What the Job Involved
- Problem:
- Cracked, UV-degraded pipe boot leaking at a plumbing vent; a prior sealant "repair" made it worse
- Work performed:
- Shingles removed around the vent, old boot removed, new pipe boot installed and sealed to manufacturer specifications, new shingles
- Cost:
- Around $500
- Warranty:
- 10 years
- Result:
- Leak permanently resolved
How It Went
Quick vocabulary, since you'll see this on your own roof. The white pipe is a drain-waste-vent pipe, usually just called a plumbing vent. The black rubber collar where it meets the shingles is a pipe boot, or vent pipe flashing. We call them pipe boots.
Here's the thing nobody tells you when you buy a 30, 40, or 50-year shingle: the shingle isn't the only thing on your roof. Rubber pipe boots take a beating from UV and weather, and after 10 to 15 years they dry out and crack, no matter what shingle is around them. Every roof needs a little maintenance at that mark. This is what it looks like when it doesn't get it.
The homeowner had already brought in a handyman to "repair the leak." He smeared brown sealant around the base of the boot and left. It didn't work. Sealant over a cracked boot doesn't fix the boot, it just traps water and hides the problem until it comes back.
We removed the shingles around the vent, pulled the old boot, installed a new one, and laid in new shingles, sealed and fastened to the manufacturer's specifications. Leak gone, permanently. Ten-year warranty.
Cost was about $500. The part worth remembering: the handyman charged the exact same $500. For a tube of caulk that made it worse.
How This Pipe Boot Replacement Job Was Done
- 1The failed boot. The base has rusted through and the staining around it shows where water has been running.
- 2Shingles come up around the penetration so the old boot can come out whole.
- 3The new boot is set with its flange flat on the deck, ready to be lapped by the courses above.
- 4Shingles go back over the flange so water is shed onto them, never against the pipe.
- 5Finished. Re-laid rather than caulked — sealant over a bad boot buys a season at best.
