My house is only 6 years old however the winter storm that hit us this year (army was called in to air lift stranded people by helicopter) did a number on my place. The issue I am having is that when it rains water is pouring out of the soffit. The problem area is where the garage attaches to the house. I have included pictures of the area. There is a piece of flashing along the one wall and I think that somehow water is getting behind it. I have done some roofing before but nothing that required flashing (ie: detached garage, shed). I took a look at everything and cannot see any damage to the shingles or flashing. In the one pic (with the bird house) you can see the wall is still wet from when it rained yesterday. The section of soffit above the birdhouse is where the water is dripping from. Any ideas? I hope I don't need to replace the entire section of roof. Can the lower shingles be lifted to inspect the area then nailed back down and old holes filled in with roof tar?

 

I should also mention that ice had formed inside the soffit. There is no water damage inside the house. I have not been able to get into the attic in the garage yet to see if there is any water damage in there or not.

 

Pouring, right?

Hm. It looks, given the pictures, that the shingles are ok, from what I can see. If they overlap, it's fine, the water will run off.

The flashing looks like it's loose, to me, and/or doesn't have any caulking. But I can't see past the 'turn' around the house, it's like that's your problem.

Also, is it me, or is the flashing is ON TOP of the shingles, and not below them? That seems... wrong. I've never seen flashing over shingles, except on the 'downstream side' of the operation. But on the 'upstream' and sides? Shingles must be on top.

That seems like the issue to me, anyway... looks like they fixed something after the fact or something.

And it looks like I'm close, as in the second picture without the birdhouse, is it a waterstaining going on on the brick and the sofit panels next to the house? The first panel?

I would expect that when you get into the garage attic, and if you can see into that corner, you'll find plenty water staining... damage? Not sure, probably not enough to worry about if it's 'pouring out', it's not staying long enough to soak, probably... but that's a guess, at best.

Do let us know what else ya find, man.

 

is it me, or is the flashing is ON TOP of the shingles

 

Yep. The bottom of the flashing should be "under" the shingles

 

Ok. I got it all sorted out. So here is the thing, what you see in the photo is not the flashing. That is a piece of aluminum (used to cap around the garage doors) that they placed over the step flashing to make it look pretty. Now the interesting part. Instead of using a single piece of step flashing, they used the smaller 4"x8" pieces. Now this is the interesting part. The very first piece that should have been installed is missing. So the water was pouring down the step flashing and then falling into a hole that was 1.5"x3" in size (plywood on the roof did not butt up against the house brick). Not sure why we didn't have issues before but there are no signs that a piece was ever there. I purchased another piece and installed it, and reinstalled the vinyl cap and caulked it in place. Tested it and it works fine. All of this over a 99 cent piece of material.

 

Yay, I was right. And so were others. Although what we called it wasn't, still.

Glad you got it fixed, man. Well done!

 

Glad to hear you sorted it out.
There was probably just enough caulking there before the storm to keep the water out.
The big storm and ice opened it up.
Ice can break all sorts of things.

 

Glad you got it figured out.

FTR that "cap" over the step flashing is called "counter flashing". It not only makes the step flashing prettier by covering it up but it also should tuck under the brick at it's top. Usually about an inch or so into the brick so that when water sheds down the face of the brick it doesn't sneak behind the counter flashing.

These kinds of things are not uncommon when you place brick over or on top of the roof. Siding is much easier because you can hide the step flashing behind it and it should last for decades. That's why brick chimneys are always such a PITA for leaks.

Of course siding isn't as pretty as brick. Just keep an eye on it. Caulk is the handymans friend.

It is odd about the 3" hole. You would like for all exterior substrates to be closed and not have open holes even if they are covered with shingles or flashing.