How to fix cement fiber siding touching roof shingles
Cement fiber siding installed directly against roof shingles without the required one to two inches of clearance or flashing causes rot, water intrusion, and siding deterioration. Cutting away the tight, awkward sections of damaged material to add proper clearance is physically difficult and risks forcing homeowners to completely replace large wall sections if left unaddressed.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Saw cutting the siding a couple of inches up to add a trim piece
- 2Pulling the damaged siding below the gutters and a few courses up to investigate sheathing and framing damage
- 3Cutting the gutters shorter so they are not touching the house walls and installing diverter flashing
- 4putting roof tar around the leak area
- 5pulling off siding and shingles to install something underneath
- 6Redoing the area by taking off every shingle against the wall
- 7Gently lifting the shingles and screwing the step flashing down with a wafer head type of screw and sealant
- 8Hiring a professional roofing contractor
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“where the hardie meets the shingles it is failing, some areas much worse than even pictured.”source ↗
“this perhaps was not installed properly as you're supposed to leave 1" - 2" between the hardie and shingles and have flashing below.”source ↗
“My question at this point is what to do about it. I don't want it to continue to deteriorate the siding to the point of needing to re-do large sections”source ↗
“How you make the cut is the problem. I don't know what sort of cement bladed tool you could use given how tight and inconvenient the cutting areas are.”source ↗
“So you definitely have some water intrusion issues around the gutters. Yes the main issues I see are: siding not 1-2” off roof, no diverter flashing, gutters are touching the side walls.”source ↗
“I recently started seeing a leak in my garage. It only actually came through the drywall during a downpour, otherwise I probably wouldn’t have noticed it.”source ↗
“Found on new home inspection. 0% chance the seller will fix. I’m pretty handy from a construction/ DIY perspective, but have not done roofing work yet. Any pointers?”source ↗
“A buddy of mine and me installed a new roof on my front porch (200 sqft), and 6 weeks later the shingles are already pulling up where the porch meets the house. We are no roofers by any means so I’m not sure what we did wrong.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 3Can I install siding, soffit, and fascia before roof shingles?
- 6Uneven shingles and bulges after new roof replacement
- 3How to get attached neighbors to agree on roof repairs
- 4How to temporarily waterproof a damaged roof until replacement
- 5How to clean dark roof stains without ruining the shingles
- 2Ceiling popping noises and drywall screws showing after roof repair