I Can See the Light…Through my Roof

LESLIE: Kevin in Missouri, you’ve got a roofing question. How can we help you today?

KEVIN: My fiancée and I just bought our first house.

TOM: Congratulations.

KEVIN: Oh, thank you so much. And when I’m standing in the garage, I can – and I’m looking outside, all the way along the roof, above the top plate, I can see daylight.

TOM: Yeah.

KEVIN: And I was just wondering, do I need to flash that? And if so, do I need to pull up the first course of roof shingles in order to do that or what’s the best way to handle that?

TOM: So, when you’re up in the attic of this garage and you look down towards the eave, you’re seeing light up there?

KEVIN: Well, actually when I just stand in the middle of the garage, I can see over the top plate a little bit.

TOM: OK. So there’s no ceiling, right? You’re looking up into the underside of the roof structure?

KEVIN: Yeah, exactly. It’s an unfinished garage.

TOM: OK. And so they’re looking at sort of the overhang where the roof rafters go over the plate. So there’s a soffit right under that, typically. And yeah, you’re going to get light that comes up in there. But unless you’re getting water, I wouldn’t worry about it. In fact, in normal construction, you would have – if that was over the interior of the house, the heated portion of the house, that would all be vented. And when you go up in an attic and you look down that same spot, you almost always see light coming up in there.

KEVIN: Now, in this garage, there’s not really much of a soffit at all.

TOM: OK.

KEVIN: It’s basically the roof ends at the top plate and then there’s gutters right outside of that. Is that a problem or …?

TOM: No, because it doesn’t have to be ventilated in the garage, because there’s no heat there. But that seam, I think, is pretty typical. And again, unless you’re seeing leaks, then I wouldn’t worry about that.

KEVIN: OK. Great. Well, thank you so much. I really appreciate it.

TOM: Yeah. I’m sure there are other things to worry about in your house, Kevin, but that’s not one of them. Alright?

KEVIN: Yeah. We’re kind of new homeowners. It’s kind of terrifying.

TOM: Yeah.

KEVIN: Love every little thing.

TOM: Good luck with the house. Call us anytime, OK?

KEVIN: OK. Thank you so much, sir.