hi
I have a two storey house in houston texas.  This friday we got about
3 inches of rain at around noon.  I was in my master on the second
floor for the good part of the rain.
When i went to my first floor family room I noticed water on my
couch.  I looked up to see a water stain from my vent. I quickly
opened the vent to find it was completely dry and concluded that water
was just using the opening to drip down.  Now the rain although not
heavy was steady by the drip had stop.
I went up to the second storey and noticed no leaks in the ceiling
just above.  I also went thru the attic with a flood light and
although the space is tight could not find any water marks by the
drain vents etc.
So i am lost as to how water was dripping thru the first floor with no
evidence of it on the second.
Now to the left of the family room is the guest bathroom which has
it's drain vent and plumbing pretty far from the drip.  I cannot
imagine any plumbing in the area of the drip.  The guest bathroom does
have an exhaust which is about 3 feet from the drip spot.
All the drain vents on the roof were re sealed after hurriance ike.
And i should mention that during hurriance ike we did have a drip spot
about a foot to the left of the new one.

So my quesiton is where do i look and what do you think is going on.
The drip spot is about 9 feet from the shingled house side.  Where
could this drip be coming from.  It also rained all day today  pretty
heavy and the drip is gone.

If it was the plumbing or the drain it would be consistent but it
isn't.
Please advice and thanks for reading.

On Sat, 18 Apr 2009 16:40:07 -0700 (PDT), against all advice,
something compelled david <a...@hotmail.com>, to say:

>     hi
>     I have a two storey house in houston texas.  This friday we got about
>     3 inches of rain at around noon.  I was in my master on the second
>     floor for the good part of the rain.



That sounds kinky.




-- 

Real men don't text.

david wrote:
> hi
> I have a two storey house in houston texas.  This friday we got about
> 3 inches of rain at around noon.  I was in my master on the second
> floor for the good part of the rain.
> When i went to my first floor family room I noticed water on my
> couch.  I looked up to see a water stain from my vent. I quickly
> opened the vent to find it was completely dry and concluded that water
> was just using the opening to drip down.  Now the rain although not
> heavy was steady by the drip had stop.
> I went up to the second storey and noticed no leaks in the ceiling
> just above.  I also went thru the attic with a flood light and
> although the space is tight could not find any water marks by the
> drain vents etc.
> So i am lost as to how water was dripping thru the first floor with no
> evidence of it on the second.
> Now to the left of the family room is the guest bathroom which has
> it's drain vent and plumbing pretty far from the drip.  I cannot
> imagine any plumbing in the area of the drip.  The guest bathroom does
> have an exhaust which is about 3 feet from the drip spot.
> All the drain vents on the roof were re sealed after hurriance ike.
> And i should mention that during hurriance ike we did have a drip spot
> about a foot to the left of the new one.
>
> So my quesiton is where do i look and what do you think is going on.
> The drip spot is about 9 feet from the shingled house side.  Where
> could this drip be coming from.  It also rained all day today  pretty
> heavy and the drip is gone.
>
> If it was the plumbing or the drain it would be consistent but it
> isn't.
> Please advice and thanks for reading.

Water can travel a long way before it becomes visible. For instance, the 
leak could be on the other side of your house, the water travels down a wall 
to the floor, along the floor (under the carpet) until it finds a hole, 
through the hole to a slightly-tilted beam, along the beam 'till it hit the 
vent, thence down to your couch.

The easiest thing to check, and the most likely source of the water, is the 
flashing on the various things that pierce the roof, irrespective of their 
proximity to the visible part of the leak. 

On Apr 18, 7:40=A0pm, david  wrote:
> hi
> I have a two storey house in houston texas. =A0This friday we got about
> 3 inches of rain at around noon. =A0I was in my master on the second
> floor for the good part of the rain.
> When i went to my first floor family room I noticed water on my
> couch. =A0I looked up to see a water stain from my vent. I quickly
> opened the vent to find it was completely dry and concluded that water
> was just using the opening to drip down. =A0Now the rain although not
> heavy was steady by the drip had stop.
> I went up to the second storey and noticed no leaks in the ceiling
> just above. =A0I also went thru the attic with a flood light and
> although the space is tight could not find any water marks by the
> drain vents etc.
> So i am lost as to how water was dripping thru the first floor with no
> evidence of it on the second.
> Now to the left of the family room is the guest bathroom which has
> it's drain vent and plumbing pretty far from the drip. =A0I cannot
> imagine any plumbing in the area of the drip. =A0The guest bathroom does
> have an exhaust which is about 3 feet from the drip spot.
> All the drain vents on the roof were re sealed after hurriance ike.
> And i should mention that during hurriance ike we did have a drip spot
> about a foot to the left of the new one.
>
> So my quesiton is where do i look and what do you think is going on.
> The drip spot is about 9 feet from the shingled house side. =A0Where
> could this drip be coming from. =A0It also rained all day today =A0pretty
> heavy and the drip is gone.
>
> If it was the plumbing or the drain it would be consistent but it
> isn't.
> Please advice and thanks for reading.

re: " i am lost as to how water was dripping thru the first floor with
no evidence of it on the second"

Water will find it's way to an opening via a path that you may not
see. It may run along the bottom of a joist, a wire or a pipe, finally
dripping down when its attraction to the object ends and gravity takes
over. The property is known as surface tension and it can make the
origin of the leak difficult to find.

