The Roof Penetration Closeout SOP

Purpose

Every visit to a roof ends with each penetration the crew touched inspected against a stated standard, photographed, checked from the attic where the attic is reachable, and written into the job record. A roof leak shows up weeks later, on the ceiling, often after another trade has been up there. The shop that can produce four dated photos of its flashing and an attic note saying the decking was dry on the day it left is the shop that does not end up paying for someone else's leak, and the shop that cannot is the one that finds its own unsealed lag holes on the next call.

Scope

Covered. Any visit where anyone from the shop works on a roof surface: installing or replacing a vent, cap, boot, mount, conduit or line-set penetration; removing equipment and leaving holes; and penetrations the crew did not work on but disturbed by walking, kneeling or setting material beside them.

Not covered. How to flash and seal a new penetration, which How to Seal a Roof Penetration That Will Not Leak owns; the closeout checks it as built. Roofing replacement or tear-off, which runs under the roofing trade's own procedure. Low-slope membrane roofs, where the membrane manufacturer's repair procedure governs. Combustion venting checks beyond confirming the cap is back and the appliance vents, which the venting procedure for that appliance owns.

Roles and responsibilities

The handoff that fails is roof to attic. The attic check is done against the same numbered list, so "number 3, the exhaust cap" means the same thing up top and below.

Procedure

1. Get on the roof under the visit's fall-protection plan, and set the ladder to come back down. Before climbing: no rain, frost, dew or wind strong enough to move a sheet of plywood, and no moss or loose granule beds on the route. The ladder extends at least 3 ft above the eave, is tied off at the top, and sits clear of the overhead service drop. Acceptance: plan named for this roof (slope, eave height, anchor or other system), ladder at about 1 ft out for every 4 ft of height and secured top and bottom. Wrong looks like a ladder footed on a wet deck, or "it's only a 4:12". Stop rule: if the plan's system cannot be set up on this roof, nobody goes up and the work is rescheduled. Hazard: falls are the injury on this job; residential roof work that is construction (installing, replacing or repairing roof components) falls under 29 CFR 1926 Subpart M, where 1926.501(b)(13) requires fall protection at 6 ft or more, while servicing equipment that happens to sit on a roof can fall under general industry at 29 CFR 1910.28, so the shop's plan states which applies to this visit, and the first person up is protected by how they reach and set the first anchor, not by intention.

2. Write the numbered list of every penetration touched. Number them from the ladder outward: worked on, newly made, removed (leaving holes), and any you knelt, walked or set material beside. Acceptance: a list with a number, a one-word name and an action (new, replaced, resealed, removed, disturbed) per item, made before inspecting. Wrong looks like a list of only the penetration on the work order, which misses the satellite mount the customer asked you to pull. Stop rule: if you are not sure whether you disturbed one, it goes on the list. Hazard: writing a list on a pitched roof means sitting or kneeling tied off, with the phone or clipboard on a lanyard, never standing to write.

3. Inspect each numbered penetration against the flashing standard. For each: the flashing base tucked under the shingle course above and lying over the course below; no fastener head exposed and unsealed; the boot or collar intact, with no crack, tear or gap where it meets the pipe; any storm collar sealed to the pipe; sealant continuous where it is part of the assembly, with no voids. Acceptance: all five conditions observed at every item, and holes left by removals filled and covered by flashing under the course above, never sealant alone. Wrong looks like a bead of sealant over an exposed lag head, or a flashing base sitting on top of the upslope shingles. Stop rule: any item failing a condition gets fixed to the flashing standard now and re-inspected, and an item you cannot fix with the material on the truck is tarped or covered and recorded as open, never left as is. Hazard: lifting shingles to tuck flashing means a flat bar worked while kneeling, tied off, with your weight never on the lifted course, and in cold weather shingles crack when bent, so work them only when they flex without cracking.

4. Check the field around each penetration for damage your crew caused. Look within a few feet of each item and along the route you walked. Acceptance: no creased, cracked or lifted tabs, no scuffed bare spots, and every lifted tab pressed back into its sealant strip. Wrong looks like a crease across a tab where someone knelt on a hot afternoon, which sheds granules and leaks within a season. Stop rule: a creased or cracked shingle is replaced or recorded as an open item with a photo, and you tell the customer the same day. Hazard: hot shingles scuff and slide under boots, so stay on walk boards or the planned route, tied off.

5. Photograph each item to a fixed set. Four photos per numbered item: from upslope, from downslope, a close shot showing fasteners and seal, and a wide shot showing where it sits on the roof. Acceptance: four photos per item, timestamped, named by list number. Wrong looks like one phone shot from the ladder. Stop rule: if a photo is blurred or missing, retake it before you descend, because nobody climbs back up for a photo. Hazard: shooting means a stable stance, tied off, and never stepping backward to frame a shot.

