We all know that water is essential for life itself. But water in the wrong places, over a long period of time, can be devastating to your home. 

Left alone, water can compromise the integrity of beams and posts, which can cause potentially thousands of dollars of damage, cause mold growth and create a dank odor that’s difficult to remove. 

So, to prevent extensive damage, you need to learn to identify trouble before it causes real damage. And, with a little skill, you can do some of the mitigation work yourself, potentially saving thousands, of dollars. 

And while insurance usually covers a catastrophic leak (such as a pipe that suddenly fails or bursts due to impact or freezing), it will not cover a slow and steady exposure to water due to cracked caulk, failed window and door seals, or a leaky roof. So it’s best to stay on top of potential issues and fix them before they turn into big, expensive projects. 

What to look for

Shower & tub

Left untreated, cracked caulk allows water to seep around tile and attack the walls. Showering day after day supplies more and more water that can ruin the wood behind. 

So look closely around the perimeter of the tub or shower pan, or at the intersection of walls and where walls meet the floor. Over time, grout at these intersections can become very brittle and can slowly crack due to the two planes shifting and moving. Caulk is much better to use at these intersections because it’s flexible and it’s easier to remove when needed. Many tile contractors use grout at these intersections, which can be really difficult to remove. It’s like chipping away the mortar between bricks, and you have to be very careful not to scrape or chip the tub. If your tub had grout at these intersections, I recommend hiring a professional with special tools (and lots of patience) as it’s easy to mess things up. But caulk can be removed by someone with some basic DIY skills.

Early signs of water damage can show up on any adjacent walls on the opposite side of the shower, or on the ceiling if the shower is upstairs.  

The cracked grout or failed caulk needs to be removed to create a clean surface for new caulk. I use a sharp razor blade to scrape around the edges and break the bond to remove the old caulk. It’s a bit of work and takes patience, but you can totally do it. 

If there’s water damage on the walls around the outside of the shower, you likely need a better door or a more effective shower curtain. Some people install a small plastic triangle to stop water from flowing out, but I think they look cheap and janky. 

While replacing caulk or grout is essential and should be done as soon as possible, the resulting damage may not be obvious. Look on any adjacent walls and push on the surfaces to see if it’s soft. If so, the sheet rock will need to be removed to see inside and to assess any damage to the wood or presence of mold. Caught early enough, this can often be tested with a mold-killing spray. 

But if you can push a screwdriver into the wood or if it easily flakes away, it will likely need to be replaced. If you can access the area beneath the tub or shower (downstairs or inside a crawl space), look for damaged sheet rock or stained wood. At this point you’ll need to call a professional to fully assess the extent of the damage and the right path to fix it.

Doors and windows

Ideally, rain hits doors and windows, slides down to the bottom, and rolls off the threshold or trim and keeps going away from the house. 

But if water gets between cracks in the paint or if caulk fails sling the glass, it can attack the wood inside. Caught early, it usually means you simply need to cut away the surface damage and use a special putty or epoxy to fill the gaps. 

But if it’s left alone, the water can work its way into the beams themselves. 

The way to check is to look for gaps in the wood trim around the window or door. Newer windows use a rubber seal all the way around, but older windows might have a bead of caulk. Over time, caulk can turn brittle and crack. 

If you catch it early enough, you can just add caulk around the windows and fill gaps between trim boards. Then apply fresh paint. And if the trim is not under an eave, be sure the top edge is well protected too. 

If the damage is minor and confined to just the trim, chip it away until you get to solid wood. A die grinder, a Dremel tool or a cabinet grinder might be needed to get into corners to remove the damage in a confined area. 

Apply wood restorer to solidify the wood then use a special wood filler to recreate the wood’s surface. I like Bondo brand exterior wood filler (no affiliation). It’s a two part mix and sets up really fast (so you have to work quickly) and can be sanded and painted just like wood. It ends up rock hard and looks fantastic. 

If you can push a screwdriver into the trim, or if it breaks off really easily, you’ll need to completely remove all of the damage. Just keep pulling away the wood until it’s solid and not stained. Sometimes all of the trim needs to be replaced. 

