So we used to have a metal roof on our back porch.  We put metal on because it has very little pitch.  This was when we first got the house back in late 70’s.  Then in 2000 we re-shingled the whole roof.  Huge job which included construction because we removed the metal and increased the pitch of the porch and shingled it all.

Fast forward to this spring.  I am now trying to stop a leak i can’t find in the “improved pitch” porch section.  See its better than it originally was but still not really enough.  When we get enough rain, say 1/4 inch or more, we get water dripping inside in one spot.  Not pouring in but say a couple quarts over the next day or so.  Enough to be quite annoying and it needs to stop, becuz water will destroy things. It’s been dripping for a few years and slowly getting a little worse.

So i go up and hey! look! there’s a staple showing and another spot where a tab is a little broken.  That must b it?  Patch.

Next rain, replay.  Hmmm.  go back up and cannot really see any obvious issues.  But there is a long valley where the porch roof meets my bedroom roof.  Now i had checked in the attic to see if the wet was under the flashing.  No, just above where the drip is.  Makes sense, except when on the topside i cannot see any defects that would let water in.  So next i seal the entire length of the flashing on the porch edge. The water must be getting in and traveling sideways right?  More rain, more drip.  Grrr.

So now i have been filling in the gaps between the shingle tabs.  So far i have done this three more times in an ever widening area more or less centered on the suspect location.  I stopped buying roof tar in the caulk tubes and bought a gallon container.

You can see here the long flashing, the suspect issues i started with, the center area where the fills look neat from the caulk tubes, and the widening area done with the putty knife and the gallon.  Dang i hope this does the trick.  I’ll keep you posted.