Roof
Flashing and Skylight Repair in Round Rock
Flashing is the metal that seals every place the roof stops and something else starts. It is where most leaks begin and where re-roofs most often cut corners.
What Flashing Is
Metal at walls, chimneys, valleys, pipes, skylights and roof edges.
On a re-roof it should be replaced or confirmed sound, not buried.
Round Rock's own page names drip edge as required.
Shingles shed water down a plain slope. Wherever the slope meets a wall, a chimney box, a pipe or a skylight, shingles cannot seal the joint. Bent metal does that job.
The pieces have names. Step flashing runs up a wall in overlapping squares. Counter flashing covers the top of it. A pipe boot is a metal base with a rubber collar. Drip edge finishes the eaves and rakes.
The Usual Failures
- Reused step flashing. During a fast re-roof, the old pieces are left in place and the new shingles laid against them. Old nail holes and bent corners leak.
- Caulk in place of metal. Sealant looks fine for a year or two, then dries and cracks.
- Chimney boxes. On a house with a framed chimney box covered in siding, the joint where that siding meets the roof needs flashing behind the boards. The bottom boards rot when it is missing.
- Missing kick-out. Where a roof edge ends against a wall, a small angled piece should throw water into the gutter. Without it, water runs down the siding and into the wall.
- Skylight curbs. The flashing kit ages, or the unit's own seal fails and fogs the glass.
Getting It Fixed
A flashing repair means lifting the shingles around the joint, and sometimes removing a few courses of siding, to put new metal where it belongs. It is slower than a shingle repair and worth doing once.
An old skylight is best replaced at the same time as the roof around it, since the flashing has to be redone either way.
If your roof was replaced after the 2023 storm and you have a leak at a wall or chimney, reused flashing is the first suspect. The city did not inspect that roof. See the owner's checklist.
Questions About Flashing and Skylights
How do I know if my flashing was replaced with the roof?
Ask the installer for photos. New flashing is clean, straight and usually a different color from weathered metal.
Is drip edge required in Round Rock?
The city's Building Inspection page says drip edge is required on re-roofs and cites the code section.
Should a skylight be replaced with the roof?
If it is as old as the roof being torn off, yes in most cases. The cost of doing it later includes redoing new roofing.
Leak at a Wall or Chimney?
Describe where the stain is and when the roof was last replaced.
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