Flashing seals every joint where the roof meets something else, and it is where most leaks begin. We reflash it right, not just re-caulk it.
A roof sheds water beautifully across a flat, open field of tile or shingle. The trouble starts wherever that field is interrupted, at a chimney, a wall, a valley, a skylight, or a vent. Flashing is the metal that seals those joints, steering water around the interruption and back onto the roof. Because it does the hardest job on the roof, flashing is where most leaks begin.
It fails for a few reasons. The metal flexes with heat and can lift or pull away, it corrodes over the years, and very often a previous owner or a careless contractor tried to seal it with caulk instead of proper flashing, which dries and cracks within a season or two. Wind-driven rain finds these gaps first, which is why some flashing leaks only show in a storm. A stain near a chimney or skylight is a classic flashing tell.
We fix flashing failures through flashing repair, layering and tucking the metal correctly rather than adding another bead of caulk, and leak detection confirms the flashing is the real source. Chimney leaks in particular are covered on our chimney leak page.
A proper seal at the joint lasts. Call (310) 806-5959 or request an estimate.
A leak near a chimney, skylight, or wall points to flashing, since those are the joints it seals.
A leak only in wind-driven rain suggests a flashing gap the wind is finding, as our heavy-rain leak page covers.
Cracked caulk at the seams is a sign someone patched over failed flashing instead of replacing it.
Water backing up in a valley points to failed valley flashing or a clog, both of which cause leaks.
The lasting fix for a flashing leak is proper flashing, not more sealant over the old failure. We remove the failed metal and the cracked caulk, then install new flashing that is layered and tucked correctly into both the roof and, at a chimney, the masonry. Done right, the joint sheds water the way it was always meant to, and the leak does not come back with the next storm.
If the leak has run for a while, any decking it reached gets repaired before the new work goes on, and a written roof inspection checks the other joints so you are not back for the next one. Because a flashing leak soaks the same spot every rain, moving on it early keeps a small fix from becoming a rotted section, as our page on delaying a repair shows. For the broader picture, see our roof leaks page.
Tell us where the stain shows. We trace it and give you a written price for a lasting fix, with no obligation.