Categories: roofing

Understanding Roof Flashing Failure

Roofing materials have varying degrees of durability, water resistance and weatherproofing, but all of them need flashing. Flashing should be present wherever your roof is prone to leaking. In other words, roofing contractors place flashing on the most vulnerable areas of your roofing system, such as valleys and penetrations.

Like any other component of the roofing system, flashing can fail as well. It’s best to understand why this happens and what your roofer can do about it.

Why Flashing Fails

Extreme temperatures are the leading cause of roof flashing failure. Especially if temperatures in your area alternate between freezing and baking, roof flashing can pull away because roofing materials are shrinking and expanding. Flashing can warp, shrink, expand, wrinkle, pull away or break. 

Why It’s an Issue

The job of flashing is to direct moisture from the roof to the gutters. It’s present in valleys and where two structures meet, and in other locations on your roof as well. If flashing shrinks, breaks or pulls away, leaks can form. And leaks don’t get smaller over time; they just get bigger and the damage worse. Immediate roof repair is necessary.

What You Should Do

It’s not a good idea to try to fix a roof on your own, especially if you have no prior experience. Watching hundreds of YouTube videos on fixing a leaking roof is not going to make you an expert. Some flashing is located in hard-to-reach places, too. It’s bad enough that roof work is done at heights; now you have to try and reach flashing in awkward places.

What you should do is call your roofing contractors and talk to them about a roof inspection. They can find broken flashing and any other issues more easily as they have the experience and the tools. They will also apply reliable fixes that can prevent a flashing problem from getting worse.

Get in touch with Jack the Roofer for roof replacement or repairs. Call us today at (720) 722-2255, or contact us here. We work with Castle Rock, Aurora and Parker homeowners.

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Published by
Jack Cottrell

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