Responsibility: flashing on my side of neighbor's chimney flashing causing leak

jjnoonan: my mom currently has a leak in her house. i told her to proceed this way: open the ceiling and see if she can see where the leak is coming from. she did not do that. She had it repaired and this by a highly regarded contractor (no, not me). and a week later she called me and said it is still leaking. now she is proceeding the way i suggested and opening the ceiling.

stevecym

in General Discussion 6 years ago

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jjnoonan | 6 years ago

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The flashing on my side of my neighbor’s chimney is causing a leak in the top floor of my house. See the attached picture and note my building is an extra ~1/2 story taller than the neighbor’s as we’re on the corner at the end of the row.

I’m guessing it will require re-flashing (or a temporary fix of re-tarring) around the base of the chimney, replacing a sizable portion of drywall, repainting, etc.

I’m wondering who is responsible for the issue / fix, given it’s on my parapet and my side of the chimney, but ultimately their chimney.

Thanks!

[chimney-flashing-leak](//muut.com/u/brownstoner/s3/:brownstoner:SfpZ:leak.png.jpg)

stevecym | 6 years ago

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OP; i tried to open the image and could not. i also held back here waiting to see what others would say in case any have been through what you describe or know of a way to legally determine what you ask.

this is my take on this: just as a roof membrane and flashing sits on one side of a parapit, you have the same sitting on your side of a chimney (someone else’s chimney). i do not think it would matter that it is their chimney, they will claim it is your roof membrane and will probably push that to include the flashing. that is my guess, anyway.

i just went through a repair on a common chimney here (shared chimney with two dedicated flues inside it). i went ahead and took care of the problem myself even though i have a shared responsibility with my neighbor. sometimes it is just easier to deal with it, especially if it protects the inside of your house. had i not dealt with the chimney here when I did, both of us would have eventually had a water problem inside our houses which would have cost me more than my neighbor’s share of the repair anyway.

jjnoonan | 6 years ago

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@stevecym thanks for the reply and sharing your experience. The owner of my neighboring building is a large rental corp / REIT. I’m contacting them to understand their point of view. Regardless, I might end up needing to do the work myself and was curious if other folks had similar experiences.

I’m uploading the image again, although I’m not sure it adds much. For additional context: It’s taken while standing on my roof, looking at my (our?) parapet and their chimney coming through it. The leak is coming through the near left side of the flashing where you see some grey roofing tar? that’s worn away over time. The flashing around my chimneys on the opposite side of the roof was done differently (or more recently) and in a much cleaner fashion.

[Chimney-flashing-leak](//muut.com/u/brownstoner/s3/:brownstoner:jMZn:chimneyflashingleak.jpg.jpg)

stevecym | 6 years ago

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that capping already looks like a mess there and i am not sure you will want to get into a proper flashing job. if you cut into their chimney to place flashing, they might blame you if there is a problem with the chimney later.

this is what i think would work at least as a stop gap measure and i have done it in the past:

take wide fibreglass mesh, the kind used on drywall, and get some karnack 19 roofing cement and run some on with a wide putty knife, 4″ on the brick, down over the seem and another 3″ below that. set the fiberglass mesh into the cement and then put another pass over it with the karnack 19.

this should close the situation well enough for you to learn if that is the spot that is leaking and the repair might last for years.

be advised i am not a roofer.

jjnoonan | 6 years ago

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Thanks @stevecym, I just used a lot of well placed duct tape to test if that was the source of the leak and it held up over the recent heavy rain, so problem area confirmed. Thanks for your more thorough recommendation, I’ll certainly consider it.

hkapstein | 6 years ago

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No harm in asking, but unless there’s something I’m missing here I can’t see why they would pay, and I doubt it’s worth getting lawyers over. I’d pick up a can of roofing cement and some fiberglass mesh and make a patch at least until you can get a roofer in there, although they might do that anyway. There’s plenty of videos on youtube how to do this. New flashing would be a better solution, but there maybe obstacles to that. The question is, do you repair the drywall without a solution you’re totally confident in? If you do and it leaks again, you’re back where you started. Tar(actually roofing cement) on a chimney can last a long time, but contractors will often tell you it won’t, and might be right, but they also have a job to sell you.

Unless you plan to redo the roof soon, I’d probably pay up and fix this issue well, before more damage occurs or mold grows in the ceiling. I once failed to get a roof replaced in time and and early snow prevented me from doin g it until spring. Every time there was snow on the roof it would melt in the sunlight and leak, but the roofers didn’t want to work on a snowy icy roof. Good luck.

stevecym | 6 years ago

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jjnoonan: the duct tape may not last long enough for something that has been taking on water for some time to dry out and not take on more water. i took the trouble to explain what i’ve done in the past and what unbanded above seems to think is a good idea, because really, it is as easy as finger painting and not much more money than 4 rolls of top quality duct tape. and as unbanded suggests, it might last for years even though roofers would say it is a temporary fix.

jjnoonan | 6 years ago

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Thanks @stevecym and @Urbandad i’ll take your advice and apply the fix you’re recommending next weekend.

You’re right that the bigger part I’m worried about is the drywall repair in a tenants apartment. Will open that up and take a look after more properly repairing the roof.