An old poem tells of a progression of events leading to a lost battle that begins from the lack of a nail. The lesson is that from humble beginnings a huge disaster may be set.
There is much truth in that logic.
Walking the exterior of a single story ranch house recently, I noticed staining on a window frame. Probing the wood around the window confirmed what I initially suspected, the wood was decaying. Wood decay occurs from repeated and prolonged wetting of the wood. Also if the area has little ability to dry, it exacerbates the condition.
This particular point on the house was well shaded. There were several large pine trees a few feet from the house with branches over hanging the roof.
Ascending the roof I scrutinized the section above the this window. The seam between the main roof and the siding of the little addition, actually an old enclosed porch that had been finished, had clearly been a point of interest for past repair attempts. The stains and remains of roofing tar were evident on the aluminum sheet that had been formed into a section of cladding. It was loose with a combination of pine needles and clumps of moss covering the seam at the roof. The gutter was also loaded up with pine needles.
These issues were not the root cause for the window frame wood decay, but are not helping the situation. What can be seen above the window in the photo is the gutter. Not all the water flowing to this gutter will be captured and go out the down spout. That is because something is missing. A simple piece of flashing that in my experience is usually absent in these areas where a roof and siding seam meet a gutter.
A kick out or diverter flashing is a small, but important detail that is so often left out. The end result of leaving out this little piece of metal is apparent from the condition of the window.
For want of a piece of metal a window was lost.
Comments(6)