Roof flashing is a very important part of a house.
When working on paint colors, I have noticed that houses with newer roofs seem to have more flashing than houses with older roofing.
Roof flashing is now more noticeable than it used to be and that’s not good. I’m sure there are very good reasons for this change, but that doesn’t matter here.
What does matter is how this new flashing can negatively effect the appearance of your house and how you can easily fix the problem.
This additional flashing is referred to by roofers as a Drip Edge.
The roof flashing – drip edge can really help but notice how this white flashing looks out of place conflicting with the house colors.
Roof Gable Without Drip Edge Roof Flashing
On houses over 100 years old up until recently, the edge of an asphalt roof would extend outward about a half inch over the edge of the house. This is how it was everywhere on the house. Here we will focus on the gable fascia / gable rake (really the same thing) since it is more visible. The fascia on the lower parts of the roof (other than the gable) are usually covered up by a gutter.
Edge of asphalt roofing extends outward above top of bed mold trim. The decorative trim under the roof is not covered up with flashing. This is how it should be.
Notice in the image above that the end of an asphalt roof extends outward just a bit covering and protecting the wood beneath it, as it should. The wood beneath it is called the fascia board or rake of the gable (the fascia board is colored in blue in the image above).
On 95% of old homes a decorative trim called a Bed Mold is attached to the fascia board (the bed mold is colored in red in the image above). Unfortunately, newer homes do not have a decorative bed mold.
Bed molding can be about an inch wide or more and ornate. The addition of a bed molding creates a nice strong look, appearing like it is helping to support the heavy roof and providing a nice finished appearance. Depending on if the fascia was wide enough, the bed mold would sometimes be accented with a contrasting color on a Victorian home. If all were the same color, the bed mold trim would still create a nice shadow line which gives these old homes the character we love.
Gable With Drip Edge Roof Flashing
Roof flashing is brown or white and does not present a problem if it matches the trim color. With other trim colors the flashing looks very bad unless you paint it to match.
On new roofs, they are installing a piece of roof flashing under the edge of the roof that is bent down and covers part of the fascia. On all newer homes the fascia is just a plain board. There is no decorative bed mold on the fascia. It is just a plain boring board as you can see in the image above.
Notice that on the NEWLY REPAIRED FLAT ROOF a drip edge flashing was added that looks terrible. The main roof is older and has no extra drip flashing.
On an old house this roof flashing covers up the bed mold trim depending on how wide it is.
Drip Edge Roof flashing MUST be painted to match the trim color. In this example the flashing would be painted the accent color.
With a wider flashing it would be unfortunate to hide this beautiful piece of trim under the flashing. If the flashing is a different color than the trim color on your house this will look awful.
The flashing will come in either white or brown. If your trim is either of these colors that is fine. If your trim is white and the flashing is brown you MUST paint the flashing white otherwise the fascia will look too narrow to support the roof. Additionally the roof will appear too heavy.
If your trim is painted any color other than white and the roof flashing is white, this white trim (which has nothing to do with the other colors of your house) will stand out and look cheap. You MUST paint this flashing to match your trim color.
It is up to you to inform your painter for they may try to avoid painting flashing and gutters which must be painted when painting your house. If your flashing is new you may need a Bonding Primer.
Roof Flashing on a Porch Roof
There is another place that roof flashing has now invaded. It is at the back of the porch roof where the roof meets the house siding. Traditionally the flashing was installed and hidden under the siding. Today the flashing is on top of the siding. That is fine but it must still look like the flashing is behind the siding. This flashing should not be seen for it disrupts the architectural balance of the house.
The red arrow points to the unpainted brown flashing on the house to the left. The flashing is painted on the house to the right. See how much better and taller the 2nd floor appears when the flashing is painted to match the body color.
The solution is to paint it to match the siding. On some homes this flashing really creates a problem by making the area between the porch roof and the windows appear much narrower and unappealing. Click on the above image so you can better see the negative effect flashing can have unless it is painted. Painting it is an easy fix for this and nobody will be able to tell the difference.
A red tin roof was installed on this porch but the flashing should have been painted the tan body color of the house.
Here is another example of a roof installer not painting the flashing. It really looks strange standing out like that. Most painters will not paint the flashing so you must instruct them to.
1905 Before & After. Aside from the tacky storm door, high railing, and removal of the gable balustrade, this was a great house until the porch roof was replaced. Maybe the homeowner does not care.
Just for the record, this is a roofing business that is well known in the area and a business I would recommend. The point is that all roofers are now going flashing crazy everywhere. This additional flashing DOES provide an extra layer of protection from the elements but so will covering the entire house in a tarp. This extra protection comes at a cost for the lack of curb appeal is huge. All this flashing was never used before. This house is just around the corner from me. I did call the roofer and expressed my disappointment.
