Need some help---- This condition is where the gutter installer has destroyed the drip edge to make it easier for them to get the gutter under the drip edge, see attached photos. I do home warranty and final inspection on new construction in Florida and need a document that builder cannot refute. If you have any information on this subject matter and would like to share it would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance.
Did this in roofing as well but haven’t gotten much back yet
I guess this is fairly common, but ain’t right. The gutter installers did exactly the same thing on my own house, but I got half of my money back when I brought this up to the owner of the company. Kind of hard to replace the drip edge now, and that cut will have be dealt with immediately. Sorry I don’t have anything official to point you to…just piss poor workmanship.
Hi Roy! It makes common sense not to destroy the drip edge (cut, pull, mangle etc) What I am looking for is a white paper of sorts that states that this is not the standard in the industry (if you will) to do. I once had one but I can’t seem to locate it now (sux getting old) and have searched internet but cannot seem to locate a referral paper to this subject matter. Track builders typically want some sort of “verification” if you will for defects that inspectors point out. Thanks for your interest.
I am going away in a few minutes to go camping Fred, but I have what you are looking for…somewhere. It is in the building code, something to the effect of, “Gutters shall be installed in a manner where no damage to the drip edge metal occurs”.
I’ll skip over the usual nonsense, here is the relevant part.
What is the minimum lap for the drip edge? Is the drip edge required to be primed and sealed at the lap?
First, let’s start with the minimum lap of the drip edge.
In Florida the minimum lap for drip edge is 3", and that is just that - a “lap”.
Once the vertical face of the drip edge is cut, the “lap” is gone, caput, there is no “lap”.
I typically see two types of cuts at gutter spikes: 1) as shown in the photo; 2) as you describe and for the reason you describe.
However, either of those cuts would require another piece of drip edge to be installed over the cut, which would defeat the purpose of cutting the initial drip edge.
What the building officials here (in this part of Florida) have decided is that if the roofer is going to cut the drip edge and destroy it without a lap at the cut, then the roofers will be required to seal each and every ‘non-lap’ with a good quality sealant so that no water can enter at the ‘non-lap’ cuts.
After a roofer gets through going around a roof and sealing all of the cuts up, the next roof they do they find a way to remove the gutter spikes, install new drip edge uncut, drive new gutter spikes through the drip edge, squeezing sealant on the end of the gutter spikes so the holes the gutter spikes create are now sealed. The preferred option is, of course, to install the gutters without mutilating the drip edge.
The other places where the drip edge is mutilated are: at outside corners; inside corners; where the gutters end and the drip edge continues. ALL those areas now have to be sealed up.
Some areas of Florida (HVHZ - High Velocity Hurricane Zone, i.e., Miami-Dade and Broward counties) require the drip edge laps be primed and sealed.
Also, regarding plastic roof cement at the drip edge, if the drip edge is placed over the underlayment (as required for much of the state due to wind speeds), then either a bed of plastic roof cement is laid down and the drip edge placed in it (the old way and it works better), or, the drip edge is nailed down and then a 4" wide bed of plastic roof cement is applied over the joint so water will not leak between the underlayment and the drip edge.
Here (most of Florida) the drip edge is installed over the underlayment as that is the primary and first restraint to retain the roof covering down during a high wind event (hurricane). When the drip edge is under the underlayment, the wind can peel the entire roof covering off in one large sheet simply be getting in under the bottom of the underlayment and peeling the underlayment back, which takes all the shingles with it. That is an advantage of peel-n-stick underlayment - it sticks down and it ain’t comin’ up without the roof sheathing too. Of course, when it comes time to re-roof … the peel-n-stick is not going to come up then either
Hey builder you need to send your gutter guy a backcharge. They are normally really good at that and the gutter guy will not be able to do nothing about it.
Where in Florida are you going camping? …spent many night in the Ocala national forest and many, many nights on spoil islands on the ICW between ponce inlet and mosquito lagoon
This was supposed to be the most “rustic” site on the tour. We have several more trips planned including Camp Wilderness in Disney for our sons birthday.
That should be a little less “rustic”!
