In our Oak Harbor home we have reoccurring problem. It started several years ago after we installed a large glass skylight to brighten up our Northwest winter days inside with natural light. There were no problems with the installation, and no problems with any leakage until a few years past. Then, after a long summer of no rain (Yes, it is known to happen in the Seattle area) we had a down pour that resulted in water dripping into our recently remodeled, nicely textured, freshly painted room. It was disgusting. Martha had said somewhere along in our family history that this was just what her concern was about skylights: they can leak. So I went up on the roof and started doing what I knew to do. I checked for any sources of problems and when I found them, I patched them with a roofing sealant that is tar based. It sticks to wet and dry surfaces, gets all over you in the process, but looks like it does the job, and indeed does a good job for many leak problems. It was the only product I was familiar with, a product that I had used for years in several places that we had lived with success. It is a good product. I couldn't wait for the next rain to see if my attention to the leak was solved. So it rained and there were no leaks. YES! I felt victorious over the elements. The problem had been solved.

Then we had more weather and through it all the roof began to leak again. My heart sank. This was supposed to be fixed. I went through the next few years battling this problem. Finally, I had that part of the roof redone with a vinyl product that will last over thirty years. I was sure the problem was solved. In the process of the re-roofing water damage had to be fixed because of the long season of periodic leaks. But all was done, and I looked forward to the next rainy season without fear. I fixed the interior again and rested in hopes of security from the problem ever being repeated.

But I was frustrated one more time when the next winter the leak reappeared in the same corner of the room. The next three years I spent time on re-applying my old standby product and the same cycles would occur. Freezing weather and hot weather, both which can happen from time to time enough to effect the product, would shrink and crack and allow the leak to reoccur. The seal on the skylight was now the ongoing problem. I removed all the faulty seal and pushed the tar like substance into its place. Finally, success. I fixed up all the water damage inside, re-textured, re-painted and re-did the flooring. We enjoyed the dry and nice looking room all summer. Then it rained and, you may have guessed by now, the thing leaked again.

I have a friend that I shared this agony with more than once, named Dell. Dell had a completely different perspective about what product to use. Latex Caulk: it doesn't shrink, dry up, crack or break away from the formed seal. So many years locked into trying to solve the problem with the same solution, it took someone from the outside to tell me about a different solution. I was so locked into "this is the way to fix this" that I kept on doing it. (I know some of you are now thinking: here is the definition of insanity - the doing of the same thing over and over with the same results every time.)

But so many of us are "locked in" as well to various solutions that don't work to ongoing problems that never get fixed. Don't give up! Get outside the box - let someone else bring another perspective - be willing to think differently - do something different, even if it doesn't work and keep doing different things until you solve the problem.

I am looking forward to applying this solution to the skylight, and am expectant of success. After I looked at this "Caulk Approach" I thought, "why didn't I think of that before?" Lesson learned for this problem, now I am challenged to look at other areas of my life and apply the principles learned here.

1. I was locked up in my own thinking
2. I was not successful in solving the problem on my own
3. It took intervention in form of a good friend to give me a new thought
4. The new thought produced a new solution
5. There is hope!

How are you doing with reoccurring problems that won't go away?