We awake to a leaky roof. What a way to start the year!

Well, we don’t notice it right away. But after breakfast, Dawn’s getting ready to take a shower and she notices water dripping from the bathroom ceiling. It’s coming from around the ceiling fan.

I drag out the step stool and take a peak into what passes for our attic. Luckily this leak is smack dab next to the access panel in the hallway ceiling. And there I see it, drop after drop coming from a nail. I stick a cup underneath to catch it.

Later we go up on the roof to see where it’s coming through. Dawn helpfully finds in the Restoration book the handy information that with flat roofs such as ours, wherever a leak is coming through below is likely the same place it’s entering on the roof. Houses with peaked roofs have much bigger problems with water travelling before coming through, making pinpointing leaks much harder.

There’s a seam where one layer of tarpaper, or whatever it is, lays over another layer, where we think the water might be getting through. Or could be around the tin cover over the roof access. Or maybe the side of the bathroom skylight where the painted plywood is rotting away.

In any event, the rain is ending later today, and my office is closed tomorrow, so I’ve got some roof fixin’ to do.