Hi, this is Steve from Roofer 911.
I'm on a home roof in Annandale, Virginia that has a roof leak because of improper installation of the roofing materials. Where the leak is settling is right down in this area here where the flat roof is. I noticed a few different things that's causing this leak.
The contractor was here three different times. He originally had shingles, and then he put the flat roofing material, but also you can see that he started to panic. Instead of changing the valley, he applied cement right along the entire length of the valley. That's only masking the problem. What we need to do is remove all the roofing material at both sides of the valley. We'll install ice and water shield underneath, and then we'll re-shingle that area.
Everything above the area where we have the leak, we need to focus on it. If we don't, we're going to be back.
Also there's another valley here that leads down to the flat. I notice there's nails fastened too close to the valley center line. Another problem is, which the contractor didn't even think about looking at, is the flashing around the skylight. Here, I'll show you an example.
Right there, the water can get in through the keys, and also the water can seep in through the side, go underneath the shingle, and the water will seep right through the side of the nail. Eventually the water is going to settle directly below, but what's happening now is the water is seeping through the side of the nail and it's traveling underneath the roof. It's hitting the valley and then it's settling down at the lowest point down at the bottom of the flat roof.
What we need to do is remove all the roofing material completely around the skylight. Any flashing that's damaged is going to be repaired or replaced with new. Then we'll install ice and water shield completely around the skylight and then re-shingle the area.
Also there's another skylight that's about twenty feet away from where the water settled inside the home. They have exactly the same problem. Here you can see there's a nail exposed here, so again the water will just get right through the key and seep through the side of the nail. Another thing is if these shingles are fastened too close, say there's a nail here, when there's a heavy downpour or melting snow, the water can get up underneath here and then leak inside the home.
We're going to do the same procedures as below. We'll install the ice and water shield here and nail very high.
Also this ridge vent is in direct alignment where you have the leak down below, so we need to remove a section of this ridge vent, install a ice and water shield underneath, not to close off the breather, and then re-install the ridge vent.
This other skylight is not leaking, but it's going to because it's the same thing. They put nails into the flashing. Okay, let me see. Okay, right here. This nail should not be exposed. There should be no nails exposed at the flashing. Instead this flashing should be fastened underneath this one here so this piece here overlaps the nail. Then once it's done that way, then there's no leaks.
Overall the skylights are great. It's just poor installation of the shingles around. Let me check this vent pipe because this vent pipe is also in direct alignment where you have the leak. Let's see what we got here. Oh, it's all cemented down. Yeah, it's all cemented.
As a precautionary measure we're going to take up the shingles around the vent pipe flange, install ice and water shield around it, and re-shingle it.
With this leak I'm focusing on everything, so this way it does not come back again.
My name is Steve from Roofer 911, and we specialize in roof repair in Annandale, Virginia, and all areas of Northern Virginia. Thank you.
Browse other blogs by keywords:
ice and water shield improper roof installation leaks leaky roof leaky skylight repair roof ridge vent roof leak
Immediate Response!
