New "W" Channel Roof Flashing

Question from Russ: The roofing company installed new "w" channel roof flashing over the top of the old flashing when they recently installed my new roof. Now when it rains, the water runs over the top of the gutters. I spoke with both the roofing company and the general contractor. They both gave me different answers.

Answer from Dave: W flashing is the flashing in the valley where two roofs meet. Since this is over the felt, it should be replaced if possible. If you have copper or some other type of flashing, you may want to reuse it. However, it should always be above the felt (tarpaper) and below the shingles to keep water out.

When the new roof was installed, did the roofing company take the old roof down to the wood OR did they apply new shingles over the old (re-roof or over shingle)? Did they remove and reinstall the gutters OR just leave the gutters in place? Did you have splash guards in the corner before that stopped the rain from over running the gutters? Did they leave them? Do you have any now to stop the overflow?

Response from Russ: This was a complete tear off/replacement. That was truly my dissappointment. They were already there, was it laziness that it wasn't replaced? The gutters were left in place.

There was never a need for splash guards before so they were not present. When I spoke with the roofer, this was his solution but pointed out that this creates a problem in the winter with snow. The new W flashing sitting over the old has obviously raised the height.

Over all they did a great job. I can say that. It is unfortunate that because of the bad decision up front (when the roof was replaced), I now have a nagging problem that is going to be with me until the next time the roof is replaced.



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