Rubber Roof Hole

Mitch M

Got a call from a client about water on the floor in the closet. I went and checked it out and found water all over the floor from the previous weekend rain.

I went up on the roof to clean the gutters and look for the leak and I found a hole in the rubber. There are no limbs on the roof to indicate that a tree limb fell. Could be just failure of the rubber? It is only a couple of inches from a seam.

I figured I would cut out the rubber in this area and make sure the sheathing is good and then reattach new rubber. But it is really stumping me how this could have happened.

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bwalley

Call a roofer, install a cricket.

Mitch M

I am perfectly capable of making the repair and how do you propose to install a cricket in a valley like this? Look at the picture good.

bwalley

A cricket would be easy to frame, it should have been installed when the addition was done.

RidgeWalker

What else is wrong with that picture? I think the shingles should be over the rubber roof not under it. No?

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johnk

Cricket in the valley?I don't understand that.ridgewalker I think it may be an illusion but I'm pretty sure the rubber is under the shingles.The rubber gutter should be the easy fix,its the internal damage that might be a pain to fix.As far as what caused this I have no clue.

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Aframe

Possibly damage from someone cleaning out valley with a shovel, animals?

I've got one job where the squirrels have chewed up one spot a few times.

1mancrew

Possibly caused from falling or sliding ice?

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Mitch M

I still do not see where or even why you think there needs to be a cricket there. I am enclosing two more pictures that show it before I cleaned it.

The rubber is under the shingles. The valley is fine just like it is framed. The roof itself is installed correctly. What I am trying to figure out is how the roof got damaged like that. I do not know the last time this client had the roof cleaned out. We also do not know how long the roof has been leaking. Even though we had some snow recently, I don't think it is possible any ice could have done that (1) because of the way it would have to fall, and (2) there was enough pinestraw there to cushion it. The only thing I could figure is the rubber failed maybe because of the pine straw?

How about it Ed the Roofer? Got any ideas?

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gallerytungsten

Have you checked under that hole for foreign objects? There was a case here in New Orleans where a fellow had a meteorite hit his roof. In that case, it went all the way through his house. Bullets, of course, are far more common. Another possibility would be hail.

BJ in Okla.

I am no roofer, but It looks like the rubber failed. I see bubbles and it looks like the rubber is brittle and some thing broke the bubble, like ice, hail,etc.
The heat and the sun in the summer and then the cold winter...
You may need to replace the valley from end to end with something better.
Just a thought.
BJ

Tom Struble

possibly an animal squirrel? raccoon?

rustyjames

I agree with those who mentioned the rubber itself deteriorating. It looks like there's shingles under the rubber, maybe something in the shingle reacted with the rubber causing it to fail.

Ed the Roofer

I don't agree with the cricket, since it looks like the valley has plenty of pitch to the edge.

What is it draining into? Hopefully, a scupper conductor head.

At the bottom of the valley. I would see if there is enough rubber to trim back another row or two, because it seems as if the debris is getting clogged up there by snagging onto the lower shingles.

As far as the holes, it looks lice shovel damage to me.from past holes that I have see, but if it is reported as "Racoon" damage, it and all of the interior work would be covered by the home owners insurance policy. Squirrels are considered vermin, and are excluded from coverage, fyi. Racoons are considered pnly as mammals. I don't know why, since they seem to, cause more damage than squirrels, but that is just the way it is.

Ask the home owner if he shoveled any snow or ice out of the valley though.

Ed

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tiny

Animal yes very possible but im in agreeance with the ice damage baby!! pine neddles are not going to brake a fall of a lardge ice chunk.And if you find thats the case then install a small section of 90mill over the area dont impeade any water.

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Mitch M

Sorry guys, I just cannot agree with the ice falling comment. There is nothing around it that it could fall from and we have only had a couple of light snows around here this winter. Not really any ice.

There is no way for the pine straw to get out except manually. I typically blow it off so it does not damage anything. I am pretty sure that the owner has not been up there. It also looks like it has been sitting up there for a couple of years. I am going to ask them. The water does drain to a right angle gutter about 2' X 3'. That was packed with leaves and straw. The one other thing is the condensate line for an ac unit does drain down this valley. I would think that if debris was stopping it up there would be damage in other places as well. But there is not.

I am leaning towards some kind of animal. I told the homeowner that insurance probably would not pay for this. I see it as a maintenance issue. If a tree limb had fell that would be one thing but there were no limbs on the roof that could have done that kind of damage.

Mitch M

One other thought is this goes across the valley at a 90 degree angle. It also is about 3" evenly from the seam all the way across. It is on both sides of the valley not just one side. I don't think a shovel could have done this. Nor a meteorite.

I did not know if it could have been a failure of the glue that could have eaten through the rubber.

MrRoofer

Shingles over top of rubber shouldn't be a problem, but I'd be willing to bet shingles under are. All that heat build up plus the oxidization process might be producing some toxic by-product that is eating your rubber.

The spot in question looks brittle, but I can't tell. If it is brittle rubber, I think I could rule out animals, ice, shovels, crickets and the rest of it.

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MrRoofer

Just another thought, as I was at a mini trade show last week, a table for Karnak was setup. On some of the tubes of sealant on display (can't remember which it was) it stated very clearly not for use on EPDM. This stuff was used to seal shingles, so if they used a sealant on the shingles in a dodgy valley, then went over it with EPDM, that could very well cause a problem.

Just a thought.

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Ed the Roofer

Roofing cement and Black Jack in the tubes contain a solvent to keep the product viscuous and pliable and workable until after it is exposed to the air, where the inner solvent gasses can flash off from the product.

Ed

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