Pry, chisel and scrape off old metal flashings and roofing cement. Before you do anything, get your ladder, roof brackets and safety harness set up so you can work safely and efficiently on the roof.

Lee Wallender is a home improvement writer of nearly 20 years and specializes in home remodeling, repair and maintenance. Sami Allen is the managing editor at Forbes Home, with over seven years of ...

Roof leaks plague countless homeowners each year. Talk to experienced roofers, and they’ll tell you the vast majority of leaks happen at flashings. A roof flashing is a transitional material. It ...

Asphalt, wood shakes, slate and other overlapped roofings are fine until they meet an obstruction. Up against a dormer, a vent pipe, a chimney, they need flashing — a patchwork of metal sheets, and ...

Rust on a chimney comes from its metal components, not from the bricks. Metal parts like the cap and flashing rust with moisture, staining the brick. To prevent chimney rust, clean the brick, maintain ...

Q: My house has a hip roof with a large chimney at the end of the house. No matter how much goop I put on the roof at the chimney, it always leaks after a year or two. Can you help me? A: What you ...

Regarding safeguarding your home in Castro Valley and across the East Bay, most people believe shingles are the primary defense. However, the often overlooked roof flashing is the true hero in ...

Dear James: Our 3-year-old light-colored roof already has dark stains over most of it, except for near the chimney. Why is that, and how can we stop the staining from getting worse? — Phil R. Dear ...

She used a telephoto lens to take closeup photos of the chimney from the ground. I could see she had a very nice metal chimney surround that appeared to be in very good condition. For me, this meant ...