In this video I'm going to show you three different ways to waterproof your valley
and explain to you which one's best
Did you know there are three different ways you can install valleys and flash valleys on a shingle roof?
I want to show you all three, explain to you the differences, and how to properly install each method
Now all three methods are approved by shingle manufacturers and are allowed by National
Roofing Contractors Association and pretty much all standards, it's really just preference
on which one of the three that you like
Let me show you how to install all three different methods
at the end I'll give you my two cents on which ones I like now let's get into each
one at first I'm going to show you how to install open valleys, valley flashings,
then we'll get into cut valleys, at the end we'll look at woven valleys
then I'll give you my two cents
Valley flashings or the open valley is a great way to waterproof your valley
you can see here's the valley flashings that we use is called a W valley is a correct term it's 24
inches wide which is California code some people do use 18 but 18 is not recommended
does not meet manufacturer specifications it does not meet California building code
so what this valley allows us to is install the shingles leaving a proper gap it allows
the water to come hit this ridge right here and flow down the roof just the way we want it to
Valley flashings come in four different finishes they come in the charcoal finish
right here which is a dark gray they come in a brown a white as well as a galvanized
finish there's other custom values available like copper and other materials like that
but generally one of these three pre-finished valleys is what we recommend these will last
over 50 years so they'll outlast your roof
and keep your roof waterproof for years to come
Alright we're ready to start installing our valley metal
Now before we start installing our valley
we want to have our underlayment installed you can watch it on previous videos we have
our ice and water shield installed already underneath our underlayment so we've got our
ice and water shield directly on the deck we've got our drip edge installed we've got
our underlayment on top of that we're gonna install our starter shingle then install the
first row of shingles essentially right here
I'm not going to nail this for right now we'll
go ahead and nail this later then we want to place our valley and we want to come out
about two or three inches now depending on where you are and how you want the water to
flow in this case I want the water to flow out instead of going in underneath my undershot
so I would prefer to have it out about three inches now we can mark the top of the valley
get it cut prior to installing
now that we have our valley cut we're ready to start installing it so we want to align
to where we need in the bottom in order to install it we're going to be using a nail
gun with electric galvanized nails same nails that you would use to install your shingles
you want to place nails every 12 inches on center now the important thing is to make
sure to nail out the outer edge of a flashing as opposed to anywhere inside you want to
leave the flashing as a nail free zone so you want to minimize the amount of nails that
you have here so that any water that gets up here has no chance of coming and dripping
through a nail hole now that we have our valley installed we're going to be installing our
first piece of shingle now we do this a little bit differently um and this is a technique
that we like to use we believe it just gives us a lot cleaner of a look and our finished
product is nice and neat what we do is install a shingle vertically with the valley now first
thing we want to make sure is install or leave a enough of a gap between the W Valley and
the edge of the shingle anywhere from an inch and a half to three inches is totally fine
if you have a smaller valley inch and a half is sufficient if you have a long run 20-30
foot run you want to use a wider vap in order to allow for proper drainage just like other
concepts in roofing and shingle roof installation this channel right here is going to allow
the water to freely flow and it'll minimize debris build up so you won't have leaves or
things clogging up the valley it's a nice clean metal channel the water to flow down
freely now installing the shingle we want to nail directly on the sure nail strip and
I'll show you the reason for that
now when we nail on the sure nail strip that aligns perfectly with the edge of the flashing
so that ensures that we're not too far in the sure nail strip I'm going to show you
another example right here is lined with the edge of the flashing so that's the way we
want to see it the next step is to actually start installing our rows of shingles one
advantage to doing this way is we have the adhesive tab on the back of the shingle
I have went put on the metal flashing creates a great bond so on a hot day like this within
an hour or so all those seal tabs are going to melt and adhere to the valley making it
very difficult to lift up now that we have this vertical shingle installed we're ready
to start installing our regular runs so we're just going to align the first shingle up make
sure this corner is touching then start installing now for this example we've cut the shingles
in half just because it's a demo roof but generally you would have your full shingles
going across your roof and continuing now one thing you want to keep in mind is usually
our shingle offset we want to do it if you watch a single video five to five and a half
inches between each singles as far as the stagger goes so just depending on your pitch
and how steep your valley is you're going to have a different review here so you might
have to cut the shingles to continue your standard pattern across the roof
now one thing you want to keep in mind is you want to minimize the nails in the valley
so actually the first the previous shingle I nailed incorrectly you want to nail it at
the edge of the valley flashing so you can be right around here
so there you have it you can see here we've got a nice clean line it makes our job as
installers faster because we're not cutting the shingle that's however clean you try to
cut it or however straight you never get a perfectly clean straight line as you would
in this installation method
Now before you get started with a cut valley you want to make a determination
on which side is going to be your primary slope and the way we like to do it is the
roof that's larger is your secondary slope because you can imagine the water is going
to come down here and you want to make sure that the water does not get underneath that
cut valley so this will come up first this roof right here it is a lower slope is also
preferred it'll come up first then we'll cut these and this will come on top at the end
of this explanation I think you'll get a better idea of what that is but that's an important
consideration you have to make and it has to be thought out now we're gonna get started
with first off the starter shingles then get installing these shingles on the main primary
field right here generally we want to go up to 12 inches past the valley center line now
in this roof we might not have 12 inches which is fine we can go all the way but if you have
a larger slope you want to go past this valley center line 12 inches
Now that we've got our primary field installed we're not gonna go all the way up just for this tutorial
we're going to show you what we need to right here
a few things I want to point out is number one you can see that we've got our staggered pattern already
