Roof leaking

I'm in Florida. I purchased a rental house 8 months ago. The house was built in 1925. I have no idea how many layers of shingles are on the roof. The previous owner put new shingles on half of the house. They look quite new, but I think it was a DIY installation. The side of the house where it's leaking is where the newer shingles are! We've had many heavy rain showers in the past months, but the roof hasn't leaked until today. Oddly, today it wasn't even raining very hard. Luckily the tenants called me while it was still raining. So I was able to get into the attic and see exactly where the water was entering. The 3 leaks are coming in where there's nail holes. The wood is split at one of the nail holes, and there's a 2" knot/hole in the wood at another leak. I got on the roof and the only thing that looks amiss is there's tiny sticks and leaves that have gotten under the edges of 10 or so shingles in the general area of the leak. I also noted that all of the shingles appear to be glued down in addition to the seal strip. My other houses have the same type of shingles but they are not glued down. They are just adhered with the seal strip and nails. Are the shingles auppoed to be glued down like that? Seems odd to me..Is there a way for me to ply those shingles up to clean under them and then seal/glue them back down? What would I use to seal them? Also should I try to seal the nail holes/knot hole/cracked wood from inside the attic? What product would I use for that? I do know that the right way to fix it would obviously be to replace those shingles entirely, but I'm just looking for a patch at the moment until I can get it replaced in the future. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you

 

Attempting to seal a roof leak from inside the attic is a total waste of time and materials, it will never work.

The description you wrote sounds to me like there has been a leak in this area before and someone tried to fix it. Leaks can originate far from where it actually comes through the roof and I suspect this it the problem you have. Look further for deteriorated shingles and try to find out where the water is getting under the shingles. Faulty flashing at any roof penetration (plumbing vent pipes) or where a vertical structure such as a wall or chimney meets the roof are also prime points of failure.

 

So you don't think the sticks and leaves under the shingle edges could be contributing to the leak? None of the shingles are deteriorated on that side of the roof.

 

A picture would be pretty helpful. It sounds to me like it was really screwed up from the start. Sounds like someone was applying shingles to a low slope roof... meaning too low for shingles. But without pics we are just guessing.

 

I'm not there and my mind-reading abilities are vastly overrated. I can't see what you are seeing and you didn't include pictures. Yes, it is possible under certain situations that having the shingles not laying flat could possibly be a cause of a leak, especially if the leak only occurs when the wind is driving the rain in a manner that causes it to be blown under the upraised shingle.

However, it is NOT normal or routine to "glue down" the tab on shingles beyond the self-sealing strip. When the tabs have had additional roof cement/tar added it is almost always the work of someone that is NOT a roofer attempting to stop a leak but not understanding how a shingled roof works.

 

Roof pic attached. Sorry I don't have an up-close pic of the shingles.
Xsleeper - this is a normal pitch for a shingle roof in my area.
Furd - I do suspect that this was done by a novice. Who replaces 2 sides of a roof? They definitely didn't pull a permit to do this crap job. I just don't understand why the roof would be fine for 8 months and then start leaking. I suppose the flashing could be causing a leak along the gable above the leak area. The glued down shingles concerned me tho. As if the glue is causing the water to get stuck in there where there's gaps with debris vs. just flowing down the shingle as intended

 

Poor, or non-existent, flashing at that dormer could be the source of the leak. Taking several months to appear is not abnormal.

 

My guess would be issues with the dormer flashing.
You just bought the house and have no idea how many layers of shingles there is? Humm.
First thing I would have checked.
Glued down new shingles is another red flag, someone knew that roof was leaking before you bought it.
One look at that hip ridge how crooked it is and what looks like a sag on that left side should have been a red flag.
Nail holes in the sheathing do not cause leaks.
Want to find out what's causing it your looking at a complete strip and redo.

 

Could be a valley leak that just isn't showing up until it gets much lower.

 

I bought this house for 35k and it rents for 1k a month. Seemed like a good idea at the time! I have 3 other houses that I apparently just got 'lucky' with. So yea, it was stupid to buy this house with out getting an inspection, which is why I don't have valid info on the roof. Literally everything imaginable has gone wrong with this house since I've owned it. It has been the bane of my existence for the last 8 months...So is the general consensus that the shingles need to be removed up to the dormer and replaced? Complete re-roof? Patching is not an option? My patience and pocketbook are wearing thin with this house. And yes I realize it is because of my own haste and stupidity when selecting this particular home.

 

I would do the entire side, including the valleys above the dormer.

 

After spending the morning on the roof sealing all of the areas around the dormer, I've accepted the fact that the roof will need to be replaced. I can only hope that I can stop the leak until next year when I can afford it. We've had about 6" of extremely heavy non-stop rain in the past 5 days and the bucket in the attic only had a 1/2 inch of water in it. So It seems to be a small leak. However I obviously don't want any water at all to be leaking...A few questions for you guys. It appears to me there are at least 3 layers of shingles on the house. Could that be causing some of the sagging due to weight? The sagging seems to be much worse on the 2 sides that have the newer shingles, which means those 2 sides have the most layers. From the attic the deck boards appear to be in good shape. A few joists look to be warped. I can't notice any specific sagging areas from inside the attic. Can re-shingling fix some of the sagging issues or will I be looking at some serious replacement costs with the joists and deck boards? I realize you guys aren't psychic and can't see it in person. I'm just trying to get an idea. What type of costs will I be looking at just to remove the current shingles and re-shingle the house (1400sq ft)? Thanks for your help

 

A couple thoughts. When guys shingle over an existing roof, they can rarely flash things correctly and instead rely on caulk. (Bad). Your valleys get more and more holes in them. The gable fascia gets buried deep in the shingles and starts to rot. Not to mention the weight... around 210lbs per 100 sq ft for each layer. And old houses are typically not built strong to begin with... 2x4 rafters and such.

Just removing the shingles will not make the roof magically spring back to straight. It will likely continue to have some sag... but if the sagging is between the rafters, another layer of sheathing can help with some of that but don't expect a miracle. It will still tend to mirror the surface its laid on.

The house may be 1400 sq ft but the shingle area including waste may be closer to 18 sq. If I had to guess, I dont think you should be surprised to be paying around $600-700/sq for a 3 layer tear off, dumpster fees, sheathing, shingles, labor. So thats about 12,600... if you wanted a ballpark guess. But trades like this vary in cost from place to place so you will need to get several local estimates.

 

Yikes! that's a lot of money. I was hoping it would not exceed 5-6K. What really makes things difficult is, that in my area, I can not do the work myself (as in me and a knowledgeable person) because it's not owner occupied. They require it to be done by a licensed contractor, so I'm stuck having to pay top dollar. Although I appreciate a skilled pro, I prefer to do as much myself as I can and I know at the very least I could handle the removal and sheathing. I will probably end up having to sell the house as is, as long as I can keep it from leaking for another year ..Thanks, I appreciate your opinion.