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Please look at the picture on the V front of your screen. Q. What could possibly be wrong with this roof installation? It can't be seen but is partly visible here in one form but isn't the roof shingles? Hint, there are only 2 items shown and it isn't the one mentioned. ANSWER, It's the Brown Metal 2" Roof Flashing with drip edge. What's wrong with it? It's nailed on top or above the felt or roof underlayment (Which could be 30-60-80lb paper, Hot or Cold 2-ply or 3-4 ply cap sheet) and any water that gets in through the cracks drips behind the raingutter. How? Minimal amounts of moisture enter the numerous joints and open spaces found in 95% of roofing materials found today. On the concrete tiles shown above, water works its way down to the ground before it even gets a chance to drop into the raingutter. The reason? It had no chance to get into the gutter because as it traveled downward under the tiles, on top of the underlayment towards the roof edge to where the flashing is it's at the roofs outside edge into the gutter itself. Instead the water traveled under the tiles and above the felt but then it goes incorrectly under the flashings and drips behind the raingutter itself when it reached the roofs end. This happens allot and it's seems much more frequently nowadays. At one time in 1997 I remember checking almost every roof and it was wrong half the time. I was amazed then but over ten years later ,even after busting many a good roofer and friend it is still running about 50 - 50. Why? Roofers put down the underlayment first, then they usually hand the flashing to the lowest laborer on the crews hierarchy and he installs it incorrectly on top of the previously installed paper/felt material of choice and no one bothers to change it because the roof itself is the focus of the men and is going to be installed next.
Notice I didn't call it a leak... That's because It's not. It's a drip. Until it comes from inside the gutter it's not. This moisture will be minimal but when a customer pays for new gutters, then visually see's (keyword) a drip (leak to him) near the new item and you then calmly explain to him it's the roof fault... Well customers sometimes don't get the whole picture and react as conditioned to reject the explanation as another contractors lame excuse. We always alert potential customers during the estimate to this fact and it does cost us jobs some days because again, the customer thinks we are somehow passing the buck and disrespecting his roofer and his beautiful new $20 thousand dollar roof. OH well... we try to be honest but sometimes the bad guys win... But you now know the truth. |
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What is wrong with the flashings here. Everything, but most importantly it's illegal to put another roof on top of another when you already have 2 and putting gutters on this without removing them all and re-roofing would be a large waste of money. |
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Here you can see how the staining from water dripping between the gutter
and fascia. 
This picture was
a great help explaining graphically why my customer
needed to get the new roof first and.... a
electrician and a tree trimmer and a painter and etc... Plastic gutters of any kind are a JOKE but this roof is also a joke but that is mainly because it's so old. The plastic or
"vinyl" product as some call it is a joke because of the way it was designed to be installed which is basically only one way . Using the little exterior hangers that cause installers so many problems. Especially if he wants them to actually work. After 10 year I have not found a way to sell, install and back a vinyl installation and feel honest about it. We constantly rip them down and put up new seamless aluminum. I don't have a problem with plastic at all. Just the people who lie allot to get the job and then disappears. It's people like this that or I should say a product like plastic gutters that give the good ones a bad name