It’s 8 p.m. on a Friday night. You’ve conquered the traffic and finally arrived at the cottage. You’re just about to pour yourself a  drink when—wait a second. Is something leaking? Don’t panic! Here’s how to fix three commonly found tiny leaks before they become big, big trouble.

So you’ve got a leak…

The problem with cottage country? Too many drips. “Despite our best engineering, leaks still happen,” says Sean Peterson, a professor of mechanical and mechatronics engineering at the University of Waterloo. “Any sort of system or device we have, no matter what it is, eventually corrodes, wears down, or fails.”

Don’t take it personally, it’s just physics. Peterson explains that high-pressure substances will always escape to low-pressure areas if they can. “Any pathway that emerges in the membrane separating the two provides a release,” Peterson says. Take a blow-up mattress, for example. When your cat—inevitably—claws a hole in it, the barrier containing the high-pressure air becomes compromised and the air just takes the path of least resistance out. Same goes for water escaping a pipe through a pinhole or blown connection. And those leaks plaguing your roof, kayaks, or canoes? You can fault physics for that too. Sunlight, rain and snow, cold and heat, and the forces of water and wind all conspire to erode and weaken the trusty membranes that keep the bad stuff (in this case, water) out.

If this sounds dire, the good news is there’s always duct tape. Joking! (But not really). Whether by tape, tarp, or otherwise, these emergency tricks will help you stop pesky drips in a jiff until you or a professional can fix the leak for the long haul. (Don’t worry, we’ll tell you how to do that too).

The leaky culprits

1. Your copper pipe, which has burst or developed pinholes.

➡️ Here’s how to fix it.

2. Your roof, which is now leaking water into your cottage.

➡️ Here’s how to fix it.

3. Your canoe or kayak, which now has water inside and out.

➡️ Here’s how to fix it.

The bottom line

If physics stacks the deck to favour leaks, how you play those cards still matters. The tendency to rush fixes and cut corners almost guarantees future problems. “It’s the ‘my brother can do it’ factor,” says Begin. “If a pipe’s not installed correctly or you have a badly soldered joint, it will hold long enough that it feels okay, and then it will let go.”

And while SharkBites, roofing cement, and Gorilla Tape all have a place, engineering professor Sean Peterson says the most powerful leak-stopper is likely also the most overlooked: the cottage checklist. “Many industries, including aviation, have checklists because they force people to think about preventative maintenance, which helps avoid catastrophic failures.”

So if you’re looking to avoid the dreaded cottage drip once and for all, it’s time to revise those opening and closing checklists to include scouting for water stains behind walls and in your attic, storing canoes and kayaks safely, and maybe even stocking some just-in-case plumbing supplies. And Gorilla Tape. There are already enough drips around the lake. Why invite more?

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