We had 3 inches of rain early this week, and it was apparent that there was still a leak in the roof in spite of the new flashing I installed. The flashing didn’t solve the problem because the issue it is intended to address obviously wasn’t the cause of the leak as I thought. The location from which the water was entering the house and getting into the straw narrowed down the source to somewhere near the chimney.
Once the rain quit, I investigated. The flashing around the chimney looked good except for one place – along the seam in one section on a rib of the metal roofing. All of the polyurethane caulk I used was well sealed to the 
The photo at the right was taken in October of last year after I finished the chimney. It shows the flashing I installed. The suspected entry-point for the water is along the left edge of the flashing. the edge of it actually comes upon on one of the metal ribs. There was a place along there that looked as if water could get past the defensive measures I put into place.
I had been intending to dress things up around the chimney anyway. The leak provided motivation to get it done now. My fix involved roofing tar, silicone caulk, and a sheet of roofing metal. 
Now, water will have to find a way past the caulked seams of the new sheet of metal and past the tarred edges of the flashing (now securely tarred to the underside of the new metal). I added some extra roofing tar around the back and sides on the outside where the metal comes against the chimney. It looks better and should keep out water when it rains. Now, we’ll wait until it rains again to see if I’ve solved the problem.
9 comments:
That's a brilliant idea. It's a good alternative to prevent water from leaking through your roof again. But is it effective? It does seem like it, but you can never tell from looking alone. Well, if it does prove to be effective, then good for you. If it doesn’t, you’d do well asking for help from a professional roofer.
Rolly, you're right -- you can't tell from looking alone. It looked good before, but it looks better now. However, the proof of the fix will be demonstrated when it rains more than the 2/10" we've had since my repair (no leak from that amount of rain).
It seems you are doing quite well with your roof leaks and issues. Good job! But I would advise you to look for other roofing issues before it starts to rain again. There might be some damage on other parts that might lead to roof leaks. It is best to be prepared before the rainy season. Best of luck!
It’s great that you were able to trace the source of your leaking problem! If I may just ask, were you able to validate that it was really the left edge of the flashing that was giving you problems? I hope that you didn’t encounter other issues than the leak because it’s not every day that you can get up to the roof, and do some repairs and maintenance. If it’s okay with you, can you give us some updates? :)
The roof leak is fixed. The nature of the repair eliminated most of the other potential possibilities for leaks also. I left things open for observation for several weeks and rains showers to determine that the leak had been properly diagnosed and the problem corrected. No additional problems or evidence of leaking has occurred since then.
Sometimes roofs develop leaks years before the entire roof needs replacing. Usually these leaks are caused by localized damage, such as cracked or missing shingles or shakes, or on a flat roof, a blistered or cracked area.
@DP: That’s great news! When I read your post, I was kind of worried when you said that you had to wait and see if the repairs worked. Well, it’s a good thing that your repairs were spot on and didn’t encounter a new problem. I hope you won’t have to fix your roof again anytime soon. If that happens, I think you should consider replacing the whole roof. Stay well, DP!
How old was your roof, by the way? If it’s not the flashing, the age is the more probable cause of the leak problem. If that happens to be the case, there would’ve been no better option than a replacement. In any case, the flashing looks tightly secured in the later photos. I hope it worked!
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