In addition, it could run along the top of the ceiling drywall and not
show any signs until it either pools someplace and/or saturates the
drywall enough to soak through.

Was it windy when you got the 3 inches of rain? It could have been
blowing through any opening and working its way down to the first
floor. If it was, figure out which way the wind was blowing from and
see if you can find an opening - an opening that might not be seen
unless it's really windy. That's a tough one.

Have you been there long and been through storms like this before?
Maybe you'll get lucky and it was an isolated incident. Stranger
things have happened.

On Apr 18, 7:11=A0pm, DerbyDad03  wrote:
> On Apr 18, 7:40=A0pm, david  wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > hi
> > I have a two storey house in houston texas. =A0This friday we got about
> > 3 inches of rain at around noon. =A0I was in my master on the second
> > floor for the good part of the rain.
> > When i went to my first floor family room I noticed water on my
> > couch. =A0I looked up to see a water stain from my vent. I quickly
> > opened the vent to find it was completely dry and concluded that water
> > was just using the opening to drip down. =A0Now the rain although not
> > heavy was steady by the drip had stop.
> > I went up to the second storey and noticed no leaks in the ceiling
> > just above. =A0I also went thru the attic with a flood light and
> > although the space is tight could not find any water marks by the
> > drain vents etc.
> > So i am lost as to how water was dripping thru the first floor with no
> > evidence of it on the second.
> > Now to the left of the family room is the guest bathroom which has
> > it's drain vent and plumbing pretty far from the drip. =A0I cannot
> > imagine any plumbing in the area of the drip. =A0The guest bathroom doe=
s
> > have an exhaust which is about 3 feet from the drip spot.
> > All the drain vents on the roof were re sealed after hurriance ike.
> > And i should mention that during hurriance ike we did have a drip spot
> > about a foot to the left of the new one.
>
> > So my quesiton is where do i look and what do you think is going on.
> > The drip spot is about 9 feet from the shingled house side. =A0Where
> > could this drip be coming from. =A0It also rained all day today =A0pret=
ty
> > heavy and the drip is gone.
>
> > If it was the plumbing or the drain it would be consistent but it
> > isn't.
> > Please advice and thanks for reading.
>
> re: " i am lost as to how water was dripping thru the first floor with
> no evidence of it on the second"
>
> Water will find it's way to an opening via a path that you may not
> see. It may run along the bottom of a joist, a wire or a pipe, finally
> dripping down when its attraction to the object ends and gravity takes
> over. The property is known as surface tension and it can make the
> origin of the leak difficult to find.
>
> In addition, it could run along the top of the ceiling drywall and not
> show any signs until it either pools someplace and/or saturates the
> drywall enough to soak through.
>
> Was it windy when you got the 3 inches of rain? It could have been
> blowing through any opening and working its way down to the first
> floor. If it was, figure out which way the wind was blowing from and
> see if you can find an opening - an opening that might not be seen
> unless it's really windy. That's a tough one.
>
> Have you been there long and been through storms like this before?
> Maybe you'll get lucky and it was an isolated incident. Stranger
> things have happened.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

Thank you for replying

Yes it was very windy during the storm and the rain was horizontal at
times. I had leaks at different parts of the house last year during
Hurriance IKE and my handyman dir re seal the flashing as he noticed
that they were pretty bad.

This drip  is about 3 feet from the one that i had during the
hurricane which was much worse.

The only thing i can think of is that the water came thru one the air
ventitation vents but again i don't see any signs of dampness there
nor did the insulation get wet.  Does insulation dry so quickly.

thanks

david wrote:
> Thank you for replying
>
> Yes it was very windy during the storm and the rain was horizontal at
> times. I had leaks at different parts of the house last year during
> Hurriance IKE and my handyman dir re seal the flashing as he noticed
> that they were pretty bad.
>
> This drip  is about 3 feet from the one that i had during the
> hurricane which was much worse.
>
> The only thing i can think of is that the water came thru one the air
> ventitation vents but again i don't see any signs of dampness there
> nor did the insulation get wet.  Does insulation dry so quickly.

Leaks don't have to start at the top (roof), they can start at the side too. 
Horizontal rain means water was being driven hard at places where it 
normally wouldn't.  Entry could be lots of places...around a window...bad 
shingle...


-- 

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
...a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

David, is there a window on the second floor above the leak?  What 
is the exterior of the house - brick, EIFS, siding?  Was the HVAC 
running during the storm?

Improperly flashed windows, especially in EIFS, are quite common 
and very destructive.  High humidity, cold air conditioning, and 
metal pipework can sweat lots of water.

