Hi, this is Steve from Roofer 911.
I'm on a roof in Falls Church, Virginia, and they have a leak next to the chimney, and I noticed a few different things that's causing the leak. One thing, it's improper installation of the counterflashing up against a brick. What they did is they just nailed it right up against the wall and then they just sealed the leading edge with roofing cement.
Also there is a little bit of a hole here as well; so this flashing really needs to be removed and replaced with new, and I'll show you a few things. The homeowner was up here and he put cement right along where the roof meets up against the chimney and then he sealed the shingles with caulk, but that's only masking the problem.
In order to correct this leak, we need to take things apart, and that means to remove and replace the flashing, and then we're going to install new shingles here.
Now also this side wall here, where the roof meets up against the wall, is also attributing to the leak. Here when you look, you can see these nails right here so the water's getting right through the side of the key, and then it gets over in here, and it just leaks right through the side of the nail, and then the water travels down and wherever it finds an opening, like a chimney, that's where the water's going to settle.
Here you can see these shingles are curling up, so the water can get inside here, and the water leaks right through the side of the nail, and again it will leak down to the chimney; so what we'll do here is we're going to remove all the roofing material along the wall up against the chimney, we're going to remove and replace the counterflashing and the step flashing, we'll install ice and water shield here, along the chimney, and then we're going to re-shingle it.
Now, also the counterflashing, we're going to cut right through the mortar, about three quarters of an inch, and the flashing is going to be L-shaped and it's going to be inserted inside, and then we're going to seal the leading edge.
Once all these procedures are done, there is a very good chance this leak is still going to come back, and the reason why is, because it is crowned. You can see these large cracks here, these cracks here, here, it's all around, so really I would recommend the crown to be rebuilt, but if the customer cannot afford it at this time, what we can do is, we'll just seal all these cracks with polyurethane, and that will last a few years; but I highly recommend to remove and replace it.
Again, my name is Steve, from Roofer 911. We specialize in roof repair in all areas of Falls Church, Great Falls and Northern Virginia, and I can be reached at 703-475-2446. Thank you.
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