Hip Problem

I would appreciate some advice on a residential roof I am bidding. This roof has had chronic leaks since its installation. I have attached some pics of what I think is the problem... The hips are almost flat and I think water is getting under them. This is a 12 sided roof with this condition on each hip. I have some ideas, but wanted to see what you guys thought, as I mostly do commercial roofing. How can I install this detail to make sure we do not have problems own the road. New roof is going to be arch. shingles.Thank you.

Best thing to do 3/12 and under is install a rubber membrane low slope roof.

:woohoo: I get it; we're playing cops and roberts? :S

Check the slope to see if they are less than 4/12 and if they are ice and water shield the entire deck

Me too. I hate the stuff. I rarely ever use it for anything. And using a little of it under the caps may not be the best solution along with a re-roof but with a repair that only has to go a few more years until the roof is replaced, so far it has worked very well eliminating the problem every time.

All of the ones like this that I have done had rusted ridge nails. Some with the heads completely missing and water marks/debris showing that the water had ran to the nails.

Agree on the flatter shim. Willie, I'm painfully aware of what can happen when nail heads and shanks rust out. Actually that's why I made it a law never to use zinc chromate on anything. If there's a problem with wicking/syphon action I bring out the stainless. If it's just an iffy situation, I stick with hot-dip fasteners. But if the pitch is adequate, even if only nominally adequate, and you maintain the integrity of the roof planes to eliminate the cupping we can see in the photos, I don't see the need for any extra sealant. It should be a thing you don't walk away from until it is mechanically sound. "Water-shedding, not waterproof," as Mike Hicks once described it.

That having been said, if a particular geographic environment or location involving build-up of surface debris that retards drainage is in play, I have nothing against sealing the things down. Except for unusual situations that require repair of base flashings, stripping in, or such, I rarely use more than two three- gallon cans of mastic in a year, but I do use it and I do appreciate its value. After forty years of being up to my neck in the stuff and crawling inside my dryer with solvent and rags to satisfy an irate wife that every last speck of "that stuff" is off the drum, and after and despite religiously managing the tubes, guns, cans, and trowels, still having a small but malevolently genius spot of it work its way up the handle, onto my wrist, and propagate itself to the far corners of my universe with impunity, as much as I appreciate it, I find it annoying when I can't make something work without it. ;)

Instead of a 1x2 on edge, just lath laying flat might be the better solution.

I once did a church with an octagon roof. The cross in the center was offset, so that the pitches varied from 9/12 to 21/12. It had big, wide exposed beams at each hip. The plywood made contact at the edge of the beam and just floated in the air between that point and the middle where the two sides met. That could be what is going on here, except at the low pitch, the floating part of the plywood isn't as high up in the air like a steep pitch and as the comp and hip caps are nailed on, they sank into the beam and sucked the hip flat.

You can raise up the center of the ridge caps if you want but it's the water from the main roof running underneath the ridge caps and reaching the nail heads of the ridge caps that makes it leak.

It takes several years of the water reaching the nails for it to begin to rust them out and make its way around the stem of the nail. It only happens during the hardest rains and once water begins to infiltrate it will eat away at the roofing material around the nails as well making the hole around the nail stem larger. The leak grows very slowly.

When you tear this roof off, you will find that many of the nails used to install the ridge caps are rusted out.

That plan is just a little too very simple for me; I would need to feather both edges of that. I won't tolerate hidden voids or nonconformities beneath comp shingles. For one, ignorant people will inevitably step where they ought not, and secondly, comp will always stress over time wherever it is not fully supported. Nevertheless, whatever materials are employed, that would be the objective. I use tops or any other already generated waste material because it's totally compatible and its free.

1inch side up 2 inch side on horizontal flat to the ridge? 2 inch up might make a sever angle causing shingle failure at 90 B) :) :) B) Deep Down In Florida Where The Sun Shines Damn Near Every Day

Actually it is very simple. Just nail a 1 x 2 on edge down the ridge line and then install your ridges over that. It will make a peak, it will be straight because you will set it to a line and it will cause the water to run away from the ridge eliminating the problem.

egg Said: What tinner is talking about can pertain to a hip where the two adjacent sides that create it form a ninety degree turn. In this case, with the extremely obtuse angle, what is lacking is bulk in the center of the hip to help it retain what little angle there is. The same problem can occur on a ridge if you try to use that springy roll-type vent. The trim flattens out.

If you handle it the way natty says it should be a non-problem. Occasionally when a hip trim flattens out like that and it is a low pitch, I will add a strip or two of narrow waste material, per twill. Whatever it takes to beef up the center and force it to take the shape its supposed to have.

Just my two cents.

Running an external caulking bead from a gun like someone did in the pix is just a little mini suicide.

Thanks for clarifying that for me. I sure leave a lot unsaid. Thank you.

What tinner is talking about can pertain to a hip where the two adjacent sides that create it form a ninety degree turn. In this case, with the extremely obtuse angle, what is lacking is bulk in the center of the hip to help it retain what little angle there is. The same problem can occur on a ridge if you try to use that springy roll-type vent. The trim flattens out.

If you handle it the way natty says it should be a non-problem. Occasionally when a hip trim flattens out like that and it is a low pitch, I will add a strip or two of narrow waste material, per twill. Whatever it takes to beef up the center and force it to take the shape it's supposed to have.

Just my two cents.

Running an external caulking bead from a gun like someone did in the pix is just a little mini suicide.

Yeah, that popping noise is annoying isn't it? :laugh:

Mike H Said: My hips are bothering me a lot here of late. Muscle cramps. Not that I expect that mean much here, but its about all I can offer on hips.

:)

My hips are bothering me a lot here of late. Muscle cramps. Not that I expect that mean much here, but it's about all I can offer on hips.

:)