Well I’m visiting my mom for Christmas vacation. I got in the day before Christmas Eve and as I was unpacking my suitcase my mom told my brother to bring some towels into our room. The roof leak that I had fixed five years ago, was starting to leak again.
I thought to myself that can’t be good. I thought I sealed that up pretty well. As it turned out, there was a leaking vent pipe at that time. The pipe was cracked up in the attic. I patched the crack five years ago and that’s what puzzles me.
The next morning over breakfast I wondered what could be wrong. Then it occurred to me that there was probably a common problem that I had seen many times during home inspections.
The problem is a cracked boot at the vent jack flashing. It’s a small rubber boot that creates a seal between the plastic plumbing vent pipes that most houses have sticking through the roof shingles.
Over the years, towards the end of the roofs life, they will frequently crack.
The next morning I got up and sure enough I could see it from the ground. I asked my brother what to do about this? Do you want me to just put a bunch of caulk on it, or replace the flashing? He said they actually make a kit to repair that you just slide it pipe. I said wow! I didn’t even know about that. Disclaimer: my brother used to be a Home Depot employee.
So that afternoon off to Home Depot I went to buy a kit. And then up on the roof with a little bit of extra caulk. wallah, it was fixed.
It’s really an easy kit to install and the kit that is manufactured by a company called Perma-Boot. It’s really is easy to install and it cost less than $20. so to make a long story short, the leak is fixed and my mom is happy.