LESLIE: Jeff in Michigan is on the line with a roof leak. What is going on?
JEFF: Well, a couple months ago, we had a brand-new roof put on our house. They completely stripped off the old shingles, re-tar papered everything and now we have water coming in our drywall in our bedroom.
TOM: So, I presume you’ve called the roofer back. What’s the roofer’s position been on trying to get to the bottom of this leak?
JEFF: Well, they’re supposed to come back out on Wednesday and strip it off around the dormer. That’s where it seems like the water’s coming in. But as we all know, water can travel before it finally finds a seam to come in.
TOM: So, does it look like the leak is showing up underneath where the dormer intersects with the roof?
JEFF: I’m thinking so.
TOM: Well, look, they may not have put the flashing assembly back together currently. They obviously had to disturb all that flashing – the old flashing. And unfortunately, I’ve seen a lot of times when roofers today just don’t do a terrific job on the flashing, on those details. It’s really, really important that they get them just right. And if these guys didn’t do that, then that might very well be what the cause of this leak is. Because not only do you have to protect against just regular rainfall kind of falling with gravity, you also have to protect against wind-driven rain, which is particularly troubling around a dormer.
So, I think it’s their responsibility. I don’t think they get to blame it on the siding or anything else. They broke it, they bought it, you know? They took it apart, they need to get it back together so it doesn’t leak. And if that means they have to pull off some of that siding and flash up under it, then that’s on them, not on you, OK?
JEFF: Right. OK. Perfect. That’s what I’ll do then.
TOM: Alright, Jeff. Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
Leave a Reply