Roof flashing repaire - a big deal????

16 years ago

Hi,

We had a home inspection today and learned that when the roof shingles were replaced 6 years ago, the flashing was not properly placed. It is a contemporary house where parts of the roof but up against the wood siding of another part of the house. Apparently, the roofer was supposed to cut slits in the siding and tuck the flashing into it so that the rain doesn't fall in between the edge of the flashing and the siding and cause leaking. This was not done. Instead, the flashing is just pushed up against the siding of the house. We are going to ask the sellers to fix this, but wanted to know what the estimated cost for this could be and what the implications are for not doing it? It has been this way for 6 years and snow and rain have hit the house but there is no evidence of leakage so far. Any thoughts? I don't know if this is a deal breaker or not.

Thanks,

Michelle

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Comments (8)

green-zeus
16 years ago
My opinion is that it is a big deal. I see roofs all the time where care wasn't taken in special problem areas because the roofer wants to get it done, get paid, and move on.

Getting an estimate for it wouldn't cost anything. I'm sure you could co-ordinate this with the realtor. It's more time than material cost.
ron6519
16 years ago
The siding does not get cut to install this step flashing. The only time the wall is cut, would be to install counter flashing on a brick house. The step flashing goes in behind the siding and under the roof shingles. The old step flashing may still be in place. More of a hinderence at this point if it is. The lower section of siding would need to be removed so the step flashing could be reinstalled. Like green-zeus said, more labor then material unless the wood siding is really expensive.
Ron
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I'm a long-time builder. You have been scammed, unfortunately. Make complaints with anybody who will listen about that outfit. The situation in your photo will leak unless: the original situation was watertight; or, the wind never blows rain toward the cheek-wall, but always the other way (of course, in both cases nothing needed to be done). The most amazingly crazy arrangements will stay dry if the wind cannot blow water into it, OTOH things done more-or-less correctly can and do leak when exposed to more than usual wind. The old saying is "think like a water-drop". If you are a drop of water being blown along the roof shingles toward that flashing, if you are propelled with much velocity, of course you will go under the flashing. Hence the reason for step-flashing - each piece is under it's corresponding roof shingle course and on top of the flashing piece below it. Doing that situation correctly would be a big job, which is why whomever installed that roof didn't do it then, because the steps on the wall need to be re-stuccoed - IOW not only pulling off roofing (at this point) but also new stucco on the cheek wall. It's a big deal.
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davidrt28 (zone 7)
16 years ago
Along these lines, I have a question.
2 years ago the home inspector told me the condition of the stone chimneys was a bit dodgy and they probably needed to be re-mortared. I kept an eye on the leaking in the attic, and it seems to be getting worse. He didn't say anything about the flashing, but I can imagine that needs work too.

So, who do you contact about this? Do you contact a general masonry contractor, a chimney sweep/lining company, or a roofing contractor? Or is this something a trusty general purpose handyman can do? As it is I've contacted a mason who's considered "upscale" and who's been in business for many years, I figure he'd be expensive but at least give me an honest assessment of what needs to be done. If his estimate is reasonable I'll just have him fix it.

Anybody been in this situation before?
sombreuil_mongrel
16 years ago
Step-flashing is bent to 90 degrees and is applied over each course of shingle and runs up the wall sheathing (underneath siding) OR in the case of brick, runs up the face of the brick.
Counter-flashing is sized to correspond to the siding or brick (often every three courses of brick). It need not be bent over the shingles, as it just sheds water away from the step flashing, and protects wood siding from splashed-up rain. Counter flashing is not necessary with wood siding if the step flashing is well done.
Mostly, removal of the old shingles can result in low-skilled workers destroying the step-flashing, leading to the necessity of a roll of aluminum being tarred or caulked to the surface of the siding as a "quick and dirty" route to the roofer getting done/paid.
Casey
green-zeus
16 years ago
A roofer can handle the chimney step flashing. He should remove the mortar, install the step flashing, then fill the mortar joints. Any good mason can repair the mortar joints on the chimney. Maybe get a couple different estimates. The mason should also be able to handle the step flashing.
davidrt28 (zone 7)
16 years ago
Sorry to have to bump this thread.
I hired a local company to build completely new crowns, repoint numerous spots on the chimneys, and recaulk all of the flashing.
He came today and started the work. Accord to wunderground, the high temp. here today was 52F. But we cool off quickly and by the time I got home it was only 30F. Now it is 28.6F.
I assumed these people were professional. They are state licensed. Now, that I actually have time to bother reading about repointing, it seems they should have completely wrapped the chimney in blankets. I aimed a work light up there. From what I can see there is no evidence they made any effort to shelter the mortar. Not even with plastic. WTF? Is this bad news?

At least, from what I read, cold damage will be evident in only a few days. I guess I'll have to climb up on the roof myself and check it over the next few months.

Has anybody had this kind of experience and know whether they are being sloppy or not?
davidrt28 (zone 7)
16 years ago
FWIW, apparently no one else knows about this topic.

I climbed the roof today even though it kind of gives me the willies, and took a look. Everything seems ok. It looks like he did a good job. I'll check it in a few months and if there are problems they will be hearing from me and if things don't work they will be hearing from the state licensing board. The way to have avoided all this anxiety though is HAVE THIS WORK DONE AT A TIME OF YEAR WHEN THERE IS NO FREEZING WEATHER. I now consider myself a d--n fool for not having read up on this process. The funny thing is I knew concrete couldn't be poured when it was really cold but I just didn't make the connection to what they were fixing. Duh.
Case closed.
patches123
16 years ago
Don't assume that because you can't see any water damage that there is not any. We didn't know our house wasn't flashed properly until almost year seven and by then there was lots of damage, but it was hidden.

We didn't have proper window flashing and there was no kick out flashing at roof wall intersections.

Here is some of the damage we found. Again, this was hidden. We only found out because after we installed hardwoods on the second floor they buckled. Before that there were no symptoms. Once we found damage in one area we had the entire house thermal imaged for $200. Wow the damage we found. Almost every window had damage under or near by and there was damage around every area that should have had kick outs. Luckily we found it before the studs had rotted.

Here is a link that might be useful: Kick outs that we had installed

Roof flashing repaire - a big deal????

Comments (8)

green-zeus

ron6519

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