One of the most common causes of a roof leak that I find during home inspections in Jacksonville, FL are plumbing boots that have gone bad. There are two types of plumbing boots that I see. They are the neoprene or rubber type boots and the lead boots. Each have their own problems.

Rubber plumbing vent boot

The rubber boots will dry out and become brittle from the sun. This causes them to become brittle and crack which will allow water to enter your home. This is one of the problems that home inspectors routinely find. I have also seen these boots installed improperly stretching the boot and causing a gap between the boot and the plumbing vent.

Lead Plumbing Vent Boot

The lead boots are found primarily on older homes, however I have seen a few on newer homes that were installed by the owner. You should make sure that they are curled in to the plumbing vent. I have seen installations where the lead was not long enough and not able to be curled into the vent pipe. The other problem I see with these types of boots is that squirrels will eat them. I don’t know why they eat them, but they do. Any home inspector that has been around a while has seen what squirrels do to lead boots.

You should check these at least once a year, preferably in the fall after the weather cools. I also check the boots on my home in the spring. If you don’t feel like doing this yourself, you could have a maintenance home inspection to identify problems with the plumbing boots and other things you need to address to keep your home in tip top shape.

CALL 904-891-6309 for all your home inspection needs.

On a home inspection I performed over a month ago in Orange Park I found multiple problems. During the renegotiation process the buyer used the report and was able to get her deposit back because the seller was not willing to make the repairs.

Photo by Johnny Vulkan