Poor Flashing Work

I've been seeing this a lot around town lately. And it is on newer homes just a few years old.

I think maybe this same guy did a lot of flashing work for some builders all over the place.

He shouldn't even be flashing a pipe jack!

In this pic below the water runs 1) in behind the gutter 2) in behind the siding at the bottom 3) off the flashing and in behind the facia and into the soffit.

Only 3 feet above this is another seperate leak problem. I couldn't tell if flashing was installed at this dead spot and corner or not without ripping up shingles because they have a ton of caulking applied there. Looked to me like that is ALL thats there is caulk!

Further aggravating the problems is the build up of pine needles and debris.

This particular house was just a few years old but I see this and MUCH worse multiple times "daily"!

It knows no boundaries. All neighborhoods new and old.

I moved to this city nearly 20 years ago due to the lack of good roofers in the area and the amount of work available to be done.

This was before hispanic crews took over installing the roofs. In the last 10-15 years since they have it has gotten progressively worse. So it went from very bad to extremely bad.

I dare say that somewhere around 50% of every roof I inspect has nails imbedded into the shingles.

It is rare for any flashing work to be replaced.

Everything is about being cheap and making it up with production.

I did a study of our work load since opening around 1996. The amount of roofs we replaced held fairly consistent. However, the amount of repair work increased greatly every single year without fail for 14 consecutive years.

So much so that 3 yrs ago I decided to just do repairs only. Or I should say that's all I advertise for. I will do a full re-roof for an existing client or referral only!

Of course were talking new construction here. The time it takes to put in a little diverter sure saves the homeowner a lot of damage.

This type of stuff is what led me into the roof "repair" business!

The job is secure! ;)

They are probably not idiots anyways, just inexperienced folks trying to make a dollar.

;)

No, they are idiots. I have seen more and more of these idiots who simply do not care. Years ago when I did new work, I would flash a job and show the carpenters how to run the siding behind the first step flashing so the water would not run behind the lower siding. I would go back to check their work and they totally had ignored my instructions. I would tell the builder and all he cared about was that it lasted at least a year. That was the extent of his liability.

Today, if I run into an idiot, I tell him. Needless to say, I don't do any new work.

What we have now, is a business model that employs the cheapest labor- mostly unskilled- doing most of the work at the fastest pace possible. What a tragedy.

egg said: It does get tedious seeing the same simple mistakes getting made time after time, doesn't it? It boggles the mind.

Yes it does and I find myself getting upset about it sometimes and calling them idiots out loud! :laugh:

But that usually doesn't last long as I am reminded that without these "idiots" Willie would not have anywhere near as much repair work to do!

They are probably not idiots anyways, just inexperienced folks trying to make a dollar.

;)

Yep, I do mine about the same way except I only get someone willing to pay for copper every once in a blue moon. I use factory painted aluminum. ( gutter coil usually )

Woody that little piece of flashing at the bottom of the walls is called a "kickout" around here. The water comes down the wall flashing and then this little piece at the bottom "kicks" it over into the gutter.

There are probably more roofs like this done without a kick out than with one. I am constantly running into this problem. The damage from it is really bad when its a very long and tall chimney with Masonite siding.

Typical.

Downspouts are on about 90% of them too, btw.

I run a huge tinner's wing on these.

Looks like a lot of metal. It's barely enough.

The downspout is back on.

I've seen that situation in your first picture routinely cause tens of thousands of dollars of damage by year ten, slowly working its ugly magic until just about the expiration of the statute of limitations for civil suit. Around here it's three years for patent defects, seven years for latent defects, and ten years to initiate a suit. Most of the stucco guys around here have been beat up so badly over this detail that they will stop the job until that diverter problem gets settled. Any time you are going from under to over you have to put some mind to the detailing. It does get tedious seeing the same simple mistakes getting made time after time, doesn't it? It boggles the mind.

cts, the siding is some kind of chalky stuff similar to sheetrock. I don't know what it's called but it is extremely brittle and most likely will break to bits and have to be replaced.

But its only 2 pieces, the triangle piece under the overhang and then the longer piece to the left of the window.

I put in my contract that i can not be responsible for the siding and that the part under the gutter in the first pic ( where the green algae is ) is rotted and in need of replacement already anyways. So they need a sider already.

Time for a chainsaw! ... and a new flash job