Anybody's House Been Through a Hurricane?

[em1126]

We are new to Florida and currently experiencing our first hurricane. We still have about 5 hours of wind and rain left and we already have wet spots on our living room and garage ceiling. The guy who inspected our house assures us this is pretty common during hurricanes. Is this true? How did your house hold up? The thing is, we feel like we were misled by the former owner and/or inspector about the quality of the roof. Any input from those who've gone through hurricanes would be appreciated.

[thyme]

Been through several. It's true -- your house is likely to get a few damp spots inside. It happens, even with a brand new roof. It doesn't seem to be related to any kind of permanent damage though. We haven't lost a single shingle, and we've had leaks such as you describe in every hurricane we've been through. You may have to touch up the ceiling paint once it dries out though.

[Vorian's_Leronica]

Our old house went through 3 hurricanes last year. We didn't have any problems with wet spots or leaking until the shingles got blown off.
After the hurricanes most of our shingles were gone, our gutters got ripped off, every screen on our porch was ripped up, our tree was broken in half and we had to get the dining room and garage repopcorned due to leaks.

My parents house did not fair so well, they lost shingles as well and half of their ceiling caved in.

Our houses were about 20 yrs old and so were their roofs so maybe thats why.

[allison]

We just moved into our new home so Rita was the first hurricane for it to go through. When we built the house, we had a pylon foundatation put in and had an extra 200 clips put in into the framing.

Since we were on the NW side of the hurricane, we missed the stronger part, our home sustained little damage, but we still had a few things to repair. We too had a leak in our family room ceiling. This happened because of the wind. Rita didn't produce as much rain ans wind so the rain that did come, came in hard with the wind and seaped through into our home. That didn't compare with the tree that fell on our home!

We had the leak and ceiling fixed the week after the storm and haven't had any problems since. Our roof is just a year old and we actually were expecting some water damage. Mostly because we had been through a few hurricanes and know the drill. The harder part was having the tree fall on the house, but what can you do?

[em1126]

Thanks for the input! It's helpful just to know you're not the only one who has or is going through this situation.

[screetch]

We got hit by Frances and Jeanne last year in our 8-yr old house.... interior-wise, during both we got a lot of water on the floor coming in through the walls/base (not flooding, just lots of wetness). In Jeanne only, we got water damage on our ceiling and walls, which trickled to the floor through the walls, thanks to the rain coming in sideways and going into the attic vent. We were lucky - most of our neighbors lost their ceilings b/c of all the water coming through. You might check to see if you've got roof leaks or if it's from water coming though the vents. We later found out that a lot of people either get some device installed that prevents the water coming in like this, or they wedge a pool noodle up there right before a storm.

[maxandmolly]

My mother's 25+ year old wood frame house went through Charley last year and Wilma yesterday. We have no idea how she got so lucky, but hers was the ONLY house in the neighborhood not missing shingles, and the giant tree lost a giant limb.....which fell into the road, away from the house.
Good construction, new/old/whatever...I think in many ways, it's just dumb luck, who gets their home destroyed, and who is still fortunate enough to have something to go home to.

[Aimee]

Well, I live in the metro NOLA area, so I guess you could say I've been through a few hurricanes.

I've never seen/had the wet spots in any of the houses we've lived in. In fact, my mom's house lost quite a few shingles from Katrina and didn't have wet spots on her ceiling. The only place she had wet spots was where a tree went through part of her garage roof; that caused wet spots on her attic ceiling.

[1MegMeg]

Our house is 25 years old and our roof is 4 years old. We've lived in the house 18 months and have been through 4 hurricanes. We didn't have any sort of wet spots, leaks on the ceiling, etc. Not to dissent with everyone else, but I've lived in Florida my entire life and I have ~never~ heard that it is normal or okay to have leaks/wet spots during a hurricane. Perhaps I am overly simplistic, but wet spots on the ceiling equals a leak somewhere in the roof...not okay for me!

[Sabre]

I have ~never~ heard that it is normal or okay to have leaks/wet spots during a hurricane. Perhaps I am overly simplistic, but wet spots on the ceiling equals a leak somewhere in the roof...not okay for me!

I agree!

Yep, I went through 3 hurricanes last year in an old house with an old roof and had zero leaks. I was lucky :rolleyes: enough to move down to the Treasure Coast and get hit by Wilma also, in a newer house with a newish roof, that did leak. I plan to put in a call to my insurance company this week.

The thing is, we feel like we were misled by the former owner and/or inspector about the quality of the roof.

We feel like we were misled a bit by our inspector on some things also. Sucks!

[Sandie78]

Our ceiling got wet during Jeanne last year and our house was only 1.5 years old at the time. Turns out it wasn't the roof leaking, but water getting in through the ridgevent because the wind was blowing so hard.

[juliemag]

We've been trough several --- and are currently cleaning up after Wilma.

Your home shouldn't leak from a hurricane, or at any other time. Well built houses are just that... well built. Before hurricane Andrew, the building code in south fla was very lax... causing many of the homes in Miami to be destroyed. Since then, many/all cities have strict building codes to prevent hurricanes from doing major damage down here anymore.

The most important thing is to have a good roof on your home. Our neighborhood is just devastated in terms of "roofs" after this last hurricane. You can tell there were alot of "do-it-yourself" jobs that left these homes a wreck.

[maxandmolly]

The most important thing is to have a good roof on your home. Our neighborhood is just devastated in terms of "roofs" after this last hurricane. You can tell there were alot of "do-it-yourself" jobs that left these homes a wreck.
The freaky thing about mom's roof is that it was put on by my brother and who (we found later) crackhead friend, who didnt really know what they were doing. My brother's comment to my mom was, "Well, we weren't sure exactly how many nails it took to nail down the shingles, so we doubled what we thought should be there."
My brother, the genius, ladies! :rolleyes:

[thyme]

I should clarify that our ceiling gets damp in very specific places, and that it depends on which way the wind is coming from. It's not a *hole* in the roof -- more an issue with vents and prolonged blowing rain, as others have said. If we had an actual water-coming-in-visibly leak, then I'd be concerned.

[em1126]

Thanks again for the input! I'm planning on calling a roofer tomorrow to come out and look at it. I think we'll probably end up replacing (or repairing) the ridge vent--we'll see what the roofer says . . .