Today’s challenge

You never know what you are going to find when challenged with finding and stopping a leak. Today’s charge was a tricky one. It leaked through a ceiling fixture in a library room of one of the Shaughnessy mansions in Vancouver. I never considered it to be a roof leak as the roof above the library was solid. Yes it was tar and gravel, which is difficult to assess integrity on, but the T&G roof appeared qualitative enough. We focused our attention on an abutting eaves trough. A thorough dis-assembly of a suspect detail resulted in the finding of the culprit. If we weren’t thorough and just guessed at what it might have been, we wouldn’t have found it and satisfactorily serviced the home owner. What we found was all hidden behind fascia boards and exterior crown moldings so it was not right in front of our eyes. We discovered that the aluminum eaves trough was placed directly on top of an internally plumbed ABS plastic drain pipe. The butt junction between the aluminum and ABS was sealed with a roofers mastic (which had dried and cracked). This became obvious after we removed a small brown plastic strainer that was inserted into the eaves trough hole. This brown plastic strainer had a stem which projected 2” down into the ABS plumbing. Therefore this strainer could essentially bypass this weak aluminum/plastic junction. HOWEVER, this strainer was no longer sealed properly to the aluminum eaves trough so water was getting underneath the strainer and then entering through the weak aluminum/plastic junction and flowing into the house. Now who would have thought of that as a remote possibility when first arriving on site to a roof leak? It wasn’t my first or twenty-first possibility! Leak finding is not an exact science. It takes logic, common sense and a little bit of luck combined with an attitude of never quitting. A challenge solved, such as this, is worth bragging about. Mission accomplished.