Drainage + detail · CT · ME · MA · NH · RI · VT
A perfectly installed shingle field still leaks if the chimney flashing is wrong. Most homeowners think of gutters and flashing as accessories — they’re actually where 70% of all roof problems begin. We treat them as primary, not afterthought.
GAF Master Elite · CertainTeed SELECT ShingleMaster · Owens Corning Platinum · Lifetime Workmanship Warranty
The hidden 70%
The shingles on a roof are visible, branded, marketed, and warrantied. Flashing is invisible until it fails. Guess which one a sales-driven roofer cuts corners on. The most expensive material in a typical asphalt-shingle replacement, per linear foot, is the copper step flashing — and it’s also the first thing a bid roofer will substitute with painted aluminum to win on price.
We don’t substitute. Every roof we install gets full copper drip edge, copper step flashing at every roof-to-wall junction, copper or proper galvanized chimney flashing, and welded or properly soldered seams at every termination. The cost difference over the life of the roof is roughly the cost of one repair call ten years from now — for a problem you’ll never have.
Every eave and rake. Catches the water at the edge of the deck and directs it cleanly into the gutter. Aluminum drip edge oxidizes; vinyl warps; only copper lasts the life of the roof.
At every roof-to-wall junction, every dormer, every chimney side. One piece of flashing per course of shingles, properly lapped, never substituted with continuous “L-flashing” (which is the #1 cause of slow-leak interior staining).
Properly stepped base flashing, counter-flashing cut into the mortar joint (not surface-mounted with caulk), and a cricket — a small saddle behind any chimney wider than 24 inches that diverts water around instead of dumming up behind it.
Open-valley copper or closed-cut valley with ice-and-water shield underlayment. Open copper valleys on premium roofs add 20+ years of service over closed-cut asphalt valleys. Required on any pitch under 4:12 in our spec.
Half-round 6″ or 7″ seamless copper gutters with cast bronze brackets. 75+ year service life, develop the same green patina as a copper roof, and don’t kink at the corners the way K-style aluminum eventually does. The premium NE choice for historic and architecturally significant homes.
Heavy-gauge .032 aluminum, K-style 5″ or 6″, baked-enamel finish in 20+ colors. 25–40 year service life. The workhorse choice for asphalt-shingle homes. We size for the actual roof area being drained, not the wall length.
Process
STEP 01
We measure your existing roof’s flashing details — chimney width, dormer count, eave length, current valley type. We identify everything that needs to be reflashed and everything that’s still serviceable.
STEP 02
Written spec for every flashing detail. Copper vs aluminum line-itemed so you see the difference. No “flashing as included” hand-waving.
STEP 03
Flashing is installed BEFORE the shingles that overlap it. This is the difference between proper step flashing and continuous L-flashing. We never reverse this sequence.
STEP 04
Every flashing detail photographed before being covered. You get the photo package. Lifetime workmanship warranty covers every flashing we install.
Where most leaks actually come from
Question 01
Service life. Aluminum: 15-30 years before pin-hole corrosion. Copper: 75+ years — often longer than the roof itself. On a 30-year roof, copper costs $400-1,200 more and saves a leak repair 10 years sooner.
Question 02
A small ridged saddle behind a chimney that diverts water around instead of letting it pile up. Code requires one on chimneys over 30 inches wide; we install one on anything over 24 inches. Missing crickets cause about 30% of long-term chimney leak issues.
Question 03
Selectively. Micro-mesh systems work well for leaves/pine needles + let snowmelt through. Helmet-style hoods can fail under heavy ice-dam conditions. We install them as add-ons, but honest answer: good twice-a-year cleaning by a local service is usually more cost-effective.
Question 04
Because they’re substituting aluminum where copper belongs. The substitution is invisible at install. You won’t notice until 15-25 years later when it fails. We spec every flashing detail in writing so you can compare apples to apples.
After the detail work
“Three roofers said our chimney leak was from the brick mortar. They walked up there, identified that the previous flashing was continuous L-flashing (not step-flashed), and replaced everything in copper. No more leak in five years.”
L. Kessler · West Hartford, CT
Chimney flashing rebuild · 2020
“Half-round copper gutters on the 1920 colonial. They sourced cast bronze brackets to match the historical look. Two years in, the patina is developing beautifully. Premium investment but the right call for the house.”
G. Marchetti · Bristol, RI
Half-round copper gutters · 2023
“”What sold me was the quote itself — every flashing line itemed in copper vs aluminum so I could see what I was paying for. The cheap bids all had \”flashing as included.\” That\’s how they save money — by substituting.””
A. Iwakura · Newton, MA
Full re-flashing + gutters · 2024
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Next step
Photo-documented assessment. Itemized quote. We’ll tell you if repair makes more sense than replacement.
No high-pressure pitch · Walk-away friendly
Frequently asked
Service life. Aluminum flashing lasts 15–30 years before pin-hole corrosion begins. Copper flashing lasts 75+ years — typically longer than the roof itself, so it can often be reused at the next replacement. On a roof you plan to keep for 30+ years, copper costs about $400–$1,200 more than aluminum and saves a flashing repair ten years sooner. On a flip-and-sell, aluminum is fine.
A cricket is a small ridged saddle behind a chimney that diverts water and snow around the chimney instead of letting it pile up behind it. Code requires one on any chimney wider than 30 inches; we install one on anything wider than 24 inches because it dramatically reduces leak risk over time. A missing or improper cricket is one of the most common causes of long-term chimney-related interior damage.
We don’t do recurring residential gutter cleaning — there are local services who do that more efficiently. We do annual roof inspections that include cleaning the valleys and tops of gutters as part of the visit, and we recommend a separate gutter-cleaning service twice a year (spring + fall) for any home with mature trees nearby.
Selectively yes. The best NE-climate gutter guards are micro-mesh (e.g. RainPro, Gutter Helmet) that keep out leaves and pine needles but let snowmelt through. Helmet-style hoods can fail in heavy ice-dam conditions if the dam pushes ice up over the hood. We install gutter guards as an add-on, but we honestly tell most clients that good twice-a-year cleaning by a local service is more cost-effective than guards.
Yes — we can match aged copper by patina-treating new sections or by sourcing reclaimed material. For partial replacement of long-aged copper systems, we’ll always show you the patina mismatch up front; sometimes the right answer is replacing the whole run, and sometimes the small difference is fine.
Next step
Photo-documented assessment. Itemized quote. We’ll tell you if repair makes more sense than replacement.