trusses pulls downward on the house under it. The pressure causes the plaster to crack, which in turn causes the paint to crack and peel. A roofing contractor needs to get up on your roof and into your attic right away to see how bad it is. 

Contact Polar Bear Exterior Solutions today to find out how bad your leaky roof is and get a quote to replace your roof!