The Ides of a Leaky Balcony

Greetings to all on this Ides of March.

We have discovered an issue that I think we need to deal with concerning the house. 

It is a wet and rainy day today. I've heard that over an inch of rain fell today. When I retrieved the morning newspaper it was damp. At first I thought it had just arrived and maybe had been exposed to some rain. But then I noticed water on the porch and a little stream heading for the front steps.

It seems that water is leaking through the balcony area and then dripping through that upper porch ceiling and onto the porch. I could easily see a couple of spots where the water was dripping. There is a whole section of paint I removed that wasn't even sticking to the wood. The water had built up a little reservoir between the wood and the paint and then looked for or created cracks in the paint to run out. 

Water goes where it wants to go.

One idea is to tear into the tongue and groove ceiling and try to see where the water is coming from. Another less invasive option might be to just reseal the whole balcony area and see what happens next.

That idea appeals to me much more.