Tim the tool man is back for another home improvement adventure. This time he offers a step-by-step guide to any DIY project when his house has an unexpected leak coming from the ceiling inside his house. One of the first thoughts when you first notice dampness, a water stain, or hear that dripping sound when it rains is that somewhere in your ceiling there may be a crack, a small hole where a roofing nail or nail used to be. any missing sealant. around flashing around roof vents. In any case, trying to find where that leak in your roof is coming from is like finding a needle in a haystack. In other words, an impossible task to locate exactly where that crack or hole is in one’s ceiling.
There are many options to consider when faced with preventing further water damage inside the home due to a leaky roof. The most obvious is the idea that the roof is old and could use a total replacement. That is the most expensive option. One that will cost upwards of $5,000 or more depending on the square footage of your roof. For many of us, especially senior citizens living on Social Security, that’s not the option. The best chance to eliminate any leaks, protect the home, and at the same time, if you live in a hot climate like Florida, keep your interior cool on those extremely hot and humid days is to apply a silicone waterproof barrier over the entire the ceiling. .
With the advent of today’s silicone roofing technologies, they have created various sealants that would be more affordable and more practical to apply directly to your roof instead of a total roof repair. Through due diligence and research on the many types of silicone sealants, I recommend Eterna-Lote S-100. Of all the recommendations out there, this is by far the best option for any type of roof. You can order it online, but for sheer conviction and cost, Home Depot carries this brand. They say timing is everything because I was lucky enough to be at Home Depot when they had Eterna-Lote S-100 for sale. Originally a 5 gallon pail would cost a little over $200, but it was lowered to $70. My roof’s square footage required two 5 gallon drums of this sealant. A much better price than if I had opted to replace my roof. In addition there is a 50 year guarantee. What a great deal.
There really isn’t much to do once you have the necessary equipment to complete the task of applying this sealant to your roof. 5 gallons covers nearly 500 square feet without the need for a primer. What I recommend for a single story dwelling is an 8ft. ladder and extendable roller handle with a paint roller designed for rough surfaces considering our roof is a rolled tile roof. Next you will need an empty 5 gallon bucket. Once you have these necessary tools, the application is easy to do.
Another word of caution is to check the weather forecast before applying. For best results your roof should be dry and free of debris. If rain is forecast, wait until there are at least two days of warm, dry weather before and after applying this sealer. What I did was wait until the weather was warm and sunny 65 degrees. And in Florida during the winter months, 65 degree days are quite common. I started by pouring 2 gallons of Eterna into the empty 5 gallon bucket, which gave me easy access to lift it to the ceiling. This is because I am no longer Hercules and 5 gallons of this sealant weighs almost 100 pounds. So carrying that weight on my ladder would have been quite a task, to say the least.
With a slow-tilt A-Frame roof, it’s easy enough to get around without safety lines. Just be careful when you get close to any edge. That’s why having this extended roller handle came in handy. Starting at the back of the house, I proceeded to roll up this roof covering caulking, easing my way to the front. Two and a half gallons of caulking covered 1/4 of my roof surface. Four hours later, exhausted from all the non-stop app, I was finally done. It was around 3:45 pm, just as the instructions said “for best results, do not apply after 4 pm.” All he had to do now was clean up.
Cleanup is relatively easy. Paint thinner is the best option for cleaning up your roller and any sealer that may have spilled onto it. I wasn’t so lucky, although I looked down and my legs were splattered with caulk. I probably had more caulking on top than on some parts of my roof. It’s a joke though. Anyway, with a clean cloth and paint thinner I managed to clean up any mess I made.
The moment of truth has arrived to see how effective this roof sealant really is two days later. It was around two in the morning and it started pouring rain. Wind gusts exceeded 50 mph and for four hours torrential rain hit the roof. At some point during that time, two large tree limbs broke off and landed just short of our outdoor kitchen, not touching the ceiling. Regardless, not a drop got through our ceiling. Our house was safe and dry.
So if you have a leak somewhere in your ceiling and you know it’s not coming from an upstairs bathroom, it could just be coming from a crack or leak somewhere in your ceiling. Instead of replacing his roof, Tim the tool man recommends Eterna-kote S-100 Ultra Silicone Sealant for his roof repairs, even if he pinpoints where the leak is coming from. Works. Tim the tool man says goodbye until next time.