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A friend of mine is having a water problem; the water is coming down behind the gutter. It turns out the drip edge isn't covering up the gutter completely on the one side for a considerable length of the house, as the gutter slants downward. Is there a way to fix this? Is there a flashing you can use, or something else?

Note that this started happening after a recent replacement of a roof. I've included some pictures of what this looks like.

First Image Second Image Third Image Fourth Image Fifth Image

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  • Can you post a picture? – Steven Oct 7 '12 at 13:55
  • @Steven will try to do that. – Brian Mains Oct 8 '12 at 17:03
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    @Steven Posted some pictures. – Brian Mains Oct 16 '12 at 0:09
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    First rule of roofing, you slope down to the edge of the roof. When you have standing water on your shingles, they screwed up. Some roofer owes you a refund, and you should hire someone more competent to fix it. – BMitch♦ Oct 16 '12 at 1:44
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    Look at those pics and you can see water collecting on the white edge just below the shingles. This is because the slow moving water is simply seeping down around the shingle and catching the edge below it. The whole point of a drip edge it that it extends out over the gutter's opening, at a point lower than the surface beneath, so water collects on that edge and drips down into the gutter. Your "drip edge" isn't dripping, it's running off... – The Evil Greebo Oct 16 '12 at 11:54
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Carefully raise the lowest shingles on the roof line. Slip an additional shingle in under those shingles - install them oriented so the normally top edge of the shingle is the bottom edge (but make sure they stay face up).

Nail in place as high up as you can close to the layer of shingles above, leaving a 1" over hang over the gutter to create a new drip edge. Install using proper roofing nails.

Run a 3/8" bead of roofing caulk (black tar like substance) along the top edge of that new layer of shingles, then lay the old layer of shingles back down on top of the new drip edge.

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  • "then lay the old layer of shingles back down on top of the new drip edge" - you mean the new shingles row? Do you mean this new row acts like a drip edge? – Brian Mains Oct 8 '12 at 17:02
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    Exactly - the idea is to put the new row of shingles under the existing row, with a proper overhang. The old shingles lay on the new shingles, water runs from the old onto the new, and then into the gutter. – The Evil Greebo Oct 8 '12 at 17:06
  • I updated with some pictures. – Brian Mains Oct 16 '12 at 0:11
  • Yeah, the first row is way too high up. You don't even HAVE a drip edge in places. – The Evil Greebo Oct 16 '12 at 1:47
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Is the water running down the roof not going into the gutter, and instead flowing behind the gutter? If so, then there is a problem with the gutter and/or flashing installation. In addition to the drip flashing, you should check that the gutters are properly affixed. They should be sloped toward the downspouts, but are they securely attached to the fascia board? The fascia board could be rotted, and the gutter hangers unable to hold the gutters firmly against the building. (This is the sort of problem that rapidly gets worse, as the more the fascia board is exposed to water, the more it rots, letting the gutter hangers fail.)

Alternatively, if the gutters are overflowing and draining toward the house instead of down the downspouts, then you probably just need to clean the gutters so they can drain properly.

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  • I should have also noted this was after a recent roof replacement too. Thanks – Brian Mains Oct 8 '12 at 12:14
  • OK. In that case, they might have simply installed the first course of shingles too high up, and a repair like what Greebo suggested would address this. – Shimon Rura Oct 8 '12 at 16:02
  • updated with some pictures. – Brian Mains Oct 16 '12 at 0:10
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Same thing happened to me. 1yr old roof. In the off season (late fall) I had window caulked a 1" cut strip of vinyl gutter material with a curved edge in where the shingles were turning up and the drip edge was lacking.

Once spring came I replaced the bottom course (very time consuming) and used proper asphalt caulk/nails to tack it down. Now looking for a good soffit contractor since mine are now dry-rotten...

Best advice I can give is to put on a rain coat and go out in the rain or have a buddy lightly hose roof edge. You have to see where the water is going to see just how far the water goes. I also used my garage stethoscope since the drips can be heard inside when they hit the soffit.

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