Q & A - Roofs and Party Walls

I had my roof done and now there's a leak near my neighbor's adjoining wall, what do I do?

Keith from Maryland asked, "Soon after I had a roof done I developed a leak near my neighbor's adjoining wall. The contractor said that the wind blew behind the siding. Now my neighbor says 'It is the roofer's fault that I hired. It never leaked before,' and won’t pay for the repair. What do I do?"

The property line on condos is very hard to assign responsibility, but without notification to the neighbor prior to the work being done was in my view, not wise, it could cost you this repair.

The photo you provided (photo not shown here), shows your lower roof and the party-wall and your neighbor’s upper roof. To do your roof, the roofer most likely did a tear-off and probably replaced the step flashings that go up under a moisture barrier that should be behind the vinyl lap siding. It looks to me, by the photo, that there is a J channel missing, that is typically installed on the bottom edge of the vinyl siding that should cover the step flashings. The disturbance of this area could have torn the wall moisture barrier that should be behind the siding, thus causing a leak. Replacing step flashing also can cause damage to this area because of nails being removed, pulling and stuffing things back together. The missing J channel could allow blowing rain to migrate inwardly causing moisture intrusion and missing or damaged moisture barrier on the wall could cause leaks at the wall you have described.

From the photo provided both roofs look good, so may I advise you have a third-party home inspector do an inspection and see what he finds is the cause of the leak. It can be argued that this is your side of the party-wall and since you did the roof that disturbed the wall ultimately it is your problem for you and your roofer to correct. Sorry for the bad news.

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