puffy areas of roof

I was checking out my roof recently and noticed 2 or 3 areas where the surface is “puffy”, like when you step on it, the surface is slightly soft and your foot can make an impression about 1/4″ or so deep. How big a cause is this for alarm, and does the soft part need to be cut out and removed?

We are getting proposals for a new layer of roofing to be put on, but would roofers normally deal with something like this as part of the process? Would I need the roofers to specifically describe in writing how they are going to deal with these puffy areas, or should I trust that they will do it?

There is no noticeable water damage around the soft areas, or inside the house on the ceiling under the problem areas.

Guest User | 2 years and 8 months ago

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justinromeu26 | 2 years and 5 months ago

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a customer just bought me a thermal imaging camera that can be used for spotting moisture and water under things and behind walls. i found a leak in a brick wall, going right back to the source, with it yesterday. if you wish to talk to me about these spots on the roof, feel free to reach out. i will be looking to ad this service to my home inspection business.

steve
www.brownstonehomeinspection.com

cate | 2 years and 8 months ago

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Show it to your roofers. Often puffy areas do mean there is a leak. They can tar the seams and other suspect areas nearby.

justinromeu26 | 2 years and 8 months ago

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So for those interested, i am only recalling it as i think about it (this was 24 years ago) but in the leak i mention above with the wet insulation, we identified the source as a failed seam, about 12 to 15′ long. As a novice, my inclination would have been to patch it. But we called a roofer and he pointed out that we had insulation under the membrane. Like 2″ thick insulation board. He told us it had to be cut out and replaced because it had become soaked. The entire membrane was also under gravel so we had no idea how long it had been open but it could have been months. When he priced it, he could not guess at how much roofing and insulation had to come up and be replaced so he gave me a price based on the sq ft. I think the insulation doubled the price over what it would have been if it were just membrane. What was troubling was, this was a very large roof and i did not know where it would stop.

justinromeu26 | 2 years and 8 months ago

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Ok. Well, if the roof did this because it was pulled taught it might return anyway but yes, if you push water out up the slope, the weight of the water will push it back down. But this is where you have to be careful. You can’t really keep moving these. The old roof can crack. If this was me on my roof, i would drill a 1/8″ hole only through that membrane (when we drill slowly, we can feel the transition) and i would gently press it and see if water comes out. If water came out, i would try to void most of it. I would then fill the drill hole with karnack 19. If i was really worried, i’d put some fiberglass mesh over it and karnack 19 over that.

If water comes out, you must advise the roofers and the best case scenario is they can identify how that water got in and remedy it as part of the roofing job. Depending on where it is, it could be something else. If water comes out, me thinks they will want to rip a lot of this up to dry it, which is what they did in the incident i mention above, with the wet insulation.

Guest User | 2 years and 8 months ago

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Thank you so much for your answer, this is so helpful!! I feel like it might water in there, as the area fills up and goes down if you step on it as if it were filled with something, sort of like a hot water bottle or one of those squishy toys. I will take another look and try to get the roofers’ opinions on the source.

justinromeu26 | 2 years and 8 months ago

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I just looked at my shed roof. It is perfectly flat. Keep in mind, these membranes are heavy so they should lie flat, but they do not always.

justinromeu26 | 2 years and 8 months ago

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so firstly, i am not a roofer. i have worked in commercial buildings (we walked the roofs monthly looking for issues) and have maintained roofs and brought in contractors to reroof or repair issues on both flat roofs and on traditional suburban residential roofs (shingles).

generally, these flat roofs are adhered along the overlap where the seams meet but the area in the middle of the course, the may not (most likely will not) have any adhesive. i put a flat roof on my shed. the seams are sealed with whatever i used at the time (flashing cement). the middle of the courses are not adhered and they can lift a little (for the sake of discussion, i might look at my shed roof in a little while). My own roof (on my house) has some areas of membrane that have lifted up a little (1/16″ -1/8″) over the substrate as if it is loose, but over time these areas have not grown or risen further than that, so i am ok with them (i check my own roof twice a year). if they grew to 1/4″, i would get concerned and begin planning to have something done. read on:

the problems will a rise with water and moisture intrusion. in some cases, you will see a leak inside the house, but if you have a newer roof over an old one, you may not see the leak in the house. the moisture (or actual water) can become trapped between the two membranes and increasing moisture and temperature changes can cause these to grow into an actual blister. a broken seam can allow actual water in as can failed flashing along a parapet wall. moisture can also come from a wet substrate or wet insulation (say if a repair is done and the insulation is not given a chance to dry: we had this happen once and had the roofer replace the insulation because it was soaked; ok, i will admit it, the roofer told me it had to be replaced because it was soaked; i balked at the expense; had we not ripped that insulation out and given the area a chance to dry, we would have had another problem immediately).

if moisture continues to enter and these grow be it by pressure from water building up or simple hot, humid air, they can cause the membrane to crack. but they will have to grow a good bit; the areas on my roof have been stable for 16 years and i still have no intention of addressing them. they will be addressed when the roof gets done.

with situations like this, it is good to check the area on a very hot sunny day and on a cooler day (the issue on my roof does not change with the weather). if there are changes or that area is 1/4″ on a cool day and 1/2″ on a hot day, i would say you have an active problem.

i would ask the roofers who come to your house if they think that moisture could be built up under the membrane or between two layers of membrane (by what you have described, i do not think this is water but an air pocket). ask them if they have any ideas how it got in there (i have worked on buildings all my life; when we are called to fix something that is failing, we must determine the “why” because covering a problem with new layer of whatever might be like taking aspirin for a brain tumor). ask what might happen if you go over it without addressing it and ask if they think it should be cut out, and then put back down (to level it) before laying a new roof over it. no matter what they tell you, you want them to tell you why that is happening. if you bring in several roofers and some roofers can tell you what is going on and the other one or two look like this is the first time they have seen something like this, get rid of the one(s) that cannot talk to you about this issue (they are not roofers; they were painters last week). even if this issue is nothing, you need the roofers to tell you why this happen. keep in mind, if something does not sound right, take what they tell you and read about it on the ‘net.

i am not a roofer. as a home inspector, if i did an inspection and saw what looked like the start of a blister on a roof, i would note it in the report and simply say “have a roofer look at it”. as i side conversation, i would verbally tell the customer what i just said above.

I do not care if i am wrong with about 90% of what i just said here; the correct thing to do in buildings is raise the questions and put them to the experts. err on the side of caution.

Steve
Brownstone Home Inspection LLC
www.brownstonehomeinspection.com