Chimney Flashing

[Perd Hapley]

So I'm tearing off/re-roofing, hopefully this weekend.  The only thing that I can't figure out is, yes, chimney flashing.  Apparently, you need 75 different pieces of sheet metal, all custom made for your particular chimney?  Seriously?  Nobody's come up with a better way to do this? 

But apparently, you can have the pieces made for you by a metal shop or something?  Confused. 

[brimic]

My limited experience with this involved cutting, bending, and a lot of roofing tar.

[41magsnub]

My limited experience with this involved cutting, bending, and a lot of roofing tar.

Same here plus expanding foam in a can for the big gaps.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

if you want you can buy the four corner pieces  everything else can be made from step flashing  or roll flashing  lots of web help  and if all else fails this http://www.geocelusa.com/php/oic/product.php?prdb_product_id=8
a bit pricey 50 a gallon but you can get quarts. the trick on roof flashing seems counterintuitive  you leave the bottom edge of flashing open so water can be redirected out. i recently fixed a leak by cutting loose the sealant someone had misapplied

 i buy a hundred pieces of step flashing for a roof  more if it has extra features

[never_retreat]

Don't go cheap if you going to go through the work to re-flash a chimney. Use copper or lead do aluminum.

[Tuco]

It seems to me a trench coat and a ladder would be enough to get you started.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

i use the leftover scraps of ice shield under all my flashed areas can't hurt  i run it up on the protrusions and than flash over it

[Hawkmoon]

Is your chimney brick? If so, it should have the cap flashing (or, more correctly, the counterflashing) built into the joints in the masonry. When re-roofing, you carefully bend those up, but don't remove them. The base flashing is a series of 6" x 10" pieces of metal that get bent in half. Half lays on top of each course of shingle, the other half extends up against the side of the chimney. When the roof is finished, you carefully bend the counterflashing back down over the base flashing. There's nothing special about it. The stuff is in stock at Lowe's and Home Depot in aluminum, but copper or lead-coated copper is much better and will last a lot longer. Look for compatibility; if the counterflashing is aluminum, you can use aluminum for the base flashing. If the counterflashing is copper, use copper. Otherwise you'll have galvanic action (corrosion) that will destroy both the base and counterflashing and leave you with more serious problems.

[RaspberrySurprise]

It seems to me a trench coat and a ladder would be enough to get you started.

I don't think he wants his chimney to shatter into little pieces.