Chimney Leaks

 

JOHN: I had a roofing company come and they reseated and they threw the old shingles off; reseated the roof. But I’m having problems around my chimney. We’ve been getting a lot of weather here lately and I’ve noticed some leakage, so I got up there and I kind of looked at their work and there appears to be – you know, when they built the house – it’s a cinder-block chimney, it’s square and the flashing is embedded right in the mortar joint.

TOM: Right.

JOHN: Well, they put their – I guess I – their step flashing, you know, on the shingles. And they’re kind of coming away from the top and I think water is – I think that’s where the water is getting in.

TOM: Did they try to reuse the old flashing?

JOHN: Yes.

TOM: That’s what I suspected. Yeah, you know, they just went lazy on you, John, and really what you have to do here is tear out the old flashing and then reflash it and you can probably use the same groove in the chimney to insert the edge of the flashing. But what you need is base flashing and counter flashing. Base flashing goes between the shingles and up against the side of the chimney and counter flashing is notched into the chimney and then covers the base flashing. And that system works together and expands and contracts and keeps it very water tight. But if they did not do that and they tried to sort of jam the shingles into the old stuff, that was a real lazy, sloppy thing to do and I’m not the least bit surprised you have leaks. You need somebody to go up there and redo that flashing properly and that will stop it from happening.

JOHN: So there’s no quick fix. You know, I thought there might be a …

TOM: There’s no quick fix. You can go up there and slap on some roof cement and you’ll be right back at it in another year; absolutely guaranteed. It just won’t work.

JOHN: OK.

TOM: The key here, John, is to do it once, do it right and not do it again and these guys didn’t do the job.

JOHN: Well, that explains it.

TOM: Alright, John. Sorry we can’t give you better news but you’ve got to get it done right and then it’ll be good for the long haul. OK?

JOHN: OK, very good.

TOM: Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT. Sometimes we give you good news and sometimes we don’t.