Is this really an acceptable roof repair?

[jaynews]

I had a lot of water enter my townhouse during the 1st week of March when t here was ice damming going on. Water came in where the siding meets the ro of. Today the property management company for my condo association sent a repairman over to perform a repair of my roof. All he did was use a caulk ing gun to put a bead of sealant (roof Xtender 100) where the siding meets the roof.

Can those of you with roofing experience please tell me if this is really a n acceptable repair for this situation? If not, then why not, and what ty pe of repair would be acceptable. As you can probably guess, I do already have my own ideas about this, but I would like to hear your opinions first , as well as your opinions on how I should go about convincing the Associat ion that this isn't an acceptable roof repair

Please see these links of the repair that was performed:

Thanks.

J.

[philo]

No matter how it looks, there is only /one/ acceptable repair:

The one that does not allow water to get in.

[jaynews]

Okay, but my concern isn't really how it looks cosmetically...my concern is this really the proper way to repair the roof so that water won't get in?

[philo]

Like I said, if it does not leak any more then it's a proper repair.

Putting the bead like that is fine but with roofs... water does not always get in where you think it does.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Looks like it will be just fine for a while. Weeks, maybe months. I'd have looked at some sor of flasjing, best installed when the roof was done.

[jaynews]

It likely has flashing underneath...but obviously since it leaked something went wrong.

[trader_4]

Bingo. Flashing. That repair is a hack job. If the flashing was properly done, ice daming should not be able to back up water high enough to go over top of it. And that caulk at the roofline isn't where the problem is. The problem is something is wrong with the flashing. If ice daming got water over the flashing, it's going to get it over the 1/2" height of that caulk too. Where vertical surfaces meet the roof, flashing is the answer, never caulk.

[Mayayana]

I don't know what else you might do. Under normal conditions a spot like that just drains, and probably has flashing under the roofing, going up under the siding. So the tar (if that's what it is) is just sealant for good measure.

[trader_4]

Another factor to consider, in climates subject to ice daming, under the shingles, code typically requires that an water barrier underlayment be used from the bottom of the roof up until the point where the roof is 2ft into the heated living space. In other words, if you have a soffit overhang that is 2ft, then a wall of the house, you have water barrier for the first 4ft, then regular underlayment/felt, is OK. The idea is that any freeze/thaw cycles can cause water to back up the roof at that point. By having a water barrier underlayment, it can back up 2ft and still not penetrate inside.

[dadiOH]

Temporarily, maybe, IF the caulk was thoroughly applied. However, caulk isn't forever. Water doesn't run up hill so there should be flashing under the shingles extending maybe a foot down slope; that flashing should also extend up under the siding for about the same distance.

[trader_4]

There needs to be step flashing all the way down that slope where the vertical meets the roof and also flashing all the way across the top. That is roofing 101. The water that got in either got in because the flashing is missing or incorrectly installed or else the water backed up far enough from ice daming that it got over the shingle lap.

And having looked at the pics again, there is something else here that is very wrong. That siding comes right down to the roof. It shouldn't. There should be about a 3/4" gap between where the siding ends and the shingles. The flashing would be visible there. You don't want the siding in contact with the roof, it wicks up water, water gets under it, it stays wet for days and it rots.

[Stormin Mormon]

Ed's talking about Norwegian Flasjing. Those scandanavians really know how to do roofs.

I've seen folks in PRNY put a load of black tar where the roof meets the chimney, for example.

- . Christopher A. Young learn more about Jesus .

. .

[Stormin Mormon]

That has the black and shiny look of roofing tar. I've seen some folks apply that with a bucket and trowel. Hope it works for you, for a long time.

Acceptable? Unsure.

- . Christopher A. Young learn more about Jesus .

. .

[trader_4]

Here's a diagram of how the step flashing should be done on the raked sided:

And a pic of it when done:

Notice the intentional ~1" gap between where the siding ends and the roof.

And on the other part, ie the headwall across the top:

The above is the way it's done.