And if you can push a screwdriver into the beams behind the trim, or if you see signs of damage inside the house, you should call a professional as it may be too late and more extensive remediation is required. 

 

Attic

Even if you have a newer roof, the next most important place to check for water is inside your attic. If you walk on top of the roof, you might spot shingles out of place or a vent that’s missing a hood. But the best way to spot roof leaks is by checking from the inside, in the attic. And, I should also mention that if you have open-beamed ceilings, just look around for water damage. 

The attic is not the most comfortable place to crawl around, but spending a little time there looking for staining can save you lots of money. That staining indicates leaks, which can be patched up before lasting damage and hopefully without a having to pay for a completely new roof. 

It’s tough to tell how recent the staining is (unless it’s currently raining) but, if you see it you should fix the source as soon as possible. It’s a good idea to check it annually. 

If the staining is extensive, you should call a roofing company to assess the damage and hopefully do spot repairs. 

Due to the risk of falling and serious injury, I don’t recommend anyone climb up on their roof. Especially if it’s steep or slick. 

That said, and if you’re comfortable doing it, if you spot any stains in the attic, you’ll have to make a mental note of where it is positioned so you can find it while standing on the roof. 

From inside the attic, look for any points of interest to help with locating the leak such as vents, chimneys, ridges and valleys, wall intersections, etc. This will help you to get your bearings from the top. 

If your leak is near a vent, it’s pretty easy to find it from the top. But if the leak is not near any vents or walls, it is usually pretty hard to spot and fixing it depends on the type of roofing material. Let’s look at each…

Composite

Composite shingles often come loose and slide out of alignment, and sometimes peel up or break off, so leaks they are an easy giveaway. 

If a shingle is completely missing, it will need to be replaced. If it’s just out of alignment try sliding it back into place and gluing it with roofing cement. Here’s my favorite exterior adhesive product, it’s amazing. Yes, I have a favorite exterior adhesive, don’t judge. And no, I’m not being paid to promote it.

While they do become brittle with age, if you’re careful you can sometimes lift them up and fill any gaps with roofing cement. Roofing cement really is your only option for small patch jobs. 

If it’s a big area and it doesn’t look like a little glue will seal it up, you should hire professionals who have the skill to remove nails, replace flashing or vents, and re-secure the tiles. They’ll also be able to determine whether the underlayment has been compromised, which is an additional layer under the tiles that needs to be 100% intact. 

Metal

It’s pretty easy to spot leaks on a metal roof. Look for rusty and loose screws, or just plain rust in corners and along edges. 

Areas can be patched with materials made just for metal such as sealant,self-adhesive patches or fiberglass patches with liquid sealant. 

But the tricky part comes from removing any rust because the sealant needs a clean, solid surface to properly adhere to. And removing rust  requires an angle grinder, which is not in everyone’s tool box. But if you have one and know how to use it, removing rust from your roof is pretty straightforward. 

Tile

My last house had a tile roof and man, what a nightmare it was to work on. If you’ve got a leaky tile roof I recommend hiring a professional. On my roof, dirt and debris filled the valleys, which pushed water under the tiles beyond the width of the metal flashing and onto the tar paper. So a huge area of heavy tile had to be removed, all the tar paper and battens had to be replaced, and all put back together. It took a few days. Thankfully, I hired a crew for that job. It’s back-breaking. 

Whatever kind of roof you have, if you hire a roofing company and don’t want to climb up there to see for yourself, ask them to take pictures and show you the damage before they actually fix anything. This is the best way to verify the work they’re bidding on. 

Conclusion

By annually checking for staining and cracked grout or caulk in your shower, looking for gaps and damage around your doors and windows, and by looking for stained wood in your attic, you have a very good chance of spotting trouble before it costs you thousands of dollars in repairs. 

Many repairs can be done with some basic DIY skills, before it’s too late. 

But if you let it linger, the costs can be quite high. So set a calendar reminder to check these things every year.  

Tutorial Videos 

Caulk replacement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69J6fu9veKQ 

Drywall replacement next to shower: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iithGKVyEOo 

Removing damaged window trim and filling it in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3l5q0xaQEf8

Comp roof repair: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DLb9ML8IzQ 

Angle grinder removing rust: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVRCyQs1R-s