Need a pro's opinion on this roofing job

We had our roof re-done last fall. This winter, it leaked again, albeit this time at least not in the living room -- only on the porch. I think the guys doing the roof got in over their heads. We have a 3-dormer cape with a wrap around porch. I took some pictures of what I thought were problem areas, and I'm wondering if there is a way to fix this without having someone rip the entire thing off and starting over...

pics are at: roof from hell

Thanks for any comments or suggestions you can send my way!

 

From what I can see, they were not "roofers", as there was never a line snapped, and no measurements were ever checked on the way up the roof. Is there any step flashing along the dormers? If you lift a shingle, you should see flashing under each one. Was there any flashing applied across the angle change from main roof to the porch roof? I got more questions, but you have leaks. From all the problems you have, I could only recommend a complete tear off, new drip edge, new ridge venting and new shingles. Sorry for the bad news, but it won't get better.

Larry

 

Thanks Larry. It doesn't leak in the rain that I can tell, anyway. It leaked in the winter due to what I assume was an ice dam. The whole reason we had the roof replaced in the first place was because we had an ice dam and the roof was 15 years old. We thought a new roof with ice and water shield would solve the problem.

There does appear to be step flashing under the shingles near the dormer, and it looks to be nailed to the side of the dormer, which I believe is the correct method? As for the angle change, he told me he used a rubber roofing material that I believe is normally applied with heat. It's thicker than the normal ice and water shield. I'd say an 1/8th to a quarter inch thick?

 

I'm no expert, so take my advice as you would the guy's next door.

I have been looking into gutters to try and solve a problem of water creeping into the basement after semi-heavy rain. I live in New England where the vast majority of people don't have gutters, but I came from Montana where pretty much everyone has them.

General agreement from random people was they didn't have them here because of ice dams.

So, now to the point of my comment, I did a lot of reading online and what most 'experts' seemed to agree on is ice dams form because of poor ventilation and/or poor insulation. I guess the problem is if the attic is hot, the snow melts at the peak of the room, and when the water runs to the edge, it can re-freeze if air temperatures are below freezing, causing the ice dam.

Is the porch open to the outside? Or is it heated? If it is open, maybe snow is melting from the part of the roof over the house, and when it hits the section over the porch which has no heat it is re-frezing and daming up.

Just a guess, maybe someone else here can confirm it, or correct me.

 

Yes, that's exactly what's happening. The porch is not heated, but capes have pretty poor insulation in the upstairs ceiling anyway because of the way they're built. I think the ice dam was formed on the porch roof, and then it finds its way through. Although with this new roof, I didn't see any standing water when I went up to check for ice dams when it started dripping in the spring.

 

Hi Johnny, I see you're making the rounds. I replied to your post in the roofing talk forums. This is the kind of roof you get when hiring a general contractor to do the roof. Like hiring a general practitioner to perform heart surgery. Kitchens today and roofs tomorrow.

You have flashing issues with the drip edge. Improper overhang of the shingles and on and on.

 

Hi Reliable, yes, I've gathered some good info as to the things that are wrong, and I've been adding them to the pictures as I go. It's been very helpful. I wasn't sure where the best place to post was, since roofingtalk didn't seem to be oriented toward consumers. I found this DIY site first, then realized that the one everyone was talking about was a different one...so I think I've posted in 3 places now! Sorry about that. Thanks for the help!

 

Hope you dragged the fleabrain that did this horrendous job to court to make him pay for someone to do it right.

 

Johnny, you're not the only one with a bad roof job. Mine looks the same as yours except my porch posts are rotting out, too! At the top of the posts the paint is warping and the bottom of the posts are rotting out. We had wood shingles completely replaced by asphalt shingles in Jan. 2007. At first I thought the problem was not enough air circulation due to overgrown bushes by the porch....ripped out the bushes. But that didn't explain the top of the posts which I just noticed this year. (The posts are hollow.) Has anyone figured out the next problem? How does the water get from the roof to the post? It comes from the ceiling of my porch which is also rotting away! Nice. The contractor is suppose to be here in an hour. Let's hear what he has to say.