laid out what that allows for is ease of installation when you're going that way and on this side
on the valley side it'll ensure that each shingle is going up all the way that 12 inches that
we're talking about we're achieving just because we're starting at a higher point going all
the way up then staggering them to make sure that our shingles are shifting with the valley
the other thing I want to point out is that your nailing pattern on this side is not important
because once we start installing shingles on this field we're going to be fastening
these shingles down so we're not worried about that and we also want to make sure that we're
not installing nails near the valley center line so we want to be out 12 inches from the
value center line to our first nail to ensure that there's no chance of leaking here in
the valley and we're not putting penetrations where we have the most amount of water
Now one detail that we like to use that
varies a little bit from other roofing contractors is prior to installing
our shingles on this side we like to install a piece of shingle that's parallel to the valley
now we want to come up from our valley center line about an inch, inch and a half
to two inches to make sure we allow for proper water flow in this channel right here
Now what this shingle is going to allow us to do is a few things first off that adhesive tab
that's on the back of the shingle is going to adhere real nicely down and ensure that
this shingle is not going to lift up another thing it's going to do is going to provide
us with a real clean finish anytime you hand cut shingles you're never going to perfectly
straight line but this is going to allow us to get a nice clean line and have a really
aesthetically pleasing finish
all right we're essentially done with this valley already obviously we would continue
this all the way up on a real roof but for this demonstration you've seen what you need
to you can see the few details that really matter is leaving a little bit of a runway
here a two inch inch and a half space between your valley center line and the edge of this
shingles this is going to allow proper water flow and down and you can also see that we
use a full piece of shingle and you can see the clean appearance that this provides I
think it provides for a real nice finish as well as for a great waterproofing detail
now for a woven valley we already have our starter shingle installed which you want to
make sure you have in place we're pretty much going to start weaving these shingles in so
we're gonna install our first piece right here and don't mind the used shingles this
is just for a tutorial one thing you want to make sure is you're going past your valley
center line a minimum of 12 inches on your back end so right here is what you want to
see we've got 12 inches right here and now what I would prefer to actually to do is prior
to installing this piece right here I want to install this just so we pass this corner
right here which is our vulnerable area now remember you want to come past your valley
center line so if this is your valley center line
we're coming 12 inches past that
we want to make sure we're not nailing it in the valley zone so I usually like to leave eight to ten
inches from the valley center line with no nails
all right now we're gonna install this shingle right here again valley center line 12 inches
past the valley center line and we're ready to install pretty simple again just making
sure we don't nail it right in the valley because this is where the primary water is going to flow
now as we're laying our shingles the easy way to keep this 12-inch overlap as well as make your job easier
moving forward is to leave this staggered pattern right here
so that way when we're continuing the roof we've got our five and a half inches here and that
makes it easy for us installing the valley
so that's pretty much it you just continue the same pattern all the way up your roof
now pretty much at this point right here when you're close to about 12 to 16 inches from
your valley center line all the way to this edge of the shingle you want to restart with
a full length and pretty much restart this pattern coming all the way up
Alright so now that you've seen all three valleys being installed I want to
give you my opinion on which one I like which ones I don't like and what application I like
what type of valley now before I get started with that again I just want to mention that
all three are approved by manufacturer specifications so it's not like one's right or one's wrong
every roofer has their preference and really every homeowner also has a preference because
a lot of this has to do with aesthetics
let me start off with the valley flashing the open valley system
the limitations on that is a few first off if your pitch is really
anything greater than 8/12 you're going to have difficulty bending that valley so you're
gonna either have to be forced to get a custom value metal fabricated or go with like a cut
valley system which I personally prefer for steep slope roofs and you're also limited
by the type of colors that are available on the market so as I mentioned in the video
off the shelf it comes with browns, charcoals which is like a dark gray, a white and galvanized
color so sometimes people install different color roofs that's like a green tone roof
or a beige light tan roof you're going to have difficulty matching the valley flashing
color to that roof so if you do have a unique color I recommend going with either a woven
or cut valley and not going with a valley flashing now if you do have valley flashing
installed it works great on really any roof under 7 or 6/12 pitch and if you like the
appearance of it I think it's a great flashing detail it looks generally pretty clean in
my opinion even though you do have that break in shingles that valley flashing comes pre-painted
so that paint's gonna last you like 10, 20, 30 years I've actually I've never
seen paint peel off so that pre-finished material is going to last you for a long time now the
next type of valley that we looked at is the cut valley this is personally one of my favorites
I generally like to go with the open valley valley flashing system or a cut valley the
nice thing about cut valley is it does match the rest of the roof so you're not introducing
a valley flashing and it also looks clean and has a super straight line if done properly
so really I don't think there's much to say here really on a 4/12 to -- or 2/12 to 6/12 roof
I think the difference between a a cut valley and an open valley is pretty much the same
it's user preference so whatever the homeowner likes that's what we like to go with
Lastly the woven valley now I'm always going to say this I don't like the woven valley I think
it looks messy it looks ugly it just has a staggered pattern and doesn't have any clean
lines I personally don't like it I think if done properly it'll last you it'll do waterproofing
properly it'll waterproof your roof which is the primary function of your roof but the
second most important thing for me is the appearance of it I don't think it looks nice
that's why we don't install it we don't recommend it in this last 10 years that we've been in
business we might have installed it once or twice based off customer preference or if
we're doing a repair we'll match what's there but if we're installing a new roof we don't
like to use that method now you've heard my opinion tell me yours in the comments below
how do you like to do your valleys what do you like and what don't you like
love to hear from you