-- 
______________________________
Keep the whole world singing . . . .
DanG  (remove the sevens)
d...@7cox.net



"david" <a...@hotmail.com> wrote in message 
news:b...@w35g2000prg.googlegroups.com...
> hi
> I have a two storey house in houston texas.  This friday we got 
> about
> 3 inches of rain at around noon.  I was in my master on the 
> second
> floor for the good part of the rain.
> When i went to my first floor family room I noticed water on my
> couch.  I looked up to see a water stain from my vent. I quickly
> opened the vent to find it was completely dry and concluded that 
> water
> was just using the opening to drip down.  Now the rain although 
> not
> heavy was steady by the drip had stop.
> I went up to the second storey and noticed no leaks in the 
> ceiling
> just above.  I also went thru the attic with a flood light and
> although the space is tight could not find any water marks by 
> the
> drain vents etc.
> So i am lost as to how water was dripping thru the first floor 
> with no
> evidence of it on the second.
> Now to the left of the family room is the guest bathroom which 
> has
> it's drain vent and plumbing pretty far from the drip.  I cannot
> imagine any plumbing in the area of the drip.  The guest 
> bathroom does
> have an exhaust which is about 3 feet from the drip spot.
> All the drain vents on the roof were re sealed after hurriance 
> ike.
> And i should mention that during hurriance ike we did have a 
> drip spot
> about a foot to the left of the new one.
>
> So my quesiton is where do i look and what do you think is going 
> on.
> The drip spot is about 9 feet from the shingled house side. 
> Where
> could this drip be coming from.  It also rained all day today 
> pretty
> heavy and the drip is gone.
>
> If it was the plumbing or the drain it would be consistent but 
> it
> isn't.
> Please advice and thanks for reading. 

david wrote:
> hi
> I have a two storey house in houston texas.  This friday we got about
> 3 inches of rain at around noon.  I was in my master on the second
> floor for the good part of the rain.
> When i went to my first floor family room I noticed water on my
> couch.  I looked up to see a water stain from my vent. I quickly
> opened the vent to find it was completely dry and concluded that water
> was just using the opening to drip down.  Now the rain although not
> heavy was steady by the drip had stop.
> I went up to the second storey and noticed no leaks in the ceiling
> just above.  I also went thru the attic with a flood light and
> although the space is tight could not find any water marks by the
> drain vents etc.
> So i am lost as to how water was dripping thru the first floor with no
> evidence of it on the second.
> Now to the left of the family room is the guest bathroom which has
> it's drain vent and plumbing pretty far from the drip.  I cannot
> imagine any plumbing in the area of the drip.  The guest bathroom does
> have an exhaust which is about 3 feet from the drip spot.
> All the drain vents on the roof were re sealed after hurriance ike.
> And i should mention that during hurriance ike we did have a drip spot
> about a foot to the left of the new one.
> 
> So my quesiton is where do i look and what do you think is going on.
> The drip spot is about 9 feet from the shingled house side.  Where
> could this drip be coming from.  It also rained all day today  pretty
> heavy and the drip is gone.
> 
> If it was the plumbing or the drain it would be consistent but it
> isn't.
> Please advice and thanks for reading.

     Check around your vent stacks in the attic.  I had a similar 
situation that only occurred during heavy rains.  There is a boot made 
of rubber that is around the vent stack as it penetrates the roof.  In 
my situation the stack pipe had fallen ever so slightly causing a 
indentation in that rubber boot around the pipe rather than tapering 
upward around the pipe.  This indentation was enough to accumulate a 
bead of water and eventually it followed the pipe to a point to where it 
dropped to the floor joists of the attic.  I thought I would never find 
the leak, but when I did it made sense.

On Sat, 18 Apr 2009 16:40:07 -0700 (PDT), david <a...@hotmail.com>
wrote:

>hi
>I have a two storey house in houston texas.  This friday we got about
>3 inches of rain at around noon.  I was in my master on the second
>floor for the good part of the rain.
>When i went to my first floor family room I noticed water on my
>couch.  I looked up to see a water stain from my vent. I quickly
>opened the vent to find it was completely dry and concluded that water
>was just using the opening to drip down.  Now the rain although not
>heavy was steady by the drip had stop.
>I went up to the second storey and noticed no leaks in the ceiling
>just above.  I also went thru the attic with a flood light and
>although the space is tight could not find any water marks by the
>drain vents etc.
>So i am lost as to how water was dripping thru the first floor with no
>evidence of it on the second.
>Now to the left of the family room is the guest bathroom which has
>it's drain vent and plumbing pretty far from the drip.  I cannot
>imagine any plumbing in the area of the drip.  The guest bathroom does
>have an exhaust which is about 3 feet from the drip spot.
>All the drain vents on the roof were re sealed after hurriance ike.
>And i should mention that during hurriance ike we did have a drip spot
>about a foot to the left of the new one.
>
>So my quesiton is where do i look and what do you think is going on.
>The drip spot is about 9 feet from the shingled house side.  Where
>could this drip be coming from.  It also rained all day today  pretty
>heavy and the drip is gone.
>
>If it was the plumbing or the drain it would be consistent but it
>isn't.
>Please advice and thanks for reading.


Finding leaks may require some detective work.  For example, a roof
leak can travel nearly horizonally several feet along a pipe or beam
before it moves downward.  Wait for the next rain or have someone use
a garden hose on the roof while you inspect.