Hi, this is Steve from Roofer 911.
I wanted to show you something that I run into quite often. The homeowner has a leak right below this vent pipe here. She was getting an estimate from many different contractors and everybody was saying that the pipe was most indeed the source of the problem. They all recommend to remove all the roof material completely around the pipe, seal the flashing with an ice and water shield, and then re-shingle it, and then that will stop the problem.
With something like this, I did an infrared scan inside the attic, and when you look at the picture here, this is the ridge at the highest point right here, and where you see the dark blue, that's all wet. That plywood is saturated.
What's happening is when there's a driving rain coming towards the ridge vent, the water's getting underneath that ridge vent. Some of the water is traveling right across the top of the rafter, and not only is the water settling at the stack pipe, but also the water can continue to travel down the top of that rafter and settle inside the exterior wall at the very back of the home.
Now also some of that water is running across the top of the plywood on top of the felt, and again the water is traveling down the roof on top of the felt. Wherever the water finds an opening like a tear in the felt, that's where the water will settle into the attic, and once the insulation becomes saturated, the homeowner's going to see water stains on the ceiling.
If the water does not find any openings, the water will continue to travel down, and it will settle down inside the exterior wall. If there's any windows or doors directly in the path of that water, it's going to leak.
What we need to do is first off, the contractors made a mess here, so we're going to remove all the roofing material around the pipe and we're going to do exactly what the others were going to do, install the ice and water shield, and then re-shingle it.
Now also each ridge vent is 10 foot sections, and there is a seam right here. We need to remove 20 feet of ridge vent. Once the ridge vent is removed, any shingles here and also on the other side that are damaged are going to be replaced with new.
Now, very important, once everything is prepared, we're going to seal the deck heavy on both sides of the ridge, and then the new ridge vent is going to be pressed right into the sealant.
When we fasten it into place, we've got to make sure that we hit the rafters underneath, and then we're going to reseal all the fasteners just like they did here. It's a shame. This is a new ridge vent. It's a shame they didn't do it right to begin with.
My name is Steve from Roofer 911, and if you have any questions whatsoever, I can be reached at 703-475-2446. Thank you.
Roofer911 provides roof repair services in Fairfax VA, and all areas of Northern Virginia.
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