Metal Standing Seam Roofs
Modern Standing Seam roofs have a different design and the roof wraps around the fascia board, completely hiding it at times. This is not a flashing issue but a roof design problem .
Think of the logic this way. Trim outlines your house and needs to be in proportion to the building. If the trim is too thin then the house will appear weak and lack structure. If the trim at the top of the house is white and there is brown flashing or a brown gutter covering the trim, that trim will appear narrower and therefore weaker to support the house.
This roof overlaps the fascia board totally eliminating the trim. This makes the roof appear too heavy. A bad design.
Painting is not the best option but it is a fix to the problem.
Why not have a nice green trim? Trim shows structure and makes a building more appealing. There needs to be contrast between a roof and trim.
Now look at the example below. The top image is the before picture showing that the design and installation of the metal standing seam roof absolutely destroys the appearance of this house. It is sad that so many homeowners do not know what the result will be when the sign the contract. The roofers either wrap the metal around and hiding the trim or they install gutters to match the roof. Both are WRONG.
This roof absolutely ruins this house!! Top pic is before. 2nd pic shows the edge of the metal roof painted correcting the problem. 3rd is new colors.
The above photo just shows new colors for the trim and the roof but the top before photo is absolutely unacceptable. Let the buyer beware!!!
Painting Metal Flashing
I contacted two different paint stores and got two different answers to what type of paint to use. If your flashing is old there shouldn’t be any problem just using the house paint you used on the wood. If it is new, it is best to prime the flashing first with a Bonding Primer and then apply an exterior paint. Your painter will better advise you on this.
We just had our chimney and chimney’s copper flashing sealed. The flashing is now all mousey gray and streaky. What to do?!
Sorry I am not familiar with this problem. Contact the company that did the work. Copper does get a brown patina on it before turning green.
our roofe put galvanized metal flashing over the brick 6in. looks terrible , any suggestions?
There will be flashing on brick when the brick is above the roof. A chimney for example. The chimney brick should be flashed with copper or brown aluminum about 6 inches tall. Even if your trim color is white, flashing on top of brick must be copper or brown. If they installed flashing over wood trim then call him back to fix it. They should know better. If the flashing on brick is not a dark color that should also be fixed by them no charge.
We were excited to finally get our flat (torch down) roof redone so that the insurance company would cover it. The guys from Shamrock Roofing came out and took about two days to destroy the aesthetics of our midcentury modern house with clashing roof and flash edging that was laid over previous different color edging. I was told that the roof color wouldn’t matter since it was horizontal, yet now a vertical piece that was white is a clashing brown, and they left some brown pieces. It’s just a mess. I wish I knew what to do about this, but the company got their at 6 a.m. three days ago, and today, I’m just now getting my internet hooked back up from one of their many accidents.
That’s terrible – they just don’t know and if they did they probably wouldn’t care. Try to explain to them. Also any aluminum pieces that are the wrong color can be painted and make them do it not you.
I need some clarification since only reading a comment in the banner under the photo and not necessarily stated very affirmatively in the article.
For an older home with decorative trim, should a drip edge be used or not?
It seems you are saying a drip edge should not be installed to cover decorative trim and rather the shingles should be cut to overhang the roof slightly.
Might you confirm?
Do NOT use drip edge flashing if it will cover your fascia. If you already have it then paint it to match the trim.
we have a 1920 brick home. On one side there is a gable, and under it there is a piece of trim that runs across that side that has a metal top on it. It is not a gutter, no down spout. What is that and what is the purpose. I can send you a picture
I would need to see a photo.
We’re having a new roof installed this week and they just started. I walked outside to take a look and noticed the drip edge was black when our facia boards and gutters are white. I contacted the installed and told them shouldn’t the drip edge be white? Very concerned, seems like an roofer would know this.
Yes – exactly. It can be painted but they should have known better to install a white one. My roof gets installed Monday. I told them no drip edge.
Cedar Shakes?
a wood shingled roof is still the same as an asphalt roof. Do not use that bulky flashing.
I am sooooo grateful for you sharing your knowledge with us. Thank you.
Libby Lu Davis
My roof was installed a month ago and my roofer used unpainted bonderized steel for the exposed skylight flashing. The $4k custom skylight (that will sit on this flashing) is still being manufactured The shingles have a 50 year life and the skylight will also have a very long life (powder coated aluminum). I live in the San Francisco bay area. My concern is that the unpainted exposed bonderized steel will not have a life equal to to the roof or skylight. Am I needlessly worrying?
From what I understand the bonderized steel must be painted.
I think this is just one of these things that you will need to check every few years to see if maintenance needs to be done.
Hello, I have a 1904 frame cottage that recently had a new tear off roof installed on the main body of the house and the front porch. The roofer removed the old flashing that ran between the porch roof and the clapboards of the body of the house saying that I didn’t need it. He stated that the flashing for the porch will rest behind the clapboards of the house. I see an angled edge of clapboards running up against the porch roof now and the flashing is exposed a bit underneath. Is this correctly done?
