I don't know if this is in the correct category, but it was the closest I could find. I (and several friends) are in the process of cleaning up and making repairs to an 1890s house, and we have already made several. A leaky roof is one of the repairs that still needs to be done, but it is a tricky repair, and I'm not sure what needs to be done. The original part of the house has an A-frame roof, and the "newer" part of the house (1960-ish) has a slanted roof that meets the A-frame, causing a "valley" to form. This "valley" does not drain properly, thereby causing water to pool and leak. I don't know if that is fixable, or if we will just have to lose the room that is in the "newer" part of the house. Any suggestions on how to fix the roof sections that meet?

There may be no 'fix' without refeaming and re-roofing the valley if it was not properly framed or roofed originally.

The 'fix' may involve major structural change.

Unless you and your friends have professional level roofing skills, you'd best leave this part to professional contractors.

Oh, I fully intend to have a professional fix it; I just wanted to gauge what kind of repairs I was going to have to pay for. Thank you for the input.

Ray 70,
It sounds that by your description you don't have a valley, instead you have a shed roof attached to the gable end or running off of the main roof's sheathing . A "valley" occurs when the A-frame or hip roof of an addition, porch etc. intersects at a perpendicular angle to the roof of the original or main structure. The question is does your "new" roof tie in to the old roof system or is it attached to the house below the gable end (A-frame)? In either case, if the pooling and leaking occurs at the seam of connection some simple framing and sheathing and of course re-doing the flashing and some alteration to the roofing/siding effected should solve the problem. It'll probably take 1-2 days depending on the size of the addition.

"Ray70" appears to have similar problem to mine.

I have a newer (1957) house than Ray's, but have problem roof area where the slope adjacent to a wall appears to have negative back slope (in affect creating a "valley") about 1-1/2 feet before reaching edge of roof. Also, there is an opening at roof/wall joint.

[since original posting I checked pitch; it has positive down-hill pitch. The bulk of problem was most-likely due to debris. I did put some expandible foam in the broken wall section. Is there anything else to consider?]

I noticed during a recent heavy rain storm that water had pooled up enough to breach the top of the opening ultimately leaking down through the front-porch roof area and light fixture (not good).

My question is: can I (DIY) repair this by merely fixing the opening? Or, will I need to get a roof pro up there?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Steffinwolf,

Hi, I am kinda in the same boat I guess, I have just purchased my first home and after we move in there is a leak in the bathroom which is at the back of the house. It only leaks when it rain's really hard if it is lightly raining it does not leak. I have had two people try to fix it and one really new nothing on the roof and the other does it for a living, Neither one of them could get it fix could anyone help me before I have to pay for a major contracker to come out and bone me for money. some one plese help

To comment properly on all or any of these roof issues, we really need to either see the actual conditions, or to see photographs, or have extremely detailed descriptions of the roofs and the framing of them, plus decscriptions of flashings, etc.