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Advice on cutting back siding so it doesn't touch roof

3357 Views 9 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  Feetsdr
We had 2 layers of shingles 30 years old - likely 3 tab?* The painted cedar shingles were touching the old roof.* The north facing side of hous where the shingles / siding touch has more pealing / algae? on the siding.

The 'pro' that did our rip off and new architectural shingle roof said he was going to cut back the siding but didn't (he ripped off more than the roof).

Interesting - the 1 layer of architectural shingles touches the siding / they got the shhingles under the siding.

The house is getting painted soon. I started manually cutting back the siding and wanted (yeah, after the fact) to get your thoughts / advice for doing the rest of it.

In this section in the pictures, I cut it about 1" off the roof. I used a utility knife / standard blade and tried to judge depth / not cut into the step flashing. But can't be sure since the cut is right behind the bottom of the siding and only 1" off the roof, can't get a good view.

1) Is doing this and maybe hurting / cutting through the flashing in some spots potentially making the situation worse (holes in the step flashing,* 1" off the roof vs. water wicking into the siding?

2) how would you cut back the siding?* It's painted cedar.* I was thinking a dremel tool with a small cutting disk might work?* I don't have 1 of those / never used one.* Or some sort of a mini circular saw set to the thickness of the cedar? Does that exist? Yeah, not the straightest line when you are up there looking close. But new paint / distance and no one will know??!

3) Would it be feasible / needed for a novice DIYer to be able to slip new step flashing over the existing flashing to potentially protect that 1"​​​​​​​ cut?

4) how's cutting it back 1"?* I was seeing some things on the web talking about 1 1/2" .... or more!?

5) there seems to be some sort of caulk? (or gunk?) on the shingles where the old siding was touching.* Just leave it alone?

anything else?

THANKS!

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I would have tacked a cutting jig to the wall so i was cutting a set depth up about 5 inches and add a Z flashing and 1 x3 trim board.
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1" is acceptable, some siding products specify 2". Straight edge is best, either to cut as is or with trim as Neal suggest (you'll have more finagling to get the Z under the WRB). You don't have to cut all the way through if you are worried about hitting the flashing. Score with saw, then utlity knife to finish errant pieces it didn't go thru.

The gooey at the dormer corner I presume is because the step flashing doesn't extend out on top of the shingle which extends in front of the dormer.
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Oh gosh!? 3" trim board?! cut off 5" of shingles?!

What kind of cutting jig / do you have a picture of something like that?

The z flashing - the middle of the Z sits horizontal at the top of the trim board, 1 leg up behind existing shingles, 1 leg down in front of trim?

Way more than I was looking to take on and likely won't look good : )
@3onthetree - you say score with saw... what kind of saw?

and you mention the gooey? I only did the sloped roof. I have to cut back the shingles on the front (the surface with the gutter downspout). Not sure how the flashing is set up at the corner yet. I guess I'll google what the right way to do flashing at the corner should look like.


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Just sayin the set depth of any circular saw won't catch all the shakes because of the layering, so some will be scored, not thru.

The sealant I thought was just at the dormer corner, and didn't see flashing sticking out. Here is a picture tutorial of the dormer flashing, better than I can say in words. They also make some premade corners. installing-step-flashing
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Just sayin the set depth of any circular saw won't catch all the shakes because of the layering, so some will be scored, not thru.

The sealant I thought was just at the dormer corner, and didn't see flashing sticking out. Here is a picture tutorial of the dormer flashing, better than I can say in words. They also make some premade corners. installing-step-flashing

That's why you go up above the step flashing in case you cut a little deep in places.
You can make a few passes at deeper and deeper settings until you have them all.
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I would not take a chance with putting a nick or cut in the flashing. If it were my house, I would buy some shingles, backer board and step flashing. Then I would remove enough shingles so I could replace the step flashing and then cut in new shingles and backer with whatever space you want.
Cutting it might make it leak and those shingles probably won’t hold paint anyway, especially if there is wet backer board behind them.
I am old but I could do it in a few hours or less.
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Your roofer scammed you. For a work removing old shingles and installing new, flashing must be replaced. The flashing you have also look rusted and will not last the shingle's life. It is a good thing you did to find them. I would recall the roofer with a written letter and if nothing happens, complain to BBB as well as the town. Do whatever you can to make sure this roofer gets a bad name. This is one reason I used homedepot roofers in spite of relatively high cost, I can complain if needed.:smile: But those roofers would have cut corners if I wasn't watching. These roofers are same as virus, not all over the place but lots of pita.

