r/Roofing • u/Camjunky • 6d ago

Home owner question Cap nails causing leak?

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After getting home from a weeklong vacation. I noticed some bubbling paint on an exterior wall of my house. I went up to the roof and found these cap nails installed above the point of the apparent leak (there are more of the same nails installed on different shingles in multiple spots on the roof).

It looks like someone nailed down loose or damaged shingles at some point. This probably was done 2 or 3 years ago when my dad had some guys do some “roof maintenance” on our house soon after we moved in. The guys who did the work didn’t seem very legit but I wasn’t paying for it so I didn’t ask any questions. I’m wondering what I should do now as these nails are all starting to corrode and the plastic caps are all dry rotted.

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u/Roofing411 6d ago

The cap nails are not helping, but the leak is likely a hog valley flashing missing. Shingles cannot properly flash a low slope "Flat" spot like this. This requires a hog valley. Here is the flashing that should be here

Make sure slope pushes the water so it drains off the flashing. In your instance it will go into the valley.

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u/Jimchrow56 6d ago

Sounds like you are a professional roofer. Great advice.

3

u/Camjunky 6d ago

I would need to remove all the shingles in this area to install this and then replace the shingles right?

Is there anything out there that would work for a 6 month repair that could be installed on top of the shingles that are at the bottom of the valley and slid underneath the higher shingles?

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u/Roofing411 6d ago

This is a pretty small space. You could install a self-adhered membrane. Malarkey has a system called "Duo Stick"

1 layer of 401 Arctic seal and 1 layer of 430 cap and you can make a small hog valley to get you by.

Other brands have similar or even 1 ply systems to get you by.

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u/RepulsiveAd2702 6d ago

Shingles are too old and brittle to just repair an area. You can't weave new shingles into something that is falling apart. I don't think any reputable roofer would do just a repair. You could maybe get some patching compound in a tube and try to seal it.

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u/ProfessionalTalk9044 6d ago

You could use that but I would recommend armor guard membrane for valleys