We need a professional opinion to a dilemma. Our bedroom ceiling leaked for years. The rain comes through a couple of spots on the ceiling and also down through a partial wall that is shared by a closet.

The roof has a 4’ wide flat area that runs the length of the house. The problem part of the bedroom is under this flat area, however, so are other rooms in the house, and they don’t leak.

A lot of pine needles collect on the far east AND west sides of the roof. The roofer was aware of this when we hired him 2 years ago.

The new roof just started to leak in the same places. The guy says it’s due to the pine needles. He removed the debris, and says it's all fixed. (We asked him why the pine needles at the other end of the house don’t cause the roof to leak; he didn’t have an answer.)

We don’t want to wait to see if he’s right, because we’ve since learned that he’s an unlicensed con man. He’s been sued by the guy whose license he stole. He’s facing jail time if he gets caught again, but only if it’s for a job he did AFTER the court case. We’re unsure if we’re before or after. He’s scared and is willing to fix our problem at his expense. He doesn’t know we know. We want him to pay someone else to do the work, but because he says it’s fixed now, we’re in the position of waiting for it to rain, and then threatening to report him if he doesn’t make good.

We’d like to know how this might play out. Is it really possible for rain-soaked pine needles to cause a leak in a new roof? If so, could a real roofer have prevented it? Is it plausible that it leaked at one end of the house and not the other? Could his clearing the debris fix a leaky roof? Thank you for any answers you might provide!

Marcie