Contractor Shares Horrible Leaky Roof Video On Reddit: 'That Poor Poor Homeowner'

A video making the rounds in Reddit's r/Roofing community has managed to alarm roofers and homeowners for several different reasons, while stimulating that mix of humor and indignation unique to online groups of tradespeople. In the 38-second video, a carpenter is inspecting an area of flat roof on a home, finding that the poor roof installation has left the flat deck area so waterlogged that the carpenter appears to be walking on a particularly moist sponge cake.

The video ends with a closeup of one likely cause of the water ingress — the complete lack of flashing where metal roofing panels meet vertical surfaces. The squishy roof is, by most accounts, probably not the biggest problem with the roof, but it's certainly bad enough. The damaged flat area is an EPDM rubber roof, and those have their downsides. EPDM roofing is a multilayered affair usually used for (often structurally simpler) commercial applications and modern homes with flat roofs. Adjacent areas have a metal roof, some of which runs up to a clerestory – a sort of wall segment between (in this case) two roof sections that includes windows to admit light. The problem is that, possibly because the clerestory windows essentially meet the roof below, there is no room for flashing to keep water from getting under the roofing.

The missing flashing — a layer of weatherproofing material designed to keep water from entering a structure where other materials meet —might not be the only cause of the water problem, and the waterlogged underlayment probably isn't the only result. The installer apparently made no attempt to keep water out using caulk or any other means.

Online discussion of construction trades often features something like the sort of gallows humor you expect from cop shows, designed to communicate how badly something was done, how common it is to do it badly, and how the commenter would never consider doing it so badly. But to get the jokes, you first have to get the perspectives they're grounded in. Most of the Redditors commenting on the video agree that the carpenter is a brave soul for walking on the sodden surface, although there's an entertaining disagreement about whether experience alone can tell a roofer when a roof is safe to walk on. The most likely answer is that it can tell you, until it can't, and one commenter compares it to walking on a frozen lake. Perhaps it's frozen and safe to traverse, but you never really know until you do or don't break through the ice.

The actual construction-related part of the conversation is more interesting than the spat over the clairvoyance of roofers. Everyone agrees that the missing flashing is a disaster in progress, and a few assert that having a flat roof deck over a living space is a terrible idea because it will eventually leak. All agree that these are sure signs the roof needs replacing ASAP. Much is also made about what exactly the waterlogged material is.

Whether he's right about the material or not, Redditor u/Thundersalmon45 jump-starts the trades humor with the facetious claim that the work was done well: "It's what you're supposed to do with OSB; build it small, then soak it until it swells to fill size."

The comment about swelling OSB gets the material wrong, but the sentiment is spot on. What's actually holding all the water is a fiberboard sheathing product that sometimes goes by a brand name like Homasote or the generic term Buffalo board, and it's famous for being even worse than OSB about holding water and losing its structural integrity. Another Redditor, u/Reasonable_Try_1346, pretends to find the silverish, probably lead, lining in the mess: "At least it's not flammable."

When it comes to the contractor walking on the roof, there's less hilariously sanguine optimism and more concern for his safety. "When he jumped a little, my heart stopped a little," wrote u/BamBam-BamBam. But the carpenter's brother, commenting on Reddit, notes that the structure underneath the soaked fiberboard (plywood covered in an ice and water shield) is dry, solid, and appropriately protected. And the carpenter does appear to be making a point of only stepping on seams that are the most likely areas to be supported by framing.

The end of the video is an accidental work of art. As the carpenter is recording video of the areas without flashing, the dogs barking inside suddenly become louder and clearer, as if the roofing gaps are wide open all the way down to the dog beds. It's probably just sound coming through the windows, but it seems to be accentuating the flimsiness of the construction. And what do the dogs have to say about it all? Well, they've been warning you all along: "Roof! Roof!"