Check with a mirror and a good light. If you cut the sheetmetal, slip a piece of sheetmetal over the cut with some caulk backbuttered. Best would be to follow what old thomas said, remove the siding, remove the roof shingles and replace the step flashing.
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carpdad - the roofer scammed us? Oh, we know that now. Can't believe we got taken as bad as we did / how much of a BS artist he is. The job was done 2 years ago now. We gave him a deposit for about 1/2 the work. That's all he got. we figured we paid half of a regular roof, we'll get 1/2 the life of it.

I think the flashing is aluminum. So that's not rust that you see (where's that). I don't know if I heard that before to replace rather than reuse. but a quick googling and yeah, that's what I see. OK, maybe not 1/2 the life of a correctly installed roof...

Realistically, with ALL the issues I had, he'd have to redo the whole thing from scratch. And it'd be unrealistic that he'd be willing and would I really want him back doing the roof?

The steps you describe are the tip of the iceberg I would do normally. But having paid him half, in the end, I saw it just dragging out to get him to (try to) do things correctly. What's the saying - if you don't have time (skill) to do it right the first time, how will you have the time (skill) to do it over?

He pitched that he was certified by Owens Corning. We'll get a longer warranty because of that, etc. etc. Turns out when I climbed the ladder at OC, they don't get involved in workmanship issues. And to be 'certified' by OC, means he paid $$ to them. Nothing more. The longer warranty? That would be through him (not the better warranties from OC). And even the OC product warranties would be invalid because he didn't install it right. OC might come out (and look at the roof from the ground... they don't climb ladders) as part of me giving a review of the installer, but that's only when the job is paid in full,

I had another roofer come out to look things over (at a higher level of installer on the OC website - that level actually takes more than $$ to obtain). He said yeah, this is not how I would do it, that's not right, etc. I tried getting him to give me a quote to fix things / go to court for that money against what I owed the installer. But he never came up with a quote / seems he didn't want to get involved in a big patch job. And we didn't / haven't had a leak so we're moving on. Other things like big scuffs on the shingles / removed granules, cuts in the shingles - they cut other shingles directly on the installed ones?! vent pipe covers - some had nails in them, some didn't. Some nails were caulked, some didn't.

ridge vent - some ends had visible nails, others didn't some visible nails were caulked, some weren't. LOADS of nails, scraps of roof, underlayment, drip edge, etc on the roof (some nails stepped on and pushed into the new shingles (you step on something, you think you'd pick it up and toss it?!). shingles overhang the new gutters he put in by 1 1/2". Some of the gutters don't drain : ) (someone said that could be for asthetics - I fixed that and the facia is a bit not level so having the drain the right pitch looks off a bit.)

We are making sure to trash this installer where possible, but viewing it as a lesson learned.

YES on using HD installers! We had that with a water softener install. The installer did great work, but knowing I had HD behind them if I didn't like something, was reassurance.

Along the same vein - we had garage doors installed. Used a guy at a county fair. That was a mistake. crap workmanship... there was a scratch on the door. his guy used (white) spray paint on it. Didn't mask off the black fake barn door hinges (I still remember saying 'you want me to get some PFFFFFFFF paper to mask the hinges.... too late).

So the guy USES A SHARPIE saying that's the official black touch up for Amarr doors.

went to amar and nothing came of it. (and again, realisitcally - they take off the black hinges and put new ones on. the screw holes get a tad bigger... and then you have other problems.
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