Missing Kick-Out Flashing: What It Means on Your Home Inspection Report

Your inspector found a place where a lower roof, such as a porch roof, runs into the wall of a taller part of the house, and the bottom of that joint has no kick-out flashing. A kick-out, also called a diverter, is a small angled piece of flashing at the eave end of the roof-wall joint. It sits at the bottom of the step flashing that runs up the joint, and it turns the water running down along the wall out into the gutter.

Without it, the water that collects along that wall spills off the end of the roof and down the wall below. The Building America Solution Center, the Department of Energy's library of building practices, describes what follows: the stream overflows the gutter, stains the wall, and over time can rot window trim and get inside the wall.

Why It Matters

A roof-wall joint gathers a lot of water. The Solution Center notes that heavy rains can pour thousands of gallons onto a roof in one storm, and that roof-wall joints channel much of it. The Building Science Corporation calls the kick-out a critical part of step flashing: it directs water away from the wall so the step flashing isn't concentrating water on it.

The damage is the hidden kind. Once water gets into the wall, the Solution Center says, the result can be significant damage to sheathing, framing, and insulation, and mold inside the wall. Older wood siding tends to show it as peeling paint, but fiber cement, vinyl, and brick veneer can hide it for years; one of its examples is a fairly new house whose sheathing rotted quickly for lack of an adequate kick-out. The flashing is a small part. The real question is what the wall below it has absorbed.

What to Do Before Closing

• Ask where, and what was below it. Ask which joints lack kick-outs and whether there was staining, peeling paint, soft trim, or water marks inside below them. Under the InterNACHI standards of practice, a home inspection is a non-invasive visual exam that won't find concealed defects, so the report covers the flashing, not the wall behind it.
• Have a roofer evaluate it and look at the wall beneath each spot. For existing homes missing a kick-out, the Solution Center's guidance is to inspect the wall at the roof eave for deterioration and repair it as needed, which can mean opening the siding.
• Talk to your real estate agent about asking the seller to repair it or offer a credit within your inspection contingency. A roofer's written estimate, including any wall repair, gives that conversation something concrete.

What to Do After You Move In

A roofer installs the kick-out. On a shingle roof it goes in as the first piece of step flashing at the eave, fastened to the roof deck rather than the wall, with the step flashing and house wrap lapped over it so water runs down and out. On an existing house that means lifting shingles and removing some siding. The Solution Center's retrofit steps: expose the wall, repair any damaged sheathing and framing, then install new step and kick-out flashing tied into the wall's weather barrier.

Ask for a prefabricated kick-out, either seamless molded plastic or metal with welded seams, large enough for the water that roof sheds. The Solution Center warns that diverters bent from sheet metal on site are often too small, and if not tied into the weather barrier can let water into the wall. If a new roof is coming anyway, that's the time: the Solution Center recommends new flashing at roof-wall joints whenever the roof covering is replaced. Until then, keep the gutter below that corner clean and check the wall after hard rains.

Can You Fix It Yourself?

Not the flashing. It has to be woven into the shingles, step flashing, and house wrap, which means roof work and siding removal, often on a second-story wall. That's a roofer's job; our DIY vs. hire-a-pro guide explains the line on roof work. From the ground, you can:

• Look for streaks, stains, or peeling paint on the wall below each roof-wall corner.
• Press a screwdriver tip into any discolored trim or siding you can reach from the ground. The Solution Center's homeowner check is that wood should be firm; sponginess means water damage, and a contractor should find and fix the cause.
• Keep the gutters clear; see cleaning gutters from the ground and our gutter tool picks.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is missing kick-out flashing a code violation?

It can be. The Building America Solution Center notes that the 2009 through 2018 editions of the International Residential Code call for kick-out flashing where a roof eave meets a sidewall. Whether that applied to your house depends on the code your town had adopted when it was built; your local building department can tell you.

Is missing kick-out flashing a deal breaker?

Not usually by itself; adding the flashing is a modest roofing job. What matters is the wall underneath. If there's staining, soft trim, or water marks inside below the spot, get the wall checked before your contingency ends, because replacing rotted sheathing and framing is a much bigger job.

The gutter runs right up to the wall. Isn't that enough?

No. Without a kick-out, water running down the joint can miss or overflow the end of the gutter. The Solution Center's photos show the result: stains running down the wall from the corner where the gutter meets it.

The Bottom Line

A missing kick-out is a small part with a big job: without it, roof water runs down the wall and can rot it out of sight. Before closing, have a roofer check each spot and the wall below, and talk to your agent about a repair or credit. Then have a roofer install a properly sized prefabricated kick-out and repair any damage while the siding is open. See more findings in our inspection report decoder.

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