This is Part One of a Three Part Series On Flashing
Most of us understand the term flashing to be when someone rips off all their clothes and goes running through the streets. But what does “flashing” mean when it comes to your home?
Instead of flashing being defined as a poor decision after a night of partying, when it comes to your home, it is the means to which the home is protected from water; flashing is one of the most critical parts of your homes’ construction.
Flashing is sometimes hard to see but can make a world of difference when it comes to protecting your home from water.
Table of Contents
- What is Flashing?
- Residential Construction Water Diversion
- How Does Flashing Protect Your Home?
- Flashing Fun Facts!
What is Flashing?
Flashing is a term that is used to refer to the different types of materials and methods used to protect a home from water intrusion. When it comes to building a home, controlling where water diverts is critical to ensuring the longevity of the building materials.
Think of it this way, if you were to pour water directly onto the same piece of wood day after day, you would see the wood degrade much faster than a piece of wood that has been stored inside of your storage shed.
Water takes a dramatic toll on the integrity of many building materials. With proper flashing, your substrates will last for years.
Residential Construction Water Diversion
Our homes undergo constant water exposure, for those of you near bodies of water, you will encounter ambient moisture almost 250 days a year. So where does all the moisture that lands on your home travel to?
Consider your roof, which may be the most visible water diversion feature on your home. Whether you have a gable roof, a hip roof, or a shed roof, the key purpose of the roof shape is to divert water off of the home.
When it comes to the horizontal surfaces on your home such as window trim, door trim, and deck surfaces, flat surfaces tend to collect water. With flashing, proper water diversion will keep water out of every seam in your home.
How Does Flashing Protect Your Home?
Although water is arguably the most valuable resource on the planet, it also takes quite a toll on the longevity of our building substrates. Without proper flashing, water would be able to collect on any flat surfaces on your home, absorbing into the substrates and working its way into every seam.
Think about other experiences of excess moisture, if you have a dish towel that got wet, and then you leave it balled up on the counter overnight, it tends to have a musty smell the next morning. However, if the towel was dry it would have smelled the exact same as the night before.
There are similar risks if your home is not properly flashed. If water is able to sit on porous surfaces or absorb behind the seams, into your home not only are you at risk for mold growth, but scarier, you’re at risk for severe substrate damage.
This is part one of a three part series on flashing. Check out the second part of our two part series that will discuss the different types of flashing and materials the flashing is composed of. In the meantime, let’s have some fun, and brush up on your flashing fun facts:
Flashing Fun Facts!
- Flashing got its name from the flashing effect that sometimes happens when the sun reflects off the metal flashing.
- Drip Edge Flashing has been required by International Residential Building Code since 2012.
- Proper flashing reduces maintenance, minimizes wood damage, saves homeowners thousands of dollars.
