Leak in roof vent

This is only tangentially related to plumbing problems but you guys seem to know everything.

This summer I had a new roof installed. The roofer insisted that all vents be installed by him because "I (the roofer) am responsible for all leaks".

So I had him install the bathroom vent.

We had a ton of snow here in the Denver area about a week ago. Friday evening (Christmas weekend, ugh!) I got about 15 gallons of water to leak through the ceiling causing drywall and paint damage. New drywall and paint job, too, because it was all part of a renovation with a new roof.

I went up on the roof and shoveled all the snow near the leak. Leak slowed down a lot.

Tuesday morning (first day after Christmas) at 7:30 I was at his office. 8:30 he had a crew out looking for the leak. They found two. A tiny pinhole leak near a roof cricket and a huge leak in the vent that he installed. His guys had forgotten to caulk near the top flange of the vent when they installed it.



My question to you: He came out the moment he knew. But he wasn't around over the Christmas holiday. He also caused about (I guess) $700 in damage. Since the roof was insulated, maybe damage to the insulation, too.

(Spoke to the insulation manufacturer and they said that if fiberglass bats get wet and then dry out that they will be fine. Only if they get wet with dirty water will there be a problem.)

I don't want to sue him over the damage but I also don't want to shaft myself since I'm going to have to repair the drywall and also repaint.

I told my wife that it is probably worth $700 to stay on this guy's good side since he did respond immediately.

What do you guys think?

My 2 cents worth...

I am not a plumber, or for that matter any kind of tradesman.

It was the job of the plumber to put in the vent and caulk, or the HVAC if it was a gas vent.

In my opinion roofers are the worst of any trades people, he has insurance, have him pay for the repairs, use a different roofer next time.

My roofer installed the drip edge on top of the tar paper, I guess he figured it didn't matter since the concrete mission tile went on top of that, I added an attached garage to my house, he did the roof... and silly me I thought the water would run off over the drip edge and onto the garage roof... nope, water blown up under the mission tile and down the tar paper and under the drip edge and therefore under the facia, and into the garage/workroom... I spent 2 years trying to figure out where it was leaking, roofer said his warrenty period was up... I think that was when he left the property. They also only nail the outside 2 rows/collumns of tile, stating the rest just float... except when hit by a dust devil it will rip out a 5' x 5' section and throw them where ever... This topic was about VENTING correct, I guess I've vented enought.

Rancher