Headlap issues

Concrete tile roofs are supposed to be installed with a minimum 3″ “headlap”. That is the lap distance from row to row. When that 3″ lap is not maintained, and especially on a lower sloped roof, a common problem is that of wicking. The water wicks up the underside of the top tile, past the top edge of the tile below, and drips onto the underlayment. Now one tile by itself doing this is not a big concern. But when an entire face of tiles is wicking it can add up to a substantial ingress. This is what was discovered today in Burnaby.  The only resolution is to increase the coverage of the surface below by installing 6″ flat stock metal all along the lap…. for every row of tilers! Thereby we are extending the tile coverage to about 4″. Amazingly this works and relieves the home owner of the daunting task of re-doing the whole roof with adequate headlaps.