Jerry Rigging a Band Aid for Torrential Winter Rain
Merry belated Christmas. We had an enjoyable time getting away from work for an extended weekend. Driving home we passed through several rain fronts, saw one 18 wheeler tipped over into the ditch from high winds, and witnessed many flooded areas. This morning a layer of freezing rain had coated all of the trees and the extra weight had caused many limbs to break off.
Shae noticed some water seeping into the basement, but nothing to be concerned about. The much more alarming discovery was when I went into the attic to check mouse traps. On my way down I noticed two very wet patches of floor where there shouldn’t be water.
On closer examination it appeared that water was coming into the house along the chimney and wicking down along the nearest rafter. I checked the bedroom below and sure enough there was some water discoloration on the ceiling. 🙁
Our roof was just put on two years ago, so I gave the roofer a call. He said that he would come around to look at it when the weather cleared up and it was safe to walk on the roof. He didn’t get any arguments from me, there is no way I would ask someone to walk around a steep icy roof.
There was still a slow persistent drip that needed to be dealt with to prevent any additional water damage. I can’t fix it from the outside, so the best I can do is divert that water to where I want it to go. In this case, a bucket. The best way I know how to do that is to create a wick. I nailed a rag into the rafter to interrupt the flow of water.
The water now flows down the rag and drips into the bucket. Voila, one MacGyver band aid.