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Step flashing on a re-roof?

Cloister | Posted in Construction Techniques on August 17, 2007 02:52am

I have a small cottage with a gabled roof that T’s into the eave wall of a cedar shingled barn. The asphalt roof on the cottage is curling and breaking up and in need of replacement and I’d like to strip the roof instead of a roof-over. The older asphalt shingles were flashed into the cedar shingles of the barn wall with aluminum step flashing.

What I want to know is if anyone has any tips on how to flash this intersection without stripping the cedar shingles on the barn wall to weave in new step flashing? I’m guessing the best way is to carefully remove the old asphalt near the wall, try and save the old step flashing and weave them back into the new asphalt roof but this could be a little tricky.

Any other tips or ideas are much appreciated. Thanks.

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Replies

  1. IdahoDon | Aug 18, 2007 12:01am | #1

    Bite the bullet and accept that you need to pull and reinstal the cedar.

     

    Beer was created so carpenters wouldn't rule the world.

  2. mike_maines | Aug 18, 2007 01:30am | #2

    Is the step flashing in bad shape?  If not, you should be able to carefully get the asphalt shingles out and weave in new ones to the existing step flashing.

  3. Hudson Valley Carpenter | Aug 18, 2007 02:42am | #3

    As long as the flashing is still holding firmly to the wall it shouldn't be too difficult to remove the old asphalt shingles and install your new roof, re-weaving into the old flashing.  Just takes patience.  

    Be sure to carefully inspect the roof sheathing, under the flashing. That's a prime location for rot. 

  4. DonK | Aug 18, 2007 03:59am | #4

    Sounds like this is your first roof. There are two schools of thought around here. Both have already posted.

    One group says that the "right" way to do it is strip the old all down and replace as necessary. The other says look at the flashing and make sure it's still worth keeping, then work carefully and slide the new shingles where they belong. (You will need to keep the same spacing as you go up.) Aluminum step flashing can be kind of thin, depending on when and how it was installed. OTOH, sometimes, it's pretty solid and worth saving.

    Remember, the new roof is going to be there for a bunch of years. Depending on the roof shingles you use, that roof could be up there for 50 years. How is that flashing going to look in the future? Undoubtedly, replacing the flashing is a PITA, but it's going to be less of a pain now than it will be down the road. Think of how many feet of roof/flashing to change

    Good luck on your choice.

    Don K.

    EJG Homes      Renovations - New Construction - Rentals

  5. DanH | Aug 18, 2007 04:16am | #5

    That's what was done when our house was reroofed -- twice. Galv flashing, though, not Al.

    If properly applied the step flashing is just nailed once through the roof and not at all through the side, so there's a little play in it when reroofing.

    So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. --Benjamin Franklin
    1. fingersandtoes | Aug 18, 2007 06:33am | #6

      "If properly applied the step flashing is just nailed once through the roof and not at all through the side, so there's a little play in it when reroofing"

      I wish that roofers had that tattooed on the back of their hands when they apprenticed.

      1. LIVEONSAWDUST | Aug 18, 2007 06:44am | #7

        shoudn,t it be "once through the wall and none through the roof" ?

        1. misfit | Aug 18, 2007 06:47am | #8

          you beat me to it

        2. fingersandtoes | Aug 18, 2007 06:52am | #9

          One through the roof usually means you can easily replace the step flashing.

          One through the wall usually means you can easily re-use the old stuff.

          1. Hazlett | Aug 20, 2007 04:21pm | #13

             count me in on the" one through the roof" also.

            " one through the wall" doesn't work so well on brick houses-or up against chimneys----or on  old house work where we can usually install new step flashing without removing the siding.

             stephen

      2. Geoffrey | Aug 18, 2007 07:11am | #10

         

        "If properly applied the step flashing is just nailed once through the roof and not at all through the side, so there's a little play in it when reroofing"

         I respectfully disagree,  not withstanding the advent of  laminated or Architectural shingles the "proper" technique  would be that the flashing is nailed with one nail to the side wall "high and dry" (upper most corner of the step flashing on the side wall),the following course of flashing should then cover that nail head.

        The flashing should be set "loosely" on the shingle (just off the surface of the shingle) but the "bend" in the flashing should be greater than 90 degrees or "open" . There should be no other nails driven through the flashing either on the wall or on the roof,so no nails driven through the next shingle and  through the preceding step flashing. In fact there should be no nails with-in 6-8" of the wall. The clapbords, or whatever siding, should have no nails driven through it into the step flashing either. The WRB (felt paper) should lap over the step flashing on the wall and the siding should be held up 1/2 - 3/4" off the surface of the roof shingles to allow drainage of debris off the roof surface.

         The "loose" setting of the flashing allows for re-weaving when re-roofing with-out compromising the function of the flashing.

        Given the different dimensions of the laminate shingles, step flashing from an original roof with 3-tabs, may necessitate the replacement of the existing flashing, if applying new "archies", which are thicker than the old 3-tabs(and larger). I prefer to use 4"x4"x8" pre-bent Al stepflashing. That's my 2 cents.

                                                                   Geoff

        1. fingersandtoes | Aug 18, 2007 10:39am | #11

          I flash sidewalls in a similar way than I seem to remember you describing flashing chimneys in a past thread.

          I nail the step flashing to the roof, then I  run a 6" piece up the sidewall keeping the bottom an inch above the step flashing. This is nailed at 5" and lapped by the building paper. I keep the siding an inch above the counter-flashing (a full 2" above the roof), and make sure the siding is not nailed below the 5" mark.

          This makes replacing the step flashing easy. You don't have any nails to worry about and the building paper stays where it should. This detail works particularly well  in a curtain wall where if you have to remove siding to loosen the flashing it becomes quite complex.

          1. Geoffrey | Aug 18, 2007 04:26pm | #12

            An excerllent idea!  I think I'll put that in my memory file.

            It solves a lot of "issues" with re-roofs and/or re-flashings

                                                                                                Geoff

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