In the week before Christmas we had 4 cold days of constant rain.  One evening on the 4th day of rain, as I was working downstairs, I saw a familiar sight that made my heart sink.  Water was bubbling the paint in the ceiling.  I touched the bubble (which was the size of a grapefruit) with a screwdriver and water splashed down on to my head.   A leak that had only showed itself after 4 days of rain.  How depressing.

Last Saturday, as we were headed into a forecasted 9 days of rain, Lucas our roofer came over to check things out.  He grabbed a flashlight and began examining the roof area around the furnace that appeared to be the location of the leak.  After about 10 minutes, he showed me that the condensation line of the furnace had come out (been removed?) from the scupper and was draining onto the ceiling.  The area was was wet to the touch.  We returned the condensation tube to the scupper so that the water could drain correctly.

After 6 days of *solid* rain, there is no more water coming through the ceiling.  I am confident the ‘leak’ has been plugged.  Normally, we barely use the furnace.  During those 4 cold days, the furnace was being run for long periods of time.  The water built up enough to run down to where I saw it. 

I call finding the source of the water a ‘hallelujah and a half’.  First, we found the source of the water and fixed it.  Second, if the water hadn’t made itself known through the bubbled paint, it may have gone un-corrected for years.  It would have continued to slowly leak onto the drywall ceiling and we would have never known except when the softened drywall fell from the ceiling, like before.