When it comes to protecting the roof of your home, it’s nearly impossible to overstate just how important it is to have the flashing installed correctly the first time, in order to prevent water from breaching an opening in the roof and leaking into your home. The flashing protects the roof by sealing out water and moisture around vulnerable areas, such as chimneys, sunlights, window openings, ventilation pipes, and other roof obstacles, and is essential to a properly functioning roof.
The problems associated with water penetration into the home by way of the roof are numerous and often very expensive, and that is why San Jose roofing experts stress to homeowners the importance of a properly installed flashing system to help prevent water damage to their homes. A roof without a properly installed flashing system is extremely susceptible to exposing a home to mold damage, as water can travel through and underneath openings in the roof if they are not appropriately sealed and protected. A quality water-barrier system, which is provided for your roof by properly installing the flashing, is absolutely necessary when it comes to protecting against water related damage.
A roof’s flashing is important because it’s the only barrier between the openings and joints of the roof protecting them from the outside water and moisture. The materials, which can be used to make flashing include: lead, aluminum, copper, stainless steel, plastic, rubber, and even impregnated paper. Given all the options and styles of flashing available, it is important to consult with a San Jose roofing contractor who can advise you as to which flashing material will work best with the type of roof your home has. For example, due to rapid corrosion, aluminum flashing cannot be used with a pressure treated wood roof. One material which works particularly well as flashing is copper due to it’s malleability, durability, and long service life, which is ideal since the process of having damaged flashing replaced is a particularly pricey one. So before deciding upon which flashing material will work best for your roof system, be sure to consult with a San Jose roofing company that can tell you about the various chemical comparability’s of all the flashing and roofing material options.
There are different types of flashing based upon where they are installed on the roof or coinciding structure. As mentioned previously, roof flashing is installed around the protruding elements of the roof, such as the vents and chimneys, in order to deflect water away from those areas. Wall flashing is also an important type of flashing which helps to prevent water from leaking into a building’s walls, and is usually placed at interruptions in the wall, such as at windows and doors. Channel flashing is also important in locations where the edges of a tiled roof meet the wall, while a drip edge flashing is used specifically at the roof’s edges. San Jose roofing companies often say that one of the most important types of flashing that can help the accumulation of water and thus water damage, is called the kick out flashing which is located at the very bottom of the intersection between the roof and the wall, and is also uniquely designed to deflect water away from the wall at this point of the structure.
An improperly installed flashing system can cause real damage to your home by actually diverting water into your home, instead of away, and that is why the expert San Jose roofing contractors continually stress the importance of a quality flashing installation for every home and building.