I have a question about a leaking valley with ice build up? My question is what options do I have for a fix when this spring.

I'm not a roofer, but I bet the ice will melt in the spring.

FlyinFinn >>>> any way I'm hoping we finally get warm enough weather for ice to melt. LOL

What type of roof?

Tear off and reshingle if you have shingles

betting the valley flashing has a hole or two.
what wwc said

Asphalt singles. It is a newer home my son has and it has 3 different levels of roof and where all three come together is where it is leaking in the garage. It also is on the north side and is shaded most of the time but other parts of the roof melt and all run to that spot. It is a melt freeze type event and stops where the sun doesn't hit it to melt it. The home is 5 years old and the first he has seen of it leaking.

Since there's ice it's probably backing up under the shingles. Get rid of the ice you might get rid of the leak.

Shovel off any snow that is insulating the ice from the ambient temps. That way the water will run off as it is supposed to.
The leak is most likely from heat escaping up through the roof and melting the ice, water will take the path of least resistance even up under the shingles when it cant flow down.
Once it is melted off check the flashing. Most times some good tar based patching will fix everything right up.

Appreciate the advise and will call my son and let him know it isn't the end of the world.

Thanks

throw 50 lb bag of softner salt on it

Strip down and put a good quality Ice shield in the valley and re shingle If you are not familiar with it it is a peel and stick to the plywood ,Good product.

You could try removing the shingles and putting a ice and water shield down. Poor design, may have to put warming cords to melt the ice dam.

Exactly....designed to seal around any nail used to attach shingles/flashings. You can also string out a heated wire in the valley and plug that in if it starts to ice dam. They make heated wires for gutters, use those.

^ Wow never heard of such a thing before. That is what I was hoping to see what new product is out there for valleys. I have helped on a few roofs and we would flash the valley then double shingle through the valley. That seemed to work fine. Of course some mostly will take a short cut on the most critical part of the roof.

Thank for the great advise.

Any commercial roofing supply will have Ice and Water Shield adhesive underlayment. I used it a lot in Vermont back in the late 80's for critical areas under wood shake's.

Self-sealing adhesive membrane (Ice and Water Shield) is not new. It's been around for many years and it's a code violation not to use it in valleys and on overhangs in my neck of the woods.

It's going to be a lot of work to tear those shingles off, put the proper underlayment down and reshingle that valley. I suggest useing the heating cable as some have suggested above. Used properly it will eliminate ice-damming.

Is he the original owner?!? I’d be calling my builder on a 5yr old house that apparently didn’t get ice and water shield membrane applied. I see a lot of black jack sealant used instead of proper flashing. . It lasts about 5yrs if you are lucky.

Marty beat me to the punch.

I think it's code everywhere now. I've always used it, even before it was code. Have never had an issue.

It's hard to say without being there to see it. I would be surprised if there wasn't weather shield under the valley it's been code here a long time already. I've seen some house designs that you can see there could be problems with heavy snows. If it's not to steep and walkable get as much snow as you can off , your better off if you just skim the shovel over the shingles so you don't damage the granules.

Have you been in the attic to make sure that's where it's leaking? Water doesn't always come out directly below where it comes in sometimes it can be quite a ways away , it leaks down into the vapor barrier above the ceiling and comes out where there is a splice in the plastic or around ceiling lights. If there are any roof louvers they are notorious for having snow blow into them too.

It very well could be the valley and it's melted and backed up underneath. Usually newer homes aren't as bad for ice dams as older homes as a general rule.

I'd help but I'm from MN

If there is an ice dam it could have backed up beyond the Ice and Water Shield underlayment. Its 36" wide and it could have been installed lengthwise.....so 18" on either side of the valley center. That may not be enough but it would depend on the roof pitch and ice conditions.

It's code on lower part, valleys too?

That.

Yup. What do we know?

Osky

Without a pic it sounds like you have several valleys that meet. Sounds like the framer should have built a "cricket" which would help the water flow away before backing up under the W&I barrier. They are seldom shown on the print, but need to be installed regardless.

And that's why you NEVER put on a roof with out felt. (tar paper)

Felt won't stop leaks from ice-damming.

Thanks again for the help. I actually can't remember what his roof looks like myself. He just told me it is leaking from where all three roofs meet. Some of that roof on the north side never sees sun in the winter. He did call me today and said it didn't leak today. This summer we will have to take care of it.

