Concrete roof on house... problems!!

flipjarg · 01-21-2009, 10:32 PM

This is my first winter in my house. It has a flat concrete roof. There is black sheets of tar or rubber sealed together with what looks to be tar. There is no rock or anything else up there.

I've attached little diagram so you can get a better idea of the shape. The roof basically has two sections they both slope toward each other so the water will run off into the gutters on each side of the house.

There is a ton of ice up there and we have a leak that started yesterday. I shoveled off the roof with a plastic shovel to avoid puncturing anything. The leak is at the lowest spot in the roof and pretty much in the complete center of the house. The leak seems to have stopped.

Along with the ice there was a little water up there but I used my axe to gently chop away some ice so water could drain off the roof.

Does anyone know what I can do right now to stop this from happening again?

Should I be shoveling the roof off all the time or should I be able to leave it up there and not worry about anything? We have about 1 1/2 ft of snow up there everywhere else. I just shoveled the middle of the roof mainly.

I am not worried about the roof caving in, the whole house is cinder block and the outside is brick. There are concrete beams going accross the whole roof too. Probably with metal inside.

Thank you for any input.

OldNBroken · 01-22-2009, 12:45 AM

How bad is the leak? Describe the flow of water or seconds between drips. On your concrete roof that actual leak could be anywhere on the roof. Due to the design, just as it does above the roofing material, the water will travel to the lowest point until it finds an exit. It can be anything from perimeter flashing separation to a penetration leaking or a compromise in the field. Some pictures of the perimeter, field, center and any penetrations would probably garner you some useful information though.

flipjarg · 01-22-2009, 01:58 AM

There is about a 3ft half circle. There is (like a wall was cut out) an opening between our kitchen and dinning room where there is a 6in. drop down, like a wall that is concrete which may be absorbing the water.

There is no dripping yet. And the spot doesn't seem to have gotten larger.

I was able to knock a bunch of ice away and quite a bit of water dripped off the roof.

We scrapped the ceilings when we moved in and textured them. When I went to deep I hit about 3 in. of some carboard-like wood stuff... sorry. I don't know much about this so I do not know the correct terms and naming of certain things.

That carboard-like wood stuff which was like strands of wood but not dense at all is probably absorbing the water as well as the joint compound we used.

the roofing god · 01-22-2009, 07:58 AM

Sounds like OSB adhered to the concrete deck ,Wherever you exposed this you should cover it,and if it`s not leaking ,you can leave the snow,Is there a way to add extra insulation beneath the roof,if you can stop the escaping house heat from the roof,you won`t have any more ice up there

OldNBroken · 01-22-2009, 12:53 PM

what I'm trying to say is your actual leak could be anywhere on your roof above where the actual leak is coming into the bldg and running down to the low point before it exits into the living space. Chances are all that will be required to repair it is some three-coursing but you have to find the actual leak first. It's probably NOT directly over where it is leaking inside.

flipjarg · 01-24-2009, 09:31 PM

Thanks for the input. I was hoping it would just be a little patching. I planned on checking it out closely next year. I'll get some tar to brush onto odd spots.

We have a dropped (false?) ceiling in our kitchen and I'm putting one in the entry way as well. I hop that will help a bit with insulating.

AaronB · 01-24-2009, 11:06 PM

wHERE ARE YOU LOCATED?