Does water dripping through my soffit indicate a problem?

Question

When it rains, water drips through the soffit and along the inside face of the fascia. This picture shows the water dripping through, but when it rains harder sometimes there's more:

My landlord just installed that aluminum soffit. Above it is solid plywood. This is at the valley of an L-shaped gabled roof.

Is this a problem? It's not a ton of water and I haven't noticed any leaks inside the house, but it seems to me like there shouldn't be any water in there. The gutters have been recently cleaned and there's no debris in them.

EDIT: added a few more photos

Here are two shots of the valley in question from above, plus another shot of a different gutter to show the construction and condition of the roof.

The shingles are approximately 4 years old, on top of an older layer (maybe more? hard to tell). There doesn't seem to be a drip edge. The shingles extend over the fascia and into the gutter by about 1".

Answer 1

Oh, wow. I'm sorry, but your roof is probably bad. If you can get the money you paid four years ago back (doubtful), I would, but you probably need to get that entire mess torn off all the way down to the decking, and probably quite a bit of the decking near the edges of the roof too. You can tell because the shingles look "lumpy" and have a rolling look to them -- like someone's melted them, especially near the edges -- and the valley is curved instead of sharp. I can also see the lines running across where different runs of roof sheathing panels meet (every 4' or so); that it's sagged in between these lines is a sign of sheathing damage.

Your roof isn't the shingles, so it doesn't matter that the shingles are only four years old. Your roof is actually the tar paper and ice and water shield that is underneath underneath the shingles. Multiple layers of shingles are bad; it means that they didn't replace the actual stuff that keeps the water out of your house, they just replaced the stuff that you see that goes over top.

If you go up into your attic when it's been raining quite a bit, see how much more of the underside of your roof sheathing is damp. If there's a lot, you need to get it torn off and replaced as soon as possible. If there isn't much, you have a few years to save up for it, but it looks bad now from the top. Make sure when they re-do it that they tear everything down to bare wood, remove all the nails and staples and junk, use Ice & Water Shield along the roof edges and in the valleys, and then put new 30 year tar paper and shingles over it. The tar paper and ice&water shield is what actually keeps the water out of your house. The shingles only protect the tar paper from abuse.

Answer 2

Water dripping where it shouldn't means something is wrong in the roofing. If you want to find where exactly the problem comes from your best bet is to get into the space under the roof when it rains and try to find where exactly water appears first.

This will give you a good idea which are of the roof to investigate from the outside. This will require partially disassembling that ceiling made of perforated metal.

The most likely reason is some minor damage to one of the shingles - this can be repaired pretty easy once you locate it.

Answer 3

A few things:

1. Multiple layers of roof shingles are fine if done properly. Would be interesting to know if a proper starter course was installed beneath the lower row of shingles. If not, the rainwater could be penetrating the original or former layer of shingles.
2. Take a look at how the lower rows of shingles are "woven" together in the valley. Improper.
3. What is with what appears to be a block of wood in the gutter at the base of the valley?
4. Drip edge flashing is advised as well as sealing the gutter seams when weather is accommodating.
5. Gutters need to be kept clear at all times! Especially at the base of a valley!

Answer 4

It seems to me that the problem is in the rain gutter, which does not appear to have any slope to it. Without a proper slope to the gutter, water will just stack up in the gutter and run over the edge if it gets too full, looking like there is a roof problem. Before you worry too much about a new roof, I would look at the gutters. See if they are filling up when it rains. That COULD be your problem, although the shingle job on the roof is not very impressive.