Asked on Apr 03, 2015

Roofing using shingle over metal three season porch to stop leaking?

BACKGROUND: We have a Three Season Porch we put on/2002/with a leaking porch roof. Water is going inside the metal panels/running outside/drain holes not into the attached gutters. Also inside, it leaks at the seams. In MI we get 3-6 ft. snow/snow melt/that water is running out of the panels/coming up under our river rock flooring in the porch/causing mold. I spoke to the company that bought out the Three Season Porch assets (the original company out of business now.) They have a Mfg. recommended method of shingling the metal porch roofs. I have those written instructions. Our roofer has these instructions/given us a quote to do it as the mfg. has specified; clean off old caulk/re-caulk seams & shingle using 3 screws per every other course of shingles. When we had our main roof re-shingled last fall, our roofer put a metal flashing between the house roof and the porch roof but the snow is apparently melting into/through the roof seams. MY QUESTION: Has anyone successful re-shingled a metal porch roof in this manner and actually stopped the SERIOUS leaking?
LEAKING PORCH: Small white roof on left hand side of the house is the porch. Size. 13 ft. X 24 ft.
Typical porch; sliders, glass windows all around. Created of metal, with metal roof.
  7 answers
  • First that slope is to shallow for shingles Second I would never go over a leaking roof with another - shoot I don't even recommend it with good roofs with the slight exception of metal over shingles The metal needs to be pulled, sheathing added if it doesn't exist or is in bad shape, Ice & water for the whole thing including the transition to the shingles & then rolled roofing applied. Do not forget drip edge either on all the roof edges Of course this will add weight to the whole structure but if you have that much snow on top you should be good with this. With that said you might need to be cleaning that roof off occasionally (say a foot or so of fluffy - less if wetter)
    • White Oak Studio Designs White Oak Studio Designs on Apr 04, 2015
      @SLS Construction & Building Solutions LLC When the snow starts get deep or starts to melt (melting time is when this begins to leak.) We do keep the snow shoveled off the roof as much as we can. But my husband is age 70, has bad knees/back and this job is a killer for him. He can work at it 4-5 hours a day and then must quit. We live in Michigan and in the "snowbelt" and we can easily get 93 inch of snow in one month here!! It's not like we are "ignoring" this issue because we are not. Snow removal is our main winter occupation. My husband is out snow blowing all day every day during the snow months. We are retirees that just cannot pay $75.00 every time it snows for a snow plower to come. That could be daily here.
  • Hope Williams Hope Williams on Apr 04, 2015
    Agree with above answer. Have you put a hose into your down spouts? Make sure they are really draining properly. Also, I think there is a minimum slope of 10 inches. That basically means if where the porch roof starts at the house, the end with the gutter must be 10 inches lower than that. For proper drainage. I highly recommend proper replacement of roof, not just a bandaid. Another option is having it spray coated with the same stuff they spray in truck beds. They have colors now too.
    • See 1 previous
    • Mary Carpenter Mary Carpenter on Apr 04, 2015
      I did this on a 30 x 12 ft. glassed in porch that just had 4 " drop & that took care of leaks . I moved 11 yrs later & it was water proof
  • Ruth wallace Ruth wallace on Apr 04, 2015
    Having that much leaking, pull all of it off as the others mentioned. That way it is fixed. Has your warranty gone out. If it has not then you can have it done without out of wallet cost.
    • Barb Burnham Barb Burnham on Apr 04, 2015
      Once a company goes out ofor business, even if purchased by another company, any warranty dies.
  • White Oak Studio Designs White Oak Studio Designs on Apr 04, 2015
    No warranty unfortunately the company that installed this porch is now out of business. Of course.
  • Norman Ransom Norman Ransom on Apr 04, 2015
    I agree with the other answers and can't tell by the picture but it looks like the pitch of the roof and porch is not adequate for that much snow. There are some extremely good liquid roof coatings with warranties against leaking. I have used coatings of a a similar problem with some good results, just research the product first, there are some bad ones there also.
  • White Oak Studio Designs White Oak Studio Designs on Apr 05, 2015
    Talked to my roofer last night. He said that the way this porch is built you can't just really take the roof off (it is all one piece and made to attach to the rest of the porch, fit together, hold it together etc.) and "just replace it.". It would need extra support on the sides and so on. So we are now looking a pricing out a membrane to go under the shingles...This membrane was what was recommended on my old house roof on a perennially leaky area.
  • White Oak Studio Designs White Oak Studio Designs on Apr 21, 2015
    I have decided to put on a rubber membrane roof,. Horribly expensive but at least I can (most likely) stop the leaks. Thank you everyone. With out your comments, I would have made a horribly expensive mistake.