It sounds correct. Flashing is good but you don’t want it to interfere with the appearance. If it does it can always be painted.
Hi Ken, I have a related question. I have a greek revival we are restoring after vinyl removal…doing most of the work ourselves except for roofing/flashing. The porch roof coincides on one side with the pilaster. The pilaster section above the roofline needs to be replaced so we would remove the original siding/section of pilaster for roofers to flash and re-roof the porch and then we would put siding and pilaster board back in place. As was common for 1840s, there’s no sheathing behind unbeveled siding. The question is: do we do a step flashing thick gauge aluminum that can be painted to match siding OR copper step flashing and then copper cap flashing on the exterior of the pilaster (cutting a kirf in the pilaster for attaching similar to masonry). We think copper is a timeless material but also with the external cap flashing at the pilaster, could help it look more like a fixture that doesn’t get interrupted at the roofline. With white flashing all the way down including under the pilaster, you may see that the pilaster was cut there even though it would match color-wise. There would be no more than a few inches of the copper step flashing showing other than the cap flashing at the pilaster if we went the copper route. Really the pilaster being part of this is key. Thanks for weighing in! – Lisa
Hi – the flashing will definitely help but as good as copper is I would always lean towards a metal that can be painted. Copper can also be painted but unlike aluminum will need a primer. I would ask what primer to use at a paint store. So with or without a photo for me to see, I would use paint. Greek Revivals have white or light trim. On a house that can have dark trim the copper will not be noticed once it ages.
Ok, thanks for your reply. I think it’s a question of is unpainted copper with cap flashing up onto the pilaster going to draw positive attention to that architectural detail? We would be going with white trim and a very light, buttery body color using linseed paint. If I used a paintable aluminum flashing, I don’t think I’d go through the trouble of doing an exterior cap flashing up onto the pilaster, but then you’d perhaps see where the pilaster was cut an inch or two above the roofline, which I’m concerned could look discontinuous. Either one I think has the potential, with the pilaster being interrupted by the roofline, to look discontinuous. So I wondered if your stance on- everything should patch, would still trump the use of unpainted copper in this situation with a few inches of visibility along the roofline/pilaster. I would attach a photo but I’m not sure how to do that. Thanks
Unfortunately you can’t attach a photo here as per my seo guy. You can email me though via the contact us. I am very pleased that you understand the importance of making it appear continuous for that is really important.
I just had my roof replaced and the roofer talked me into black flashing on a brick house. It looks terrible and now I will have to have it painted brown. Also, his flashing is much wider than the original, and I found out he put the black flashing over my original flashing. Is that normal? It sticks out from the house.
Today adding anything black – gutters, flashing, etc is a trendy fad. If the original flashing was copper then that is usually good for a very long time. I’m sorry but I really don’t have an answer for you. I recommend checking The Craftsman Blog https://www.oldhouseguy.com/wood-window-restoration-companies-carpenters/
I’m getting a new roof with flashing that does not match the gray color on my house. The roofing company delivered the drip-edge for me in advance for me to paint the same color as the house. The drip edge he provided had a factory applied white color. The roofer told me I would have no problem using gray latex house paint on the white drip edge. He also said I would not have to prime it. I applied two coats of the gray latex to the white drip edges and now I’m starting to worry. The
gray latex house paint will chip off if I gouge it with my fingernail, otherwise it seems to adhere okay. I live in a hot sunny Florida climate and now I’m wondering if I made a huge mistake by not using a primer coat first. Do you think I need to scrap everything I painted (130 linear feet) and start over, using a primer? Thank you very much..
Yuck! Painting old flashing should be no problem but new should be primed just to be safe but you still may be ok if that is what the roofer said. I would go to Benjamin Moore or Sherwin Williams and see what they advise.
Hi I need some help explaining to this guy about his roof he’s got us 75-year-old house or so it’s got the metal roofing on it the A-frame style kind of you know but the thing the big problem is when the 10 gets to the facial board somebody beat the end of the 10 down and folded over on the fascia board where the end of the 10 is almost touching the facial board so it’s just curved down off the roof from flat off the roof to curve down and beat to the flat on the facial board I explained it to him in several different ways but is there some way you can make a better clearer just a different statement than me maybe it’ll help him understand how many problems this is and that the 10 at the least needs to be folded back out carefully and a good piece of drip edge added up under it would be a big start to help in it but I would say he probably needs a new roof would be great but anyway please give him some advice that I can share with him
I agree that this is very difficult to explain to both a homeowner and a roofer. That is why I try to include photos to show correct versus incorrect. Show the blog article and photos – photos are so much better to understand something like this.
Good luck!!
Ken