A lot of asphalt roof leaks are the result of improper attic ventilation. Warm air, trapped in ridges, under where valleys meet, is a major enemy of shingles. Heat loss into an attic should be kept as low as possible. Ventilation helps to overcome this problem, by eliminating melting at the roofing under layment membranes. Ice melt should occur on the exterior surface, not at the underside of ice buildup. The perfect, but almost impossibly achievable attic temp. , is the same as the ambient temperature!

The only thing felt paper does is to prevent the shingles from adhering to the roof sheathing. Weather guard or similar product is the way to go. If your contractor is relying on roofing felt to prevent leaks then I suggest you get a different contractor.

Ice and water shields do a very good job of doing what they are supposed to. The main drawback to them appears later for whoever is doing the reroofing . Depending on the product used tear off can be a nightmare as the top half of the shingle that is in contact with the weather shield often adhears to it and won't come off. Same thing with the weather shield once it's applied it's not coming back off.

hrdtoflw nailed the main problem with most ice dams. It's usually a combination of not enough ventilation or not enough insulation or a combination of the two.

Water/ice that gets up under the shingles is sloughed off by the felt, and it's your last ditch protection from losing a few shingles in a storm.

Expensive, but worth every penny. Every edge and valley. That’s code now here.

That is absolutely untrue. The only thing felt paper does is act a temporary barrier. Felt paper is so riddled with holes by the end of a roofing job that it might as well be a sieve.
(Well, maybe I shouldn't be so harsh in saying it does nothing. It can certainly help.)

There are so many misconceptions in roofing that it will make your head spin. There is a local company near me that advertising their roofing expertise, but they are nothing but a total joke......yet they do more roofs by a long shot than anyone else.
I've been on a large project for years where they put on a new shingled roof about 7 years ago. It has leaked in multiple places from the beginning and every time we find a fix a leak you just have to shake your head.

It is very common for people to turn a shingle upside down around here for a starter shingle. I've seen it time and time again. That technique is totally worthless for its intended purpose.

I've seen step flashing against the structure that wasn't bent up the wall at all. Every piece was just a flat piece of metal laid on top the shingle and nailed. Again, totally worthless.

I've seen roof vent material installed without ever cutting a vent in the plywood.

My buddy's roof just lost a bunch of shingles today in the wind we're having. It was installed last summer by a local contractor. The nails were shot 6" above the nail line and overdriven.

I had a guy help me on a roof who had done "a bunch of roofs" in the past. He was in his 50s I'd guess. We put coil stock in the valley and then ice/water over that. Ice/water is a great material when laid flat, but if you crease it, it can tear very easily. The valley material was installed and he was putting the NOVA seal underlayment across the roof and into the valley. He was about half way up the valley when I noticed he was nailing within 2" of the center of the valley. Total nonsense.
We had some words. He said he always did it like that and couldn't see things my way. I paid him for the day and told him not to come back.

Bottom line is you have no idea what the problem is going to be until you get into it. Lots of roofers don't know what they are doing, but it's something that every entry level construction worker thinks he can do.

How would a shingle adhere to the sheathing?

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How would a shingle adhere to the sheathing? [/quote]

Underlayment (felt/tar paper) acts as an insulator of sorts and helps the asphalt that leaches out of the shingle stay in the shingle and not leach into the wood decking. Shingles get really, really hot from the sun. I've had white marks on the hands more then once from leaving tools sitting on the shingles for an extended time. So many people think they can do roofing. So many people are wrong. What kind of warranty did the contractor give on the new roof??? Taillight warranty?? Most do, If they wont cover it for at least 1/2 the expected life of the shingle then give them the taillight salute.

Looks good from the ground....

27 years ago my business covered these steeples with triple lock standing seam lead coated copper...it was stone and the acid rain was deteriorating the mortar/stone so it had to be pointed periodically and chunks of stone were falling off once in a while..... I told them a lead coated copper roof would last forever and they would be done with it if they had me do it. As far as I know every piece of copper we put on has stayed in place....

Foghorn says, I say, I say, boy, I am not going up there!!!

Does the lead and copper screw up cell phone reception?

Its like a big tin foil hat for the church....

Believe it or not there were no cell phones when that job was done.

Now that's a roofing job !

Lol you got that right. A church in a neighboring town had a steeple similar to that but it had shingles on it . I was riding by it with my boss at that time and I noticed the shingles were looking rough. I told him you bid that thing you are going to be doing it without me. I'm not terribly afraid of heights but that thing made me pucker up.