Selkirk Rubber Boot Flashing Problems

[DouginJasper]

I know that some of the most experienced folks on this site strongly recommend against using rubber boot flashing kits for chimney installations. Fair enough. But for some of us, what’s done is done (and may have to be redone sooner than we’d like). In the meantime, this is a thread for addressing some problems associated with them.

For my own part, I recently installed a Selkirk rubber boot flashing kit with Selkirk class A chimney pipe and a Selkirk cathedral ceiling support box (all above a Drolet Escape 1800 and Vortex double wall stove pipe). One two occasions now, I’ve had water dripping from the cathedral ceiling support box. My suspicion is that snow is being blown up under the storm collar and down through the gap between the rubber boot flashing and the chimney. This gap is part of the design of the system to prevent the rubber from contacting the chimney.
I’ve seen other posts suggesting people use duct tape to cover the venting on ventilated metal flashing cones. Can this be done with the rubber boot kit? Would installing a longer storm collar help prevent snow from blowing in? Am I misdiagnosing the problem all together?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

(Red circles in the photo indicate where the water is dripping)

 

[begreen]

That's an odd storm collar. I would expect one with a much broader skirt.

 

[DouginJasper]

I agree, but that’s what came in the Selkirk kit. I’m thinking my first move should be to replace it with a broader one.

 

[begreen]

It looks like a normal storm collar could be installed right on top of the existing one without replacing it.

 

[DouginJasper]

It looks like a normal storm collar could be installed right on top of the existing one without replacing it.

Even better. Thanks very much!

 

[Newbie78]

I did exactly the same thing using a selkirk boot that was supposed to accommodate up to 10/12 pitch (my roof). Well it sure as heck didn't and ended up as wrinkly as yours -or worse.

I couldn't have that mess, so I had a sheet metal shop make me a tin "roof jack" to cover the whole kit-and-kaboodle, leaving the rubber there and totally covered. That same storm collar you have goes above it. I suspect that you have a fold in the rubber going downhill right to the chimney or a place where water pools...It doesn't look like adequate silicone or even screws were used on the boot flange (I don't see any silicone squished out, and I used quite a few more screws than the kit provided -every one of them was put in, then taken out one by one with a tiny squirt of silicone in every hole so the screws could be re-installed in rubber). You could be right about the blowing snow, hard to say.

that would be the best solution - a full tin roof jack over the whole shebang. Don't be cheap with the silicone. Unfortunately silicone won't cure below about 6C. GE silicone is the best, imo... Hide that rubber boot mess and eliminate chances of leakage. Make sure to run a bead of silicone around the chimney at the correct elevation to slide the storm collar carefully down on to.

it's ideal if you have roofing material that the sheet metal guy can make his jack on and it's a bit of a tricky job because everything has to line up perfectly with your roof contours. I didn't have a big enough piece of steel roofing for the sheet metal guy to do all of the cutting-to-fit in his shop, so I had to very carefully cut out my contours with snips myself by fitting and refitting the roof jack, which isn't a bad way either. The flange on the jack has to be fully outside of the rubber flange, so the roof ridge might be specially considered..

selkirk should provide embossed ellipses for the various roof slopes, not simply circles as the cutout lines on their boot as the boot will not conform reasonably to anything beyond about a 3/12 pitch (a guess). Your roof looks to be about a 5 or 6/12?

anyway, it's ugly but can be fixed to better than a roof jack or rubber boot alone. The roof jack will end up quite large, but it will still be far more attractive and effective than your current situation.

 

[Newbie78]

the drawing was my preliminary to the sheet metal guy for pricing. The photos were sent to the engineering department at Selkirk to illustrate that their boot could not accommodate a10/12 pitch. The sketch is still missing some info at this point.

I was going to remove the silicone overage, but that became moot.

I thought I had a pic of the end result, but apparently not.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I think I'd pull it and use a piece of the regular roof flashing. I'd tuck the top end under the ridge. That should eliminate most chances of leakage. If you still had problems after that you could start hitting areas with silicone or tape. The flashing costs only $100 as of last spring. Any custom sheet metal fab is going to cost more.

