Pipe Boots in Poor Condition on a Cabin in Sevierville, TN

The pipe boot on the electrical pole going through the roof is shot! It was probably leaking in the past due to all the old cracking roofing cement on it. Plus, the screws are backing out as well. The same goes for the pipe boot on the plumbing vent. It’s old and covered in roofing cement. It also needs to be replaced.

Here is a picture of the plumbing pipe boot that looks as bad as the other

Very loose roofing panels at lower transition.

Once the old pipe boot was removed we had to clean off / scrape off as much of the old caulk and roofing cement as possible. There are old caulk and roofing cement that has to be removed from the roof but you want to prevent scratching the paint off the metal. Then we used a cleaning agent on the metal.

This electrical pole was tricky as most split boots or retro boots for metal roofs were too small due to the fact of where this came through the roof right at a pitching change. So we used a larger rubber boot and outlined the top with a sturdy metal to screw through so the screws wouldn’t punch through the rubber boot. I was very pleased with how this turned out. We also used butyl tape on the bottom of both pipe boots. A lot of people just put caulk on them and screw them down. Butyl will last much longer than caulk and create a better water-tight seal. Caulk is only used as a secondary measure of protection.

As you can see in this picture the red arrows are point to the screws we added to keep the metal panels from flapping in the wind and letting water in.