Simple Roof Kickout Flashing: 3 Bends and a Couple Hems
If you can't find kickout flashings stocked locally you can order them online—or better yet, make them yourself. It's easy.
Kickout flashings are infrequently installed on roofs where an eave meets a wall even though they have been required by the International Residential Code for over 15 years (R903.2.1). One reason they’re not installed regularly could be that kickouts are rarely stocked at building-material suppliers. Or if they are stocked, the supplier may not have the color you need to match the roofing or siding. In either case, not having a manufactured kickout flashings is no excuse to skip installing one. It’s easy to bend a kickout out of colored aluminum coil stock.
Two 90° bends cross to form the kickout flashing
I start out with a 10-in.- to 12-in.-wide by 14-in.- to 16-in.-long piece of metal and make two 90° bends with my sheet-metal brake, one bend down the center of the long length and one 4 in. to 5 in. in from the end, bending across the narrow width. You’ll have to unfold the first bend in order to make the second bend.
Then I pinch the fold at the end of the roof leg and set a pair of hand seamers at 30° to 45° from the center corner where the two 90° bends cross. Squeeze and bend the hand seamers up toward the long length of the roof leg of the flashing. This folding bend will cause the bend in the wall leg to turn at the same angle as the fold.
The hand seamers won’t crimp the fold tight, so tap it closed with a wood block and hammer.
Finish off the kickout by trimming and hemming the out-turned wall leg of the kickout and the bottom of the roof leg. The hems will stiffen and blunt the sharp edges so workers won’t cut themselves if they bump the flashing.
Related Articles:
- Direct Water Into Gutters With a Kickout Flashing Diverter
- Kickout Flashing: How to Flash Troublesome Roof-to-Wall Intersections
- Bending Kickout Flashing
- Kickout Flashing: Required by Code, Yet Often Overlooked
