Dorm siding installed with no reveal at roof line

I had the siding on my shed dormer replaced yesterday and the step flashing fixed. They used cedar, edge and back primed. It looks great, but they cut the edge of the siding right up to the shingles (they touch the shingles.) Said he had done it this way on his house. The roof has a steep pitch.

Is there a way to fix this?

Can I leave it this way?

Th contractors are friends of friends, so I don’t want to give them a hard time. They do excellent work at great prices. Dont know why they didn’t do a reveal.

Thanks for the help.

I ahev no clue what you are saying. Post some piuctures and then i can give you advise.

I will send a pick this afternoon. Large dormer protrudes from roof line. Dormer sides have cedar clapboards. Clapboards but against the shingles, where the side of the dormer meets the roof. There is no space between the ends of the clapboards and the roof line. Can you picture it? Anyway, I will snap a pick when I get home from work. Thanks.

While not an ideal situation it shouldn’t be much of a problem.
I see many houses that have the cedar siding touching the roof, if the flashing is good it won’t be a leak problem.
What usually happens is the cedar soaks up water over time and algea begins to form, discoloring the siding.
Given more time the parts that touch the roof begin to rot.
This usually take a while.

Having the backs and edges primed will help a lot, as will painting it as needed.
I don’t know of an easy way to change this, (notice I did not say “fix” because it isn’t really wrong…).
The siding would probably have to be removed again and cut 1\2" shorter.

I prefer to use a cedar 1x4 at the roofline, put z flashing on top of the 1x4 then proceed with the siding.
I usually leave a 1\2" reveal and use colored step flashing that matches the siding.
This is my preferred method, there are other good ways also.

Thanks

What about trimming the shingles 1/2" back from the edge of the dormer? This would leave about a 1/2" gap between the edge of the siding and the flashing (there would be no more shingle right under the edge of the capboards. I would tar the edge of the shingles to the flashing.

The other thing I could do is just leave it. If it started to rot someday, I could cut back the claboards with circulr saw (without removing them). I have seen the done. Then I would install a bandboard (like you describe along the roofline ( leaving the 1/2" gap).

If it’s not actually (wrong) in roofing terms I am inclined to leave it alone unless it actually starts to rot.

Thanks for the help.

The problem is that the cedar will wick the water off the roof into the wood causing rott.

There is no simple easy fix…too close to the roof to get a circular saw in there to cut the siding back.

when you sidewall a cheek or anywhere abutting a roofline you always use a spacer “like one end of a clapboard or piece of lath”. never ever cut the siding tight to the roof it will rot out prematurely or sure.

Easiest fix at this point is to cut your shingle back from the wall 1/2" which will get the siding off them.
Done right it should still look ok. Just make sure to cut them in line with the siding profile and you should be ok. It’s either that or rip the wall up and start over.

I knew about the reveal and had discussed it with him awhile back. I thought he would remember and that everyone knew this anyway. I will have him cut the shingles back 1/2" away from the side of the boards (or do it myself). This will give me a gap between the edge of the boards and the flashing. The flashing is all good so this shouldn’t cause leaks right??

I think Axiom had the right answer, however we’d still like a photo or two because

A) We figure if you want a good answer, we really really need to see what your situation is
&
B) Some of us can’t read & we like to look @ pictures, then point at stuff & grunt.

Depending on how long a stretch this is & what access is like, you could always snap a chalk line & then get in there with a grinder or dremel tool… that’s the only option I can think of.