Sidewall to valley flashing? - InspectionNews

Jim Luttrall · #1 (**permalink**) 03-07-2010, 06:02 PM

Does anyone have a good diagram for flashing a dead valley at the sidewall?
Sorry for the low quality shots but it is the best I have.

Gunnar Alquist · #2 (**permalink**) 03-08-2010, 06:58 AM

Sorry Jim, nothing from me.

H.G. Watson, Sr. · #3 (**permalink**) 03-08-2010, 07:51 AM

If it truly is a dead valley, and since no one fabricates and solders pan flashings these days, it likely should be hot mopped tar or torch down methods and upwards & outwards 1-2 feet to start. Woven tab dead valley-never.

What you have here is even worse - high pitch large area roof - dammed dead valley running into brick face and siding walls - and tiny gutter - major design flaw, especially with your rainfall.

Jim Luttrall · #4 (**permalink**) 03-08-2010, 08:13 AM

Yep, HG, I agree. I see this on many, many new homes. I am continually amazed at the thoughtless design/execution. Even more amazing to me is the number that have not leaked, yet.
This particular house was a one year warranty and the apparent "fix" was to smear some sealant around.
I was apparent from the interior that it only leaked once so far; so it will likely take a large fast downpour to overwhelm what flashing they did put in place. They could have moved the valley a foot or less and totally missed the side wall. New construction 4000' house, you think they could afford to have a designer that could specify correct procedures.

H.G. Watson, Sr. · #5 (**permalink**) 03-08-2010, 09:09 AM

Crickets (not only for chimneys!), built ups, curbs and CANTs open metal valleys, gutters, troughs, valley/tile pan metal, multi-course flashing, hot mop - all part of roofing.

Notice complete lack of cants, doubtful any meaningful flashing at sided or brick faced wall. Anything present doomed to fail sooner than later.

Jim Luttrall · #6 (**permalink**) 03-08-2010, 09:44 AM

I think the reason I cannot find a diagram must be that making a valley that dies into a vertical wall is so wrong that no one would admit to intentionally designing it!

H.G. Watson, Sr. · #7 (**permalink**) 03-08-2010, 11:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim Luttrall

I think the reason I cannot find a diagram must be that making a valley that dies into a vertical wall is so wrong that no one would admit to intentionally designing it!

That would be correct - however suspect it wasn't "designed" this way, it was built this way and the fault likely "lies" with the Builder, not who stamped the plans.

This could have easily been corrected when framing (ex. blind valley, simplified valley, or 'california valley' framing method).

chris mcintyre · #8 (**permalink**) 03-08-2010, 05:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by H.G. Watson, Sr.

... it was built this way and the fault likely "lies" with the Builder, not who stamped the plans.

Agreed, I see this all the time, framers not allowing for the brick veneer.
Paying a framer or a builder a little more could avoid a lot (not all) of these little issues. You get what you pay for.

Quote:

Crickets (not only for chimneys!),

When we get calls for this, a small cricket is the most effective, and fairly simple, solution.

Michael Thomas · #9 (**permalink**) 03-09-2010, 04:17 AM

Around here least when you see something like that at new construction it's often a case of "when CAD goes bad": it's easy for the architect to design it that way, hard for the builder to build it right that way, and it's difficult (almost impossible, sometimes) to maintain it properly, afterwords.

As I've increasingly been specializing in water intrusion inspections I've been seeing more and more examples of the sort of complicated multiple plane roof design, and it's amazing how often you'll discover that it's been "built as designed" ("built per plan" is a separate issue, as the drawings often don't specify exact details for such transitions).

And it's not unusual to find that the builders really have made the effort given the task they were handed, but the task was pretty much hopeless given the underlying design.

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The other half of the equation is the water removal system, where these complicated roofs come together you have complicated gutter and downspout systems which are prone to clogging, and as here in Chicago many of these new construction "châteaux to go" properties are 2 1/2 or three stories high, people don't get up there and clean them.