Charles Buell Consulting LLC

Consulting on Building Science and Forensics in the Seattle Area (Formerly Charles Buell Inspections INC)

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Flashing on top of the siding?

Every once in a while I find where the roofer has installed the roof-to-wall flashings over the top of the siding—instead of being properly counter-flashed by the siding.  Installed this way, any rain/water that hits the siding above the flashing can run behind it into the roof/house structures.  This first picture is a typical example of this type of poor installation.  Because roofers are not usually siding contractors—especially stucco contractors—they will rarely do this connection properly.

 

Flashings installed on top of the stucco
Flashings installed on top of the stucco

Since time is money—-the roofing contractor is not going to properly cut back the stucco, install new step flashings and then repair the stucco.  Not only that—- the roofer is not likely going to coordinate the repair with a siding /stucco contractor.

In the picture below it wouild appear that we have the same scenario, when in fact the roof had been done properly but the siding had been removed exposing the roof step flashing.  In this case the house used to have vinyl siding on it and it had been removed to expose the original siding underneath.

 

Flashings installed on top of siding
Flashings installed on top of siding

This fact became evident by looking at the rest of the home and one could see where the window sills had been cut off to make way for the vinyl siding.  This is a very common method of installing vinyl siding—however not a very good one.

 

Sills cut away to install siding
Sills cut away to install siding

Repairing these sills satisfactorily will be difficult and the roofer is not likely to take the blame for an “improperly flashed” roof.  Putting the cart ahead of the horse—usually doesn’t work.

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Charles Buell, Seattle Home Inspector

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And around this corner…….

While newly constructed homes are not immune to defects, the same sorts of things happen with homes that are merely being maintained.  For example the roof covering on this house was less that a month old.

A brand new roof
A brand new roof

At the lower left corner of the picture one can see where the gutter wraps around the corner in a decorative manner—called a “return.”   Because the return area itself did not get properly roofed a great place was created for critters and water to get into the roof/house structure. Repairs to this condition are not difficult and the roofer’s warranty may be able to get the roofer back for properly complete of the job.

They forgot to shingle the returns
They forgot to shingle the returns

 

Charles Buell, Seattle Home Inspector

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Compromised roof venting

Not all “short-circuits” are electrical!

My last post was about ridge vents and in that post I talked about how combinations of different methods of ventilation can result in compromised ventilation of the attic space.

The best method of venting attics is Ridge vents in combination with soffit vents.  To function properly, there should not be any “easier” path of air flow to the ridge. For example if you have a ridge vent and gable vents, air can move more easily from the gable to ridge than from the soffits to ridge leaving areas of the attic under-ventilated.  This is of course more problematic with really steep roofs where the gable vents are really close to the the ridge.

A worse combination is when there are roof vents in combination with the ridge vent as pictured below. (The ridge vent is installed in a continuous line and capped by the ridge shingles.)

Roof vents too close to the ridge vent
Roof vents too close to the ridge vent

In this installation it is pretty easy to see how when the ridge vent is drawing air out of the attic, the easiest path of air flow is going to be through the roof vents. Again, this leaves most of the attic under ventilated.

The installation in the picture happens when the original roof had one method and when the roof was replaced someone decided to install continuous ridge vent—which everyone knows is better.   But then what do you do with the old roof vent holes?

You just put the roof vents back in.

Charles Buell, Seattle Home Inspector

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