What the Job Involved
- Problem:
- Leaking every winter for almost ten years, heavy ice dam and icicle buildup, rotted framing and deck. Root cause: kitchen heat and moisture trapped in an unvented attic
- Work performed:
- Full section tear-off, framing shored and resecured, new 3/4" CDX plywood deck, new insulation, new hip vent cut in, ice and water shield, drip edge, pipe boots, matching shingles, all new shingles hand-sealed
- Time on the roof:
- One full day
- Cost:
- Around $2,600
- Warranty:
- 15 years
- Status:
- Five years old, no leaks, ice damming resolved
How It Went
This is a rental property. The landlord had a leak in this section of roof that came back every winter for almost ten years. His handyman had been up there several times trying to stop it. Every attempt failed, because every attempt was aimed at the roof, and the roof wasn't the problem.
The problem was under it. There's a kitchen directly below this section, and it was pumping heat and moisture up into an attic space with no real ventilation. That warm, wet air sat against the underside of the roof deck all winter. It melted the snow from below, refroze it at the eave into ice dams, and rotted the deck and the framing from the inside out. You can patch shingles over that forever and it will keep leaking.
By the time we got there the framing members and roof deck in this area were too far gone to save. We removed the entire section, shored up the framing, resecured it, and installed new three-quarter inch CDX plywood, sized to sit flush with the existing 1x board deck it tied into. We pulled out the rotted, saturated insulation and put in new. Then we cut in a new hip vent so the attic could finally breathe.
From there it was a proper rebuild: new ice and water shield, drip edge, pipe boots, and shingles matched to the existing roof. New hip vent, new cap shingles, and every new shingle hand-sealed to the shingles around it.
That was five years ago. No leaks since. The ice dams and icicles that used to build up on this corner every winter are gone. One day of work, about $2,600, fifteen-year warranty.
How This Hip Roof Rebuild Job Was Done
- 1The hip roof as we found it, shingles still on.
- 2Tear-off reveals plank decking underneath — original to the building, and no longer sound.
- 3The failed boards come out completely. Patching over this would have put a new roof on a rotten base.
- 4New sheathing across the whole hip — a flat, continuous surface where there were gapped planks.
- 5Shingles go on over the new deck, working up from the eave.
- 6The finished hip — clean lines, tight ridges, and a deck underneath that will hold them.
