Had a stretch last July where my shed roof leaked for three straight days

It rained almost nonstop that week in Austin and I found out the hard way that my cheap rubber sealant wasn't doing anything. My old fishing gear got soaked and I had to toss a rusted tackle box. Anyone else had a shed sealant fail on them in heavy rain?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_jake11d ago

Charles836 hit the nail on the head. Cheap caulk is a waste of money. After my first leak I went back and found the sealant had cracked all along the seams where the roof panels met. The Texas sun bakes that stuff brittle in a year. I ended up pulling it all out and using a butyl tape made for metal roofs. That stuff flexes with the heat and has held up through two summers now.

charles83611d ago

Used to think any old caulk from the hardware store would do the job, but that storm changed my mind real quick. I had a similar setup with a shed in my backyard and figured a cheap tube of sealant was good enough. After a week of straight rain I found puddles inside and all my garden tools were rusty. Now I only use the high grade stuff made for roofs, even if it costs twice as much. Learned that lesson the hard way, didn't you have any warning signs before the leak got that bad?

miller.diana11d ago

Honestly, did you check for any cracks in the sealant before the rain hit, or was it just one of those things where you figured it'd hold up? I had to replace my entire weatherstripping after that stretch because I ignored how brittle it was getting in the Texas sun. Made the mistake of thinking a quick dab of sealant would fix the corner gap, but that just made the leak worse.