Expert: Brad Zacharia - 7/8/2009

Question
How much added protection does snow guard give? Do you you like this product?
It is for an angle between a sloping asphalt shingle roof and a vertical dormer wall(gable).It has always been a problem over the years. I want to be 99% sure it wont leak again for the next 30 years or so.I want metal flashing, snow guard, and a gutter laid on the roof surface to carry the dormer (gable) runoff into the main gutter on the sloping roof edge. The way it's designed now, the dormer runoff flows right on the slope surface in this angle.
Wooden roofing structures next to verical masonry walls are always a problen, arent they?  I look at for example at chimneys, and how people do every inaginable thing to water proof them! Some of them are covered with tar, which looks just great, and others are sloppily flashed with tar on the angle.Beautiful house, lawn and hideous chimney!
So that is why Im being a stickler about this.,


Answer
Ice and Water Shield is for roofs that get snow. If you don't get snow it's not needed. The lower the slope the more important it is. Roofs, when done right, do not leak.

I don't know why wooden roofs dripping onto masonry walls are a problem. Wouldn't it still rain on the wall? If the wall does not have hole in it is shouldn't leak.

Yes, many roofers and handymen don't know how to do flashing, chimneys, etc.

Brad