Kickout Flashing: Preventing Water Damage Where Roof Meets Wall

Water damage in homes rarely announces itself. It accumulates quietly, behind finished surfaces, until a problem becomes unavoidable. One of the most common — and preventable — sources of water intrusion is the junction where a roof slope meets a vertical wall. At Eiger Homes, we install kickout flashing at every one of these locations. Here's why it matters.

The Problem

When a roof slope runs into a wall, water draining down the roof is directed toward that junction. Gutter systems are designed to catch this water — but there's an inherent gap between the end of the gutter and the wall face. Without kickout flashing, water can run through that gap, penetrate behind the siding, and saturate the wall sheathing below.

Over time, this leads to rot, mold, and structural damage — often invisible until it's extensive.

What Kickout Flashing Does

Kickout flashing is a small but precisely shaped metal or formed plastic component installed at the base of every roof-wall junction. Its purpose is simple: to redirect water draining down the roof into the gutter system, rather than allowing it to run behind the gutter and onto the wall.

The benefits:

• Diverts water away from the wall and into the gutter

• Protects siding and wall sheathing from water intrusion

• Eliminates one of the most common sources of long-term moisture damage

• Improves overall drainage performance of the roof system

Why It's Worth Calling Out

Kickout flashing is not universally installed. It's a detail that's easy to overlook and easy to skip — and the consequences of skipping it don't become apparent for years. By the time water damage from a missing kickout is discovered, the repair cost is almost always many times what the flashing would have cost to install.

The Result

A roof-to-wall junction that manages water exactly as intended — directing it away from the structure and into the drainage system. It's a small piece of metal or plastic doing important work, quietly and permanently.

That's #BuiltBetter.

About Eiger Homes

Eiger Homes is a custom home builder serving Sheboygan and Ozaukee Counties and Wisconsin's Lake Michigan corridor. We build heirloom-quality homes and remodels for families who care about how they live. #BuiltBetter

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