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My name is Tom Lopatosky. I’m the President of LOPCO Contracting (www.LopcoContracting.com) and I’m honored to have the opportunity to talk to you about home improvement on a monthly basis. I love answering your questions! Please send them to
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or call 401-270-2664. Thanks in advance for taking the time to read this column!
Some things at the outset may seem to make a lot of sense, until they do not.
A perfect example of this is something that I refer to as the ‘hose test’.
As many folks are aware, we do a ton of work helping people identify areas of their home that they are currently experiencing leaking from on its exterior and offering subsequent solutions.
Our aim is for our guidance to be as correct as possible, with the ultimate goal of eliminating anything that could possibly be causing any of the types of leaking which we had been summoned to help evaluate.
The process of pinpointing the exact issue is often painstaking and many times can involve a number of different points of penetration all having their leaky water paths converging together and exiting at the same place.
One might imagine how challenging this is to patiently delve into, investigate, and truly diagnose where the leak is coming from.
Though one may initially believe that trying to speed up this process by invoking the use of a garden hose on the home’s exterior, and that dousing potential leak points with high volumes of water would certainly do the trick, this is far from the best approach.
The reason being that leaks – especially the finicky ones – often require very specific weather conditions to show their face.
While blasting a section of the roof with water utopically would create a condition where the pesky leak is easily identified, truly working through this type of situation and correcting things is a much more persistently mundane process where fighting the urge to ‘hurry up and find it!’ must be superseded with focused discipline on the overall goal.
Many leaks are not only associated with rain, but also with the wind that accompanies the rain.
There are seemingly infinite examples of times where a leak is attempting to be diagnosed and in a straight heavy rain no water comes in, and a rain of a much lesser volume, but associated with a wind-driven element from just the right direction, has the leak streaming in like an overflowing brook in the middle of the woods!
Although I realize that having a leak is annoying, to truly guarantee that the leak has been ‘gotten’ there is a process that should be followed.
This process involves a peeling back of layers of sorts from both the exterior and the interior side of things and is NOT something that should be rushed if you really want to neutralize the leak.
It is not unusual to find an area where it seems that a leak is coming in from, correcting it, and then having to wait months before the exact weather conditions develop that are necessary to properly “test” if the leak is taken care of, before the leaking scenario can be considered resolved and any areas taken apart in order to access the area which is leaking can be considered ok to put back together again.
In fact, the process can be even more excruciating then simply this, as my guidance often is to have things test “clean” twice before making the necessary subsequent repairs – which would mean that even MORE waiting is required until the “correct” weather conditions to test present themselves again!
Leaks coming from roof areas, exterior trim & siding, windows, doors, etc. can be elusive when working to chase them down and though using a tool such as a garden hose to test things with the intention of moving things along, while perhaps a good idea on the surface, unfortunately does not typically provide the most proper testing necessary to expedite these types of situations to the point where they can comfortably be looked upon as “solved”.
About Tom Lopatosky
Tom Lopatosky has run his own RI-based painting and repair business since 1995; LOPCO Contracting – the “Personable, Particular Professionals” – specializes in exterior & interior painting and carpentry. Recently LOPCO Contracting was named ‘RI’s Finest Painting Contracting Company’ by ShopInRI Magazine. In 2013, Tom was named “Humanitarian of the Year” by the Painting and Decorating Contractors of America (PDCA) and a “40 Under 40” award winner by Providence Business News. He is a member of both PCA (Painting Contractors Association) and RIBA (Rhode Island Builders Association). Tom has often had weekly ‘Home Improvement Tips’ that have aired on the radio on 630 WPRO AM and on television on WPRI 12. You can catch Tom LIVE on the radio EVERY Saturday, 2pm-3pm, on 630 WPRO AM (99.7 FM) during his weekly ProTalk Home Improvement Radio Show!
