Roof Leaks Where Roof Meets Wall

Dormer leaks can be caused from a number of issues.

Roof leaks where roof meets wall.

Look at the flashing in all transition points where roof meets a wall or another roof plane. Avoid repairing roof leaks yourself. Some roof leaks happen at step flashings. A roof leak at the edge of a dormer can allow a lot of water to enter your home.

Once in the attic it can follow pipes and joists for long distances before finally dripping onto your ceiling. An ice dam occurs when snow melts and the water freezes when it hits the colder edges of your roof. Use the putty knife to spread the roofing cement out so that it covers the leak source at least 1 inch on all sides. Old holes left over from a satellite dish or antenna mounted on your roof can be a sneaky cause of leaks.

If the roof is longer than ten feet where it butts up against the house two or more pieces of flashing are overlapped and soldered to make one large continuous flashing. Worn out flashing or missing sealant can also cause roof leaks around dormers. When it would rain the water would run down chimney and dormers under second layer and dump into old gutters. This is key to prevent future leakage.

The soffit that meets the roof is one of the toughest areas to waterproof. In the photo you can still see signs of an ice dam. Leak where addition meets house had similar situation as todd second roof on top of original on old section the flashing was under first layer of old roof. At the point where a roof meets a vertical wall you will see step flashings.

Okay so these leaks aren t actually coming from the roof but they probably look like they are. Rotten or missing trim or siding can allow water to leak behind flashing and into your roof. You find these flashings where a roof climbs alongside a vertical wall. And in our experience when a single piece of flashing extends only a few inches under the shingles especially on a long roof slope and worse on a roof that happens to slope slightly towards rather than away from the abutting vertical building wall the accumulated roof drainage water near the bottom end of the roof wall intersection will overwhelm the width of the flashing and because it is not directed back out on top of successive shingle courses it leaks into the building or building.

Four inches of the metal laps over the shingles and the remaining four inches extends up the wall. Let the cement dry before putting the second layer of roofing cement on the joint. You should only be able to see a tiny bit of the flashings if they were installed correctly. When each row of shingles was installed a step flashing was put next to the wall over the shingle and then covered by the next shingle row.

Part of the flashing turns up on the wall and the other portion gets covered by the next row of shingles.