Every year we deal with hundreds of leaks and leak related repairs on homes in Park City. Park City roofs are forced to withstand extreme conditions, and if they aren’t properly designed, maintained, and installed you could face major leaking issues.

Leaks can cause thousands of dollars worth of damage on the inside of your home and often lead to much more expensive repairs.

Let’s take a look at three common reasons why roofs leak in Park City and some solutions.

1. Your Home Has An Old Roof

One of the biggest causes of leaking roofs is simply the age of the roof. Depending on the roofing materials used, roofs are supposed to last between 15 and 30 years with metal roofs estimated to last 50 years.

As roofs age, they begin to break down due to water, snow, wind, and sun exposure. A roof starts to lose its surface material, and the lower layers begin to get exposed.

In the later stages of a roof's life, it begins losing the ability to protect your home from the elements; seals will start to break down, calking will begin breaking, and shingles will lose their surface layer.

Often, the cause of consistent roof leaks is an old roof that needs to be replaced.

Solution: Get A New Roof Installed

2. Ice Dams

You’ve likely seen ice dams around Park City and possibly on your own home. Ice dams are ice formations that form on the eave of a roof and can grow to the ground.

Ice dams are caused by a constant thawing and freezing of snowmelt on the roof of a home.

As the water melts and freezes, water can find its way through your roofing material. Water will work its way into any small crack or opening.

The bigger an ice dam gets, the more potential there is for water to penetrate your roof and get into your home.

Big ice dams can also rip off shingles and hardware off of your roof that makes it vulnerable to leaks.

Ice dams are a significant cause of leaks in Park City.

Solutions:

• Have Heat Cable Installed in Problem Areas

• Get A Super Insulated Roof Installed

• Get Regular Rooftop Snow Removal

3. Improper Valley Roofing & Metal Details

The valleys and details on any home’s roof are some of the most vulnerable spots for roof leaks.

Valleys are vulnerable to leaks because they break up the roofing material and require unique details to ensure that they are watertight.

The change in roof directing at valleys means that there is a break in the shingles or metal. These areas require additional Ice and Water shield as well as valley metal to ensure that they won’t leak.

Other detail areas on a home’s roof are also susceptible to failure if not correctly designed and installed. For example, chimneys are often a problem and common leak area if the detail pieces are not correctly installed.

Solutions:

• Have new metal valleys installed

• Redo your roofing details