Repairing A Roof Valley Leak

A lead valley is a particularly difficult item to dispose of as lead is toxic and so a repair may involve simply patching up your lead roofing.

Repairing a roof valley leak. If a leak is difficult to find enlist a helper and go up on the roof with a garden hose. Follow these three preparatory steps to get ready to fix the valley leak. Make a neat pile of the shingles that you will be able to continue using. In order to stop the leak in your roof you need to get to where the leak is occurring.

A properly flashed roof valley should have an ice and water shield installed with roofing felt being properly secured over the ice and water. Move to the highest end of the valley and work your way down cleaning. Just like in nature a valley on a roof is designed to collect water. And you can tar it but it s a real stop gap band aid like measure.

For example soak the downhill side of a chimney first then each side then the top on both sides. Measure the width of the sheet metal valley flashing. Take measurements of your roof flashing most flashing is 14 inches wide but yours may vary. This will require that you remove the shingles.

The best way to find and stop the roof leak is to start over and roof the valley the right way. If you find that this is a problem then you will need to repair your roof valley before anything serious happens such as plaster loss or even major water damage. Carefully remove the shingles from the whole area of the leak and extend it approximately three or four feet beyond the leaking area. Start at the upper row of shingles at the upper end of the.

Position an extension ladder against the lower edge of the roof near the valley that is repaired. And if they put a second layer of shingles on they brought it up the valley but they didn t replace the valley it s probably leaking and cracking and split. Typical valley flashing is 14 inches wide. If the ice and water shield is missing then you will have to remove the shingles on both sides along the valley put ice and water shield in place and re shingle the roof.

Clear any debris in the roof valley and surrounding area. Start low soaking the area just above where the leak appears in the house. If that water doesn t shed off the roof fast enough or gets under the roofing material roof leaks will soon develop. And roof leaks in valleys often turn into unsightly repairs.