Roof Flashing Repair in Geddes for a Drip That Follows a Chimney or Wall

Half of Geddes housing dates from 1955 or earlier. Roofs on houses that age can carry several joints: a chimney, a vent stack or two, a wall where an addition meets the house, a valley. Each is a place where the roof is cut through or butts into something taller.

Walk the house and list them. Photograph each from the ground. Mark the one closest to the stain. Handing that list to a contractor saves most of a first visit.

It is a proxy for age, not a finding about your roof. Your house may have fewer joints than the list suggests.

In Westvale, where nearly every home is detached, almost no neighbor shares your roof, so almost every joint on your list is for one household to settle. On older streets with attached or two-unit buildings, a wall line may be shared, and the proposal should say who is affected.

New York's residential code requires flashing at wall-to-roof joints, where the slope changes and around roof openings. Against a vertical sidewall, it names step or continuous flashing at least 4 inches high.

It also asks for a saddle behind a chimney wider than 30 inches, and for valley lining that goes down before the shingles. For vent pipes it points to the shingle maker's instructions.

That is a lot to remember, so remember four questions instead. Is it stepped? Is there a kick-out? Is there a saddle? Which instructions? Put the answers into the written repair proposal.

Ask the contractor to put the joint on its own line, with the work and the parts listed, so you can see what each line does.

Vinyl, fiber cement and brick veneer can hide water damage behind a wall for years where flashing is missing. A dry stretch of siding is not proof of a dry joint.

Ask the contractor to say how they will check behind it. If your stain only appears after a clear cold night, the leak may not be at a joint. Read the Geddes attic page before you commit to a joint repair, and see where roofs actually leak for the picture of all six.