Raining in my shop

[Steve Eure]

I glad that I decided to work/play in my shop today. Well, I normally do it everyday anyways. While I was in there, it started to rain pretty hard. It has been raining off and on for three days now. I went over to one corner to look for something and turn one of the lights on. When the lights came on, I almost cried. There was a leak in the ceiling that apparently had just started this morning. My Rikon midi was sitting in direct fire of the heavy drip. A third of the ways were wet and rusted. Fortunately, i caught it in time. The rust came off with a light sanding and I put a heavy coat of wax on the ways. Then covered it with a new tarp until I can get on the roof to see the damage. I'm thinking one of the screws holding the metal roof on has a bad rubber gasket. At least I hope that's all it is. Will see after this rain ends.

[John K Jordan]

...It has been raining off and on for three days now. I went over to one corner to look for something and turn one of the lights on. When the lights came on, I almost cried. There was a leak in the ceiling that apparently had just started this morning. My Rikon midi was sitting in direct fire of the heavy drip. .... I'm thinking one of the screws holding the metal roof on has a bad rubber gasket.....

Oh no!

My son is a architect - when starting school t5that much of the design effort was about keeping water out and most of the lawsuits concerned water that got in.

How were the screws (or nails if old) installed, on the flat part of the metal next to the overlap? There remains a lot of controversy about this. For so many years the fasteners were put through the top of the "V" ridge. Then one day the mfgr recommendation changed to putting them in the flat. I think that when put in the ridge there is a danger of a heavy-handed person bending the metal, especially in today's generally thinner gauge roofing. Another thing might be the seals on the fasteners went from lead or rubber on nails - the nails could work loose over time and cause less leakage if the hole was at the top of the ridge instead of on the flat. The newer synthetic seals put in with screws seem to last forever. I've been roofing farm buildings here for over 15 years now with screws in the flats and have yet to detect any leakage.

But you describe a "heavy drip." To me that sounds like something other than a leaking seal on a single fastener. Was there strong wind? Perhaps some flashing or ridge vent came loose.

JKJ

[Alex Zeller]

When I read the title the first thing that came to mind is the first time I turned a really wet piece of wood. As it spun the wall behind the lathe and the ceiling were soaking wet. Being new I was paying attention to what I was doing with the tool than what was happening.

During thanksgiving the internal line on the hot water tank for the boiler developed a hole (bad anode). Well that over pressurized the boiler which then cause the relief valve to vent hot water. I got lucky and even though my planer and jointer were right next to it the moisture/ vapor stayed pretty low to the ground. Normally if not using a tool I'll put plastic over it but being in a rush to clean up I got lazy. Hopefully no damage was done to the electronics or motor. You caught it early so be thankful.

[roger wiegand]

It is said that impact drivers are the bane of through-fastener metal roofs. Apparently it's almost impossible not to over-drive the fasteners with an impact driver, resulting in leaks. The number of leak problems apparently went up exponentially with the widespread use of impact drivers.

Agree with John though, that much water is probably not from one failed screw. On the bright side, perhaps it soon won't be raining and then there will be no need to fix the roof. :)

[Steve Eure]

Well I got up early before daylight, (couldn't sleep), climbed the ladder and found the problem. A loose screw that had backed out. Apparently it has been slightly leaking for some time because the wood rafter shows signs of water damage. Not so much that it needs to be repaired, but the screw would not hold when I tightened it. I put a longer screw and new washer on it and it should be fine. Not sure why it backed out, but I believe that high winds may have played a role in it. We had two tornadoes within the same month in Jan. of 2017. those did not touch down on top of us but came over us with some violent winds. Then in Oct 2018, hurricane Michael paid us a visit. Had significant damage to our property and house as well as some of the out buildings. The loose screw was on the very edge of the roof so I suppose the winds may have caused it.

[John K Jordan]

Well I got up early before daylight, (couldn't sleep), climbed the ladder and found the problem. A loose screw that had backed out. Apparently it has been slightly leaking for some time because the wood rafter shows signs of water damage. Not so much that it needs to be repaired, but the screw would not hold when I tightened it. I put a longer screw and new washer on it and it should be fine. Not sure why it backed out, but I believe that high winds may have played a role in it. We had two tornadoes within the same month in Jan. of 2017. those did not touch down on top of us but came over us with some violent winds. Then in Oct 2018, hurricane Michael paid us a visit. Had significant damage to our property and house as well as some of the out buildings. The loose screw was on the very edge of the roof so I suppose the winds may have caused it.

Glad you found it! You might be alert when the next rain comes in case that's not the only leak. Leaks are so insidious and water can travel a long way from where it enters and damage a lot over time.

When we bought this place there was an old barn that had metal roof wind damage on two corners which caused serious structural damage. I decided to rehabilitate rather than raze and today that barn is the center of operations! It was in such bad shape for so many years that it took a lot of work though.

JKJ

[Reed Gray]

The neoprene washers on the screws are good for 10 to 15 years. I had a similar problem in my old shop. Had a roofing company look at it and ended up having them replace all of the screws. Had another leak problem in one corner of the shop. Found out that one was from the gutters being full of 'stuff' from the trees.

Anyone who really knows what they are doing with the impact drivers and drills knows you don't use full torque, only enough to seat the screw.

Another side note, I had one old 18 volt Dewalt drill with a locked on fast forward and took it to the repair shop. The guy there told me to hang onto it. I did get some of the new 20 volt models and he said that the electronics go bad in them, in a fairly short time, and the cost to repair is more than buying a new one. My oldest one is maybe 20 years old and still going strong.

robo hippy

[Steve Eure]

i hear ya Reed. I went out and bought enough screws and washers to replace all of them. Incidentally. the shop roof is 16 years old so it is time for them to be replaced. i looked at a few of them while I was on the ladder by the edge and they do look dry rotted and cracked. May have to con my grandson up there to replace them. He's a fair bit lighter than I am.