6. Clear debris and put back what was taken off. Collect every screw, cut-off, tube, tie and wrapper; clear valleys and gutters below the work. Reinstall any cap, cover or screen removed. Acceptance: no loose items on the roof or in gutters below the work, and every removed cap back on and fastened. Wrong looks like a screw in a valley, which a foot later drives through the shingle. Stop rule: a part that will not go back as it was is recorded as open. Hazard: where a cap you removed serves a gas appliance's vent, the appliance stays off until the cap is back, and after it is, the appliance gets the venting procedure's spillage check before anyone leaves it running, because a cap seated wrong can push combustion gas back into the house; a powered roof fan restarted is done with hands clear of the blade and its disconnect closed last.

7. Descend under the same plan, then check each item from the attic. Lower tools by line, then climb down facing the ladder with three points of contact. If a temporary anchor cannot be removed with the worker still protected, it stays, its fasteners are sealed, the customer is told, and it joins the list as a penetration. In the attic, find each numbered item and look for daylight around it, fresh staining, wet decking, and a fastener that missed into the attic. Acceptance: for every reachable item, no daylight, no new stain, decking dry by a moisture meter reading comparable to a reference spot a few feet away, and any duct or vent connected to its roof cap. Wrong looks like a quick look from the hatch at items 20 ft away. Stop rule: daylight or a disconnected duct sends the tech back up (step 1 again) or the item is recorded open; an attic you cannot reach is recorded as "not checked, no access", never as "no leaks". Hazard: in the attic, step on framing only, never on ceiling drywall, watch for nails through the roof deck at head height, avoid live cable splices, and limit time when attic air is hot, with water on hand.

8. Close the record before the job closes. Enter the list, results, photos and attic findings, and tell the customer any open item in writing. Acceptance: every list number has a result (pass, fixed, or open with reason) and photos. Wrong looks like "roof looked good". Stop rule: an open item creates a follow-up task with a date before the job is marked complete. Hazard: none at this step, it is done on the ground.

The record this produces

A roof closeout entry on the job: the date, weather, fall-protection plan used, the numbered list with each item's action and result, four photos per item, attic readings with the reference reading beside them, open items with the follow-up task, and what the customer was told. The office reads it when a leak call comes in, and a later tech reads it to know what this shop installed and what was already there.

A worked pass

Visit. Replace a cracked bath exhaust cap, reseal a plumbing vent with a new boot, and remove an unused satellite dish at the customer's request. Roof: architectural shingles, 6:12, eave at 11 ft. Plan: construction work, so 1926 Subpart M applies; two anchors, the first set from the ladder within reach of its top, the second at the ridge set while tied to the first; ladder tied off and extending 3 ft above the eave.

Step 2. List: 1, exhaust cap (replaced); 2, plumbing vent (boot replaced); 3, dish mount (removed, four lag holes); 4, a second plumbing vent 6 ft from item 2 (disturbed, the tech knelt beside it).

Step 3, item 3, fails. The tech had filled the four lag holes with sealant and pressed a bead over each. It fails the removal clause of the acceptance: all four holes are sealant alone, with no flashing over them. Stop rule taken: each hole is sealed, then covered with a piece of flat metal flashing slid under the course above, its top edge up under the next course, fastened under that course where it is covered. Re-inspected: all five conditions now observed. Items 1, 2 and 4 pass first time.

Step 4. One tab near item 3 has a crease from a knee. Replaced from the shingle bundle on the truck, sealed down.

Step 5. Sixteen photos, four per item, named 1-up, 1-down, 1-close, 1-wide and so on.

Step 6. Two screws found in the valley below item 3, removed. The cap at item 1 is the new one, fastened.

Step 7. The ridge anchor comes off with the tech tied to the anchor near the ladder, which is removed last from the ladder; both anchors' fastener holes are sealed and covered by the course above, and recorded as items 5 and 6. In the attic: items 2, 3 and 4 show no daylight, decking reads 11 percent on the meter against a reference of 10 percent at a spot 4 ft upslope. Item 1 fails: the exhaust duct is lying loose beside the new cap's collar, never reconnected. A disconnected bath fan dumps wet air into the attic every shower. Reconnected with a clamp and foil tape from inside, no return to the roof needed. Acceptance re-checked: connected.

Step 8. Six items, all pass after two fixes (item 3 flashing, item 1 duct), no open items. The customer gets a note that the dish holes were flashed, not just sealed.

References

• 29 CFR 1926 Subpart M, including 1926.501(b)(13) for residential construction, and 29 CFR 1926.1053 for ladders, where the visit is construction work
• 29 CFR 1910.28, duty to have fall protection, where the roof visit is general industry work
• Shingle manufacturer installation instructions for flashing and fastening details
• See related: How to Seal a Roof Penetration That Will Not Leak; How to Move Through an Attic Without Stepping Through a Ceiling; How to Check an Overhead Service Drop Before You Set a Ladder; The Penetration Record SOP