# How to fix gap under edge shingle and drip edge



## mf123 (Dec 16, 2018)

There is a gap under my edge shingles and the drip edge along the gutter and water is running back under there. Can I run a bead of caulk/sealant on top of the drip edge and squish the shingles down onto it? Or will that trap water behind it? Thanks


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## Nealtw (Jun 22, 2017)

You want to be really sure the water isn't coming from higher up on the roof.


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## mf123 (Dec 16, 2018)

Or it would trap the water coming from the top then correct?


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## carpdad (Oct 11, 2010)

Not sure what you mean. Is this low slope roof? Fair slope and shingles, you should not have any gap, or wait a bit and see if the shingles settle down. It's not a good idea to seal any under side of the roof shingles. It is the drain side. You may want to slip in narrow pieces of new shingle to widen the overhang from the drip edge, or if you're talking about water streaming over the wood facia, you will have to protect the wood. There is no such thing as totally draining drip edge away from the facia. Gutter itself can be a problem.


If this is low slope roof, you need to seal any gap. Low slope roof does not depend on gravity to shed water. Low slope roof means 100% seal.


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## mf123 (Dec 16, 2018)

It’s a low pitched roof. About as low as you can get and still shingle according to the roofer. The end shingles along the gutter can be lifted up without any effort and the top of drip edge is exposed and wet. Water is dripping down the inside of the fascia board and down onto the soffit. I thought maybe some caulk would keep the water from getting under the end shingles but I don’t want to trap any water coming from under any rows above.


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## PatChap (Nov 17, 2012)

Take a pic? From a bit further back so we can see how low pitch. 
If you do try sealing the shingles to the drip edge use roof cement. Its a common application used in high wind zones


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## mf123 (Dec 16, 2018)

Ill try to get pictures tonight if it’s not dark. My only concern is blocking any water that would be under the shingle from higher up the roof for some reason. It would have no way to escape over the drip edge if I have a bead a cement along the top of the drip edge. If it comes to sealing them down, I guess just use small globs and leave plenty of unsealed length of drip edge for water to escape.


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## Yodaman (Mar 9, 2015)

mf123 said:


> Ill try to get pictures tonight if it’s not dark. My only concern is blocking any water that would be under the shingle from higher up the roof for some reason. It would have no way to escape over the drip edge if I have a bead a cement along the top of the drip edge. If it comes to sealing them down, I guess just use small globs and leave plenty of unsealed length of drip edge for water to escape.





If you do this, place a quarter size dollop every few inches. Do not run a continues bead or you will make matters worse.


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## Nealtw (Jun 22, 2017)

Can you tell if the drip edge is under the underlayment or on top of it.


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## mf123 (Dec 16, 2018)

Got home after dark. I am pretty sure the drip edge is on top of the ice and water shield and it stops at the sheeting. There’s a knothole in the top of the my fascia board so when I look from inside the soffit I can see the backside of the drip edge and the bottom edge of the sheeting but no water and ice wrapped around behind it like the photo posted above.


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## Nealtw (Jun 22, 2017)

So you have non of the four choices above and you would have been better off with out it. 
If you can get to and remove the nails you could remove it and extend the underlayment down or if you can lift the shingles enough to put a tape over the edge while it is still in place.


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## carpdad (Oct 11, 2010)

There is a program for smartphones that gets you the roof slope/pitch. Search the videos on how to. Minimum for a shingle roof is 3:12. That describes a triangle, where it's 3 units height for every 12 units of base. As noted, 3:12 could be vulnerable where the rain is driven by strong wind. Your roofer may have fudged on the slope. Every now and then, we see posters whose shingle roof pitch is too low, but the "pro" roofed it anyway. Sometimes this is the choice with extra protection underneath, but the evidence of ice shield alone doesn't mean it.



Your shingles at the edge, starter and the first row, also may be cut too close or even with the drip edge. Then water would follow the materials and drain over your facia. This is because water has a surface tension. You can fix this by adding a starter under the existing and leaving min 1" overhang. My old house shingles, done many years ago, had about 4" overhang and allowed to droop over the gutter. Didn't look good, but it is a choice. The homedepot roofers followed it. I had to cut it all back for the guards.


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