[t60]

I posted about a year ago regarding my leaky roof. It's leaking along the side of my house, behind the fascia boards for about 20 feet (only 4-5 areas are dripping, but I understand that it could be coming from anywhere at this point). Here is the post from last year:
http://www.diychatroom.com/f9/drip-edge-leak-bad-installation-something-else-131257/

I have three bids, and two different methods that the roofers want to do:

1) Bid #1 and #2 were similar in price (~$3500). These two contractors want to remove a few inches from the top of my fascia boards (25 feet on both sides of the house), remove the dutch gutter and install a new traditional gutter system (no more dutch gutter) along with new hardware (downspouts).

2) Bid #3 was for $1500, and sounded like he was going to try and pinpoint the exact location of the leak. He was going to replace 5 rows of shingles along one side of my house along with the felt, and replace the dutch gutter material with new modified bitumen.

They all utilize union workers and the estimators had 20+ years of experience under their belts. I'm leaning towards bid #1/2 because it sounds like a long-term solution, but I'm weary that they may not fix the leak, whereas bid #3 was attacking the leak directly.

Any thoughts?

 

[AndyWRS]

I agree, removing that is the best option.

Just to be clear:

So they are proposing to turn that gutter into a standard fascia with a drip edge (creating one roof plane / pitch from the fascia to the ridge), add a gutter to that fascia, install I&W shield at the eve and then install new comp from the drip edge up to and tie-in to the existing comp ?

Imo replacing 5 rows of shingles seems pointless. I thought you tracted the leak down to the scupper in the other thread? $1500 with no details on what that entails to me sends up a huge red flag, he will caulk it and tell you its fixed...it may last a season or two then you will back to square one and $1500 poorer. What i like about the first bids, provided they are doing what i mentioned, is they remedy the issue entirely. It is possible for the leak to be coming from above the dutch valley, in this case you would be wasting your $ on bid 1 and 2, I would say post a pic of the entire roof section ( i will go back and look, you may have already). If its got zero complexity then 99% of the time its that built in gutter that is the root of the problem and your bids #1 and 2 are gonna solve it ...properly vs a bandaid for $1500.

If so i concur, its the best option because it creates a norm / standard eve detail that will look great and be problem free. Unless you hire a hack then all bets are off

 

[t60]

Thanks. I unfortunately don't have a picture of it right now, but the roof is pitched 45 degrees with no complexity (aside from the dutch gutter). The shingles are 5-6 years old, max. I bought the house 3 years ago as a foreclosure, but my neighbor across the street remembers the roof being replaced ~5 years ago.

With the price I'm paying I will make sure bids #1/2 include everything you said as part of the written contract. These are 20+ year old, bonded, roofing companies (with local references!) so I believe they will honor their contracts.

 

[t60]

Just wanted to check-in to see if there were any other thoughts. I understand that no roofing repairs are guaranteed but would love some advice. Thanks.

 

[cibula11]

I agree with options #1 and #2. A new roof, installed properly would certainly fix any leaks.
Option #3 would only be temporary, but if money is the issue, could be considered.

 

[framer52]

Just wanted to check-in to see if there were any other thoughts. I understand that no roofing repairs are guaranteed but would love some advice. Thanks.

Here we call them Yankee gutters.

Always the contrarian, I will tell you to fix what is there. In other words fix the gutter leak and reline the gutter.

 

[t60]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I will be going with bid #1/2. What convinced me was re-reading the thread I opened last year, with all of the roofing experts here noting that these types of gutters (while nice because they are hidden), tend to fail over time and my wife and I are really looking for a longer term solution. It will cost us a bit more now, but I think we can stomach the cost and avoid any upcoming headaches.