The strip of metal flashing that runs under the roof along the eaves of your house is called eave strip or drip edge. Eave strips help support the roofing that extends past the roof decking and keeps rainwater from running down the fascia board.
On many homes the drip edge eave strip is made of galvanized metal, which doesn’t hold paint well and can rust over time. A better alternative is vinyl coated aluminum eave strip, which won’t rust and don’t need to be painted.
The drip edge is often replaced when new shingles are installed, but it can be replaced at any time. Asphalt roof shingles can become brittle in cold weather, so wait until a warm (but not hot) day to remove and replace eave stripping.
Tools and Materials Needed:
- Ladder
- Flat pry bar
- Hammer
- Tin snips
- Eave stripping
- Galvanized roofing nails
Removing Drip Edge Eave Strips:
- Gently lift up the shingles along the lower edge of the roof, and find the nails attaching the eave strip to the roof decking.
- Use a flat pry bar and hammer to remove the nails holding the eave strip to the roof decking.
- Slip the eave strip out from under the shingles.
Replacing Drip Edge Eave Strips:
- Install the eave strips on the lower roof edges first, with the eave strips under the shingles and felt underlayment.
- Align one end of the lower eave strip even with the edge of the roof decking.
- Lift up roof shingles, and nail the eave strip in place with galvanized roofing nails.
- Overlap the other pieces of eave strip by at least 1” and nail them in place.
- Cut the last piece on the lower eave flush with the roof decking on the other end.
- Install the gable eave strips over the felt underlayment and on top of the lower eave strips.
- Cut and bend the end of the gable eave strip to cover the gap between it and the lower eave strip.
- Overlap higher gable eave strips over the lower ones by at least 1”.
- At the ridge run one gable eave strip even with the roof peak.
- Cut and bend the top end of the matching gable eave strip so it extends over the roof peak by at least 1″ and overlaps the matching gable eave strip.
- Miter the end of the gable peak eave strip so it’s plumb.
Watch this video to find out more.
Further Information
- How to Repair Leaking Chimney Flashing (video)
- Leak-Proof Flashing: Fixing Leaks Around Chimneys (article)
- How to Replace a Damaged Asphalt Roof Shingle (video)
- How to Replace a Roof Vent Jack (video)
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Danny Lipford: Everybody knows how important your roof is to protect your home from the weather, but you might not realize how important this little metal strip is to your overall roof system. It’s called eave strip or eave metal.
Now, many homes will have eave stripping made from galvanized metal, which is designed to keep it from rusting. But without proper maintenance, it can become very unsightly with all the rust spots that can form.
Now, one alternative is to replace it with this type of metal, which is a vinyl coated aluminum which won’t rust. And it won’t need any type of painting, just a little bit of cleaning from time to time. Now, generally it’s replaced at the same time your shingles are replaced, but really it’s fairly easy to replace it anytime.
The shingles along the lower edge of the roof are gently lifted up, so as not to damage them, and then a flat pry bar is used to remove the nails holding the eave strip to the decking. The new stripping is slipped in over the roofing felt, but under the shingles. Finally, the tricky part is nailing down the new strip while holding up the shingles.
It’s fairly labor intensive to change out eave stripping on a home but nowhere near as much work as sanding, priming, and painting rusty metal.
What would be the best way to replace drip edges when you have rolled roofing that you don’t want to have to replace?
how do you replace fascia boards, when you have extra wide drip edge. I don’t want to bend the drip edge and mess it up. I haven’t tried to remove the boards yet. I might able to move the drip edge enough to pull the nails…
I have new leaky gutters. Contractor won’t return my calls so give been researching and observing. Myhe replaced some of the facia board but no drip edge installed I see. So I’m getting water drops over front of gutters and downpours over.
In reviewing drip edge and gutter aprons I can’t find info or I see misleading or contradictory statements.
My gutters in some places are not right against fascia boards so gap. In observing though I see the vinyl brackets are 3 feet or less apart in some areas. The houses old gutters didn’t leak without the drip edge after 40 years so I can’t see where the actual fix is needed.
I want to know as I’ve read if the gutters have to sit flush with Davis biards, do I need more brackets.
To avoid overkill, do I use regular drip edge and apron together or just one or the other?
I continue if something was compromised when he put new fascia boards up.
I hope I can figure this out. The slope is correct.
Help…
If I use drip edge AND gutter apron together how do I install
My gutters appear to e right under roof line or should they be erred?
I have an Arizona white, reflective, flat roof. The drip edges and gutters are on the back of the home, on the patio side. Some years ago, I installed flashing under the drip edge and into the back of the gutter to keep water off of the fascia board.
Now, for the whole length of the roof, the drip edge has curled up, stopping the efficient flow of rain water from the roof into the gutter and resulting in ponding at the edge of the roof. I can peek under the drip edge and see space between the drip edge and the board it was screwed to. I can stand on the drip edge and my 200 pounds will barely press it down. What happened? What do I do?
In your vidio, you said to place the drip edge over the roofing felt and under the shingle. But in your written instructions, you say place the drip edge under both underpayment and shingle? Can I get clarification regarding this installation. Thanks
If doing a Reroof New shingles on top of old shingles Does the metal drip edge gets removed and install new metal drip edge on top of the old shingles or install back underneath old shingles?
Hi, Guillermo! Thanks for writing to us. Looks like there are some AutoCorrect issues so it’s a little hard to follow along. Please re-send the question. 🙂