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leaky roof

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panamachick
  10/31/2014 17:12 EST

we have a fiberglass roof, a frame that has 2 additions with a sloped roof.. where the roofs,
join it leaks terribly in the house. we have consulted our panama neighbours, contractors and we have sealed it many times and my house still leaks like a
sieve. should i jusrt put a new roof over top? What is the answer? Anybody with spme experience in living in the rainy weather please reply!!!!

Panamajack
  11/3/2014 13:31 EST

Can you tell me how much slope is in the roof. For example--how many inches does the roof "drop" in a 1 foot run? Use a level, mark 12 inches, place tip on high side of slope, hold level--level and measure the distance at the 12 inch mark. Hopefully it is somewhere around 4 inches. Do you have eavestroughes? Any growth or flow restrictions at the low part of the roof? Answer these first and I will see if I can offer a repair.--Jack To contact me directly email [email protected]

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JonCates
  11/3/2014 20:27 EST

Try email BORing!!!!

volcan357
  11/3/2014 22:14 EST

I have built several homes here in Panama and to me the roof is the most critical part. For one thing most of Panama gets very high rainfall which is sometimes combined with a significant amount of wind. It is best to always use metal roofing (zinc). I prefer the roofing with channels over the corrugated style as it looks nicer. The metal roofing than imitates tiles is pretty but it is more likely to leak and is harder to install. You don't need a 4/12 pitch as a 2/12 pitch will work okay. It is better to order the lengths you need rather than piece it. A simple roof with a peak and two slopes is less likely to give trouble than a complicated design. Architects often try to be too fancy and come up with a poor design as far as leaks are concerned. I had a friend who worked in construction on rich people's homes in Hollywood. He told me that almost all of these homes had leaks because the high-priced architects came up with very complicated designs which caused the roofs to leak. Make sure the roofing screws they use are not too long. They put them in with a drill (they are self-tapping or punta broca) and can easily go sideways tearing a elongated hole in the roofing. This is more likely to happen if they are longer than needed. My preferred way to do a roof is to deck it out with boards and then cover them with 1/2 inch styrofoam (hielo seco) and then use tarpaper (felpa) over the styrofoam. In that case use roofing screws with a fine point instead of self tapping. Since they are going into wood instead of cariola they are less likely to go sideways and tear the roofing. I think here in Volcan where I live we get maybe 200 inches of rain a year. In the Philadelphia, PA area where I grew up the annual rainfall is 40 inches so that is quite a difference. If you have a ceiling of gypsum and the roof leaks it will ruin the gypsum. When somebody is installing a roof I am always right there with them watching how it is being done or even doing part of it myself. Any extra holes or tears can be sealed with Fastyl which I think is the best product available here in Panama for sealing roofs. It comes in various colors.

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