Roof leak nightmare..... it won't stop

OldNBroken · 04-09-2011, 07:25 PM

Please do and best of luck

Jasonlongor1 · 04-09-2011, 07:32 PM

If your roofer don't pull off and mark the siding to apply steps of metal flashing on each course he is not fixing the problem

Jasonlongor1 · 04-09-2011, 07:33 PM

Metal steps on each course of shingle.Sorry

**kwikfishron** · 04-09-2011, 07:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by amandat37

Roofer is coming Monday so I will update.

Please do, before you write the check.

oldfrt · 04-09-2011, 08:09 PM

From the pics,it doesn't look like your in the snow belt,so there is
no chance of ice dams.
But,
What we always do here is roll any I&W that is used up the side of
an intersecting wall where that flashing needs to be addressed,
before we install the flashing.
Probably not a problem where you are,but just thought I'd add it
before your roofer gets there.

Did they strip the old shingles before the new was installed?
A lot of times,on a lay-over,an installer will mistakenly depend
on the old flashing to keep things dry.

amandat37 · 04-09-2011, 08:52 PM

Ok... just went up there with hubby and tried to look for this, but we're not sure what we should be seeing. The shingles are under the brown metal strip (is that the J-channel??), so we can't lift the edges to look under. Hubby said he can see another strip of metal if he looks between the shingles and that brown metal strip.

Here are 2 pics I took up there. The brown caulking is what we added earlier today, along the portion of the roof where there was all sorts of old cracked dried up caulk that was already there. It seems like the bottom 4 feet or so were heavily caulked before, the rest of the way up looks clean and clear. We did NOT run the hose all the way to the top, but we probably should to confirm that this area is the only problem. There are NO leaks on the other side of our dormer either, which looks identical. No signs of it being caulked over there before either.

This first picture is right where the caulked area begins. The brown is what my husband added, but you can see the thick clear caulk underneath. I believe that was from the previous owner, not our roofer, because it appeared very old (roof was just 6 mos ago) and also was not adhered to shingles.

And this is along where the problem is. Again, my husband added the brown and you can see all the lumpy clear caulk on the inside part of the brown metal strip too, right against the siding. He added some on top of what was there, but tried to smooth it out the best he could. Whoever did it before left it looking really awful and lumpy... It was piled in there pretty good. :/ That's probably not good.

So I guess my question now is - what exactly SHOULD this seam look like? If our roofer didn't do something properly, what is it we should ask him to do? And will we be expected to pay for more work, or should this have been included in our roof replacement? (He did remove the old shingles, there is just one layer there).
Also - the space between that brown strip and the siding... where is the water going that gets inbetween there??

thanks again for your help everyone, I really appreciate it.

OldNBroken · 04-09-2011, 09:10 PM

Yes, it should have been included in your new roof, absolutely no question there.
All that old caulk indicates its been a problem for a long time and the previous owners tried to do exactly what you are doing and you see the result.

Did the roofer apply caulk there prior to you getting up there or is that all from after he was done? Honestly you shouldn't have messed with anything on the roof without first getting the roofer out there. It gives him an out from guaranteeing his work because someone else (you) modified it. That is standard practice and, if you think about it, logical.

Anyways, the proper detail is called "step flashing". Individual pieces of metal bent in an "L" shape generally 4" on the roof, 4" up the wall. They are interwoven in the courses of shingles to redirect any water back onto the roof and not behind your siding and down the wall.

Here is a recent topic that covers the same issue you are having. Basically whatever is discussed there also pertains to your issue without having to rehash it all here again.
Leaking roof

Okay, that one doesn't have all the info I thought it did, but it is the same issue as you have.
Basically you need to have someone ensure that that wall was properly flashed with NEW step flashing when you had your new roof put on.

amandat37 · 04-09-2011, 09:18 PM

Ok thanks! I will go read that thread right now. So is the step flashing something we would see, or is it under the siding and shingles? All we can see is what's in the photos....

Was the roofer supposed to remove the siding to redo this flashing?

And you make a good point..we probably should have left it until he came

Before you guys said anything we figured caulking was just what needed to be done.

amandat37 · 04-09-2011, 09:26 PM

"Did the roofer apply caulk there prior to you getting up there or is that all from after he was done?"

Roofer didn't apply any caulk there. He came out a few times when we first noticed the leak was still going on, and he kept pointing the blame to the torch-down roof on the addition below (which of course was done by Roofer #1). He applied tar and caulk along the seam there, but that never made a difference. He never seemed to think it could have been anything above, or anything to do with the work he did. My husband was on the roof with him a few times, and they never even looked at this area. Only today after Gutter Guy was telling us that it definitely was NOT his gutters causing the problem, did he point us towards this.

**kwikfishron** · 04-09-2011, 09:28 PM

This article (4 pages) explains it pretty well.
http://www.finehomebuilding.com/how-...on-a-roof.aspx
Your weather barrier and siding then go over the top of the flashing.

amandat37 · 04-10-2011, 08:16 AM

"This article (4 pages) explains it pretty well.
http://www.finehomebuilding.com/how-...on-a-roof.aspx
Your weather barrier and siding then go over the top of the flashing."

Thanks!! That explains it really well, very helpful

loneframer · 04-10-2011, 08:42 AM

IMO, the siding should have been removed on the dormer, in order to insure a proper flashing job. Re-using old flashing is not a good idea, although I see it done, over and over. Roofers aren't siders and so it goes. That being said, the roofer should recommend that you hire a siding contractor to remove and re-install, but that cuts into scheduling and profit margins.

That's why I'm not a roofer.

tinner666 · 04-10-2011, 09:52 AM

All that caulk on the dormer needs to be removed. It causes lots of leaks.
HAve you checked the siding flashing around that dormer window yet. Run some water on the siding there, like these tests show. There is a good chance there is no flashing around the window.
http://www.albertsroofing.com/Window%20Flashing.htm

oldfrt · 04-10-2011, 10:56 AM

The hardest spot to flash here would be behind that corner post.
If the siding wasn't removed to flash this properly,there's no
way to tell what's behind it or the corner post.
It looks like the flat roof area was rolled up under the siding.
If the top of that rolled up section wasn't flashed near the
corner post,water can be dumping behind it when it runs off the
upper roof near the corner.
There's a lot going on in that spot and removing the siding will
be the only way to determine how to make the repair.
The leak could actually be the fault of the flat roofers who
didn't ensure that their product was properly sealed at that point.

tinner666 · 04-10-2011, 11:29 AM

Thanks Oldfart. I forgot to mention that if the window was done wrong, so was the corner post. I seldom meet a sider that has a clue about how siding is supposed to be done to prevent water intrusion. They done' even know how to clip the bottoms at the ends of the pieces. Sad.