Hi, this is Steve from Roofer 911.
I'm at a home in McLean, Virginia. They have a leak that's on the back side, and also the front side, of their chimney. There's a lot of different reasons why they have this leak. It's not just one source, it's multiple.
Now, one of them is the improper installation of the step flashing. They put nails in the flashing. This nail here should not be there. It should be underneath, right underneath this one here. What's happening is when it rains heavy, the water can get underneath the key, and seep right through the nail and into the house.
We're going to remove all the roofing material completely around the chimney. The counter flashing is good, but we just need to replace the step flashing, install an ice and water shield, and then re-shingle it.
Now what they did down there, with the nail in the flashing, they did the same thing along the wall. We need to take up all the roofing material here, repair or replace any damaged step flashing, install a ice and water shield, and re-shingle it.
Now also, this ridge vent is a problem. The wood, right here, is soft. The reason why is the open breathing space underneath here, which is about 3 inches wide, they cut it all the way to the end.
We're going to take off the cap shingles, remove about 3 feet of ridge vent, and then we're going to close off the breather with ice and water shield, and then reinstall the ridge vent and cap shingles.
Oh, it's aluminum siding. Yeah, the siding's old. Now, another thing is, even after I take care of these procedures, the roof will still leak. It will leak again from a driving rain or a heavy downpour. I'll show you why.
Here, where the wall, the aluminum siding meets up against the brick, you can see there's a large, open space here. It starts all the way up from the top, and it goes all the way down to the bottom. If there's a driving rain, the water can very easily get inside here, and it will settle behind the counter flashing on down below.
Now, up there, you can see the drip edge is all damaged. It's really strange, I don't know how this happened. It wasn't a tree. It looks it was almost sabotaged, I don't know. They've got the exact identical problem on the other side.
The drip edge has to be removed and replaced. The counter flashing and the step flashing is all damaged on the upper roof, so we have to remove and replace the flashing and re-shingle that.
Another thing is, where you see the J channel, where it meets up against the wood fascia, there's a big open space in there that's about 3/4 of an inch. If there's a driving rain, the water can very easily get inside there, and again, drop down inside the wall and settle at the chimney.
Now the other section, this will eventually cause a leak down inside the interior wall. Here, you can see the drip edge is all damaged. The counter flashing has a hole in it. The water's dropping down inside the wall from the upper roof.
Here, you can see the same problem as the other side. There's a large open space, here, where the aluminum siding meets up against the brick. We're going to seal, from top to bottom, with polyurethane. Everything else down here is all good.
My name is Steve, again, from Roofer 911. If you have any questions, whatsoever, I can be reached at 703-475-2446. Thank you.
Roofer911 provides roof repair services in McLean, VA, and all areas of Northern Virginia.
Browse other blogs by keywords:
chimney leak chimney repair improper roof installation leaks leaky roof repair roof roof leak Roof Repair
Immediate Response!
