There's a Hole in My Roof

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Flashing is the probable culprit if your leak is near a chimney, valley or plumbing vent. Look for corrosion on the first two and broken seals on the last. On a brick chimney, mortar can crumble away from flashing or counterflashing (flashing inset in the mortar joint to lap over the brick flashing. A visual examination will tell you if you need to put everything back in place with roofing cement.

THE PROCEDURE for chimney-flashing repair is simple. Use a wire brush to clean out loose mortar and rust, and then trowel roof cement liberally over any suspect area. You can use a caulk gun to put the cement in place, but only a trowel can spread it properly.

To repair a rusted-out valley, use tin snips to cut a patch big enough to slide at least two inches under the shingles on both sides out of flashing metal. Bend it to conform to the valley, fit it in place, take it back out. Apply a thick coat of roofing cement to the valley, and imbed the patch in it. Put more cement on the top and bottom edges of your patch. After that, start saving up money, because if your valley flashing is that far gone, the odds are good that you need a new roof.

Plumbing vents can go wrong in three places: the rubber or metal collar around a pipe, the nails securing the flashing and the flashing itself. Use a putty knife here to smear good old roof cement on everything but the collar. For that, use Butyl rubber or silicone caulk, and really force it into the joint with a wet finger.

A damaged asphalt shingle in the field (that is, out in the middle of everything rather than wrapped around flashing or chimneys or woven into valleys is a gift from heaven compared to some problems. There it is, cause and cure tied up in a neat bundle, especially after you buy a bundle of matching shingles from your local supplier.

Using a putty knife, gently break the seal of the shingle that laps directly over the damaged one. You don't want to rip it, because you're going to have to reseal it when you're done, so go slowly. The nails securing the damaged shingle are hiding under it; use a flatbar to remove them. (There should be four; save them all. Discard the bad shingle. Slide your new replacement shingle up and nail it into place. Now hit each nail head with a dab of roofing cement, and glue down the bottom of the pried-up shingle above it. You broke the seal, remember?

That was too easy. And yet most shingle repair, be it asphalt, wood or slate, follows the same rules and steps; Separate and isolate the bad shingle from those around it, remove the nails, slide out the bad shingle, and replace. Wood shingles, shakes and slate require that you cut the nails with a hacksaw rather than remove them, and renail in a relatively exposed spot; but in all cases, you use roof cement to seal those nailheads. Even if a damaged shingle is not conveniently in the field, but lives instead in a peak, valley or vent, the procedure remains basically the same: isolate, detach, remove, replace, reseal.

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