 

[bholler]

Yup pull it off and replace with metal flashing tucked under the ridge cap

 

[Newbie78]

Nope. Leave it and get a custom roof jack to cover the works.

 

[bholler]

Nope. Leave it and get a custom roof jack to cover the works.

Why pay for custom work when the standard off the shelf stuff will work fine and be easy?

 

[Newbie78]

There's a lot of screw holes in that roofing now, for one. It's stuck down and will take a lot of time to clean everything up, for two. Why completely waste the thing, for three. And a custom made jack is a far better piece of work than the flimsy factory piece, for four. I was dismayed with what I perceived to be "on the edge engineering" with most all of the accessory pieces related to my chimney. Pretty flimsy stuff, overall. The roof jack I had made was 170-180 dollars, I believe and is a sturdy piece of tin, far superior to the factory piece.

 

[Eman85]

I'd like to see the custom jack that you used to cover the boot. I've got a different company's silicon boot on mine but a lower pitched metal roof, 3/12. My boot is getting old and I'd rather not have a leak.

 

[bholler]

There's a lot of screw holes in that roofing now, for one. It's stuck down and will take a lot of time to clean everything up, for two. Why completely waste the thing, for three. And a custom made jack is a far better piece of work than the flimsy factory piece, for four. I was dismayed with what I perceived to be "on the edge engineering" with most all of the accessory pieces related to my chimney. Pretty flimsy stuff, overall. The roof jack I had made was 170-180 dollars, I believe and is a sturdy piece of tin, far superior to the factory piece.

Why waste the rubber piece? Because they are junk that shouldn't be used. Yes some of the cheaper chimney systems definitely skimp when it comes to accessories that's why I use better brands. I use stainless flashing on all of the chimneys we do and they will be there as long as the chimney is with no problems. If you got a custom made flashing with a water tight base on it made for $180 even out of galvanized you got a hell of a deal. I couldn't get that made here or make and sell it for any less than $300 probably closer to $400

 

[EatenByLimestone]

You’d be looking at a lot more than $400 for us to fabricate, remove the old, and install the new.

 

[bholler]

You’d be looking at a lot more than $400 for us to fabricate, remove the old, and install the new.

Oh absolutely. I wasn't talking installed price. Although the install would be pretty easy. Just tuck it under the ridge cap

 

[Newbie78]

I'd like to see the custom jack that you used to cover the boot. I've got a different company's silicon boot on mine but a lower pitched metal roof, 3/12. My boot is getting old and I'd rather not have a leak.

I'll try to get a pic tomorrow.

 

[Newbie78]

 

[Eman85]

What's that white stuff on the roof? Thanks for the pic. I like the little triangle cap deflector in front of it.

 

[bholler]

What's that white stuff on the roof? Thanks for the pic. I like the little triangle cap deflector in front of it.

Most of the higher end manufacturers have a snow diverter flashing available with a wedge on the top side

 

[Eman85]

Most of the higher end manufacturers have a snow diverter flashing available with a wedge on the top side

I figure that was for stopping a snow slide from putting pressure on the chimney. I have metal roofs on all of my buildings but generally don't have a snow slide problem. There's always the chance of a large snow here but not often any more, it's been years.

 

[Newbie78]

we occasionally get a drift up there, so I had the sheet metal guys make the snow splitter too.

 

[bholler]

I figure that was for stopping a snow slide from putting pressure on the chimney. I have metal roofs on all of my buildings but generally don't have a snow slide problem. There's always the chance of a large snow here but not often any more, it's been years.

It's to divert the snow around the chimney if it slides so the chimney doesn't get ripped off

 

[DouginJasper]

Thanks very much for all the responses. There are some great pieces of advice and creative solutions here.
For what it’s worth, I can confirm that the problem results from snow blowing up under the too-small stone collar and into the gap between the rubber boot and the chimney. I plan to install a larger storm collar over to of the existing one as a short-term solution and will consider replacing the boot with a metal flashing (probably from Excel) in the summer. I don’t think I’ll go the route of the custom roof Jack that my fellow Albertan suggested, but yours does look nice!
Cheers!