Roofs are strange characters—they provide sheer aesthetic value to a house, but it only takes the wrong kind of materials to make them leak at some point. Part of that problem involves the flashing, which may be off-kilter and will need replacement or repair. SFGate.com’s Tim Anderson said this holds true regardless of any roofing material you have up top.

How to Repair Roof Flashings

Menlo Park’s winter weather does present too many options for moisture to accumulate inside the roofing. If left untouched, the moisture can gradually compromise the internal structure and lead to more damaging circumstances. This will require the professional workmanship of Menlo Park, CA roofing companies such as Shelton Roofing to keep the roof battened down.

Basics

Flashings in a residential property are mostly placed in strategic areas only, and under the shingles and tiles. For instance, you can find them in the corner joints or the sections where the shingles meet a vertical wall. Any cylindrical vents on the roof will have flashings to stop water from trickling down the side of the pipe.

Attaching

There are a number of ways to set up the flashing. Anderson said screws and nails are common in flashings placed into older houses while modern houses that are also shingled work with modern industrial adhesives. A thick layer of adhesive is coated to ensure that the flashing fully sticks to the underlayment and the shingles while leaving out the water.

Consistency in Protection

The work does not stop when the flashing has been fixed up or replaced; your roofer will recommend replacing all associated tiles in the immediate region of the roofing system. Anderson states that as shingles are installed by overlapping them in layer after layer of batten strips and screwed on, cutting away all those near the affected flashing may compromise everything else. A solution will be to cement replacement tiles underneath the existing ones using roofing cement or silicone caulk to maintain the consistency.

Sometimes it only takes a tiny flap in the system to grow worse and you’ll need to deal with them, too. Nipping flashing leaks in the bud through the repair services of your preferred Menlo Park or Sunnyvale, CA roofing contractor will save you much headaches later.

(Source: How to Repair Roof Flashings, SFGate.com)