Almont Homes With Two Roofs in One: Repairing the Seams

Almont's small historic downtown sits along Van Dyke, near the Macomb County line, with older village homes on the streets around it. Out in Almont Township the lots get bigger and the houses range from farm homes to newer country builds. What many of them share is a roof that was not all put on at once. A back room, a mudroom, an attached garage or a second-story addition was roofed years after the original, sometimes by a different crew with different materials.

Why do leaks show up where an addition meets the house?

That joint is where two roofs of different ages, pitches and materials have to share water. If the new section was tied in with only a bead of sealant, or the flashing against the old wall was skipped, rain and snowmelt find the gap. Movement between the two structures over the years widens it.

There are a few common versions of this problem:

• A lower addition roof that butts into the wall of the main house, where step flashing or a kickout at the bottom is missing
• A new roof plane that ties into an old one at a valley, with mismatched shingles lapped over each other
• An addition with a lower pitch than the main roof, so water slows down and backs up at the joint
• Two layers of shingles on one section and one layer on the other, leaving an uneven transition

On older village homes, we sometimes find the addition roof was simply laid over the edge of the original shingles. It can look fine for years and then fail all at once after a hard freeze.

Each version leaves a different trail. A roof leak inspection traces it back from the stain inside to the spot on the roof, so the repair goes where the water actually gets in.

Does an older roof section get hit harder by storms?

Usually, yes. Shingles that have been on a roof longer have lost granules and flexibility, and their seal strips are weaker. In the same hailstorm or windstorm, the original section of an Almont house may show bruising, cracks or lifted tabs while the newer addition looks almost untouched. We inspect each section on its own terms. When the original roof has simply aged out, we can quote a full roof replacement that ties both sections together under one set of shingles.

That split matters for hail damage repair. Brittle older shingles crack under impacts that would only scuff newer ones. We note which slopes took damage and which did not, with photos of each, so the estimate reflects the actual roof rather than an average of it.

If you plan to file a storm claim, that documentation goes to you. You talk with your insurer and decide how to proceed; we can be there during the adjuster's visit if you want a second set of eyes on the roof. Our insurance claims page explains what we do and do not do.

What about winter on a roof built in stages?

Winter exposes the low spots. Where an addition's roof meets a taller wall or runs into a valley, snow drifts and piles up. When the attic warms it from below, meltwater runs down, freezes again along the eaves and builds an ice dam. Water then backs up under shingles right at the seam you were already worried about.

Additions also tend to have their own attic space, or none at all, with ventilation that was never connected to the main house. A cathedral ceiling in a family room addition can run warm enough to make ice dams worse. If a leak appears mid-winter, temporary roof sealing can stop it until the roof is dry enough for a lasting fix.

Clearing gutters on both sections before the first hard freeze helps, and so does checking that the drip edge on the addition directs water into the gutter rather than behind it.

Around Almont

Our work in the southeast corner of the county extends north along Van Dyke to Imlay City and west to Dryden.

Have an addition that has never quite stayed dry? Tell us where the stain is and we will start there.

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