Roofing Glossary

Kickout Flashing

Kickout flashing — also called a diverter — is a small, angled piece of metal installed where a roof slope meets a vertical wall at the eave, right where the gutter begins. Its job is to kick water running down the roof-wall joint outward into the gutter instead of letting it run down behind the siding.

Without a kickout, water concentrates at the bottom of the roof-to-wall joint and pours directly down the wall surface behind the siding and trim. The result is some of the worst rot inspectors find: soaked sheathing, destroyed trim, and mold inside the wall cavity — all from a missing six-inch piece of metal.

Kickouts are required by modern building codes but are missing on a huge percentage of existing homes, because the detail only became standard practice in the last couple of decades.

Why It Matters

This is the highest-value flashing detail per square inch on your house. If your home predates kickout requirements, adding them is cheap insurance against catastrophic wall rot.

What to Watch For

• Rotted siding or trim where a roof meets a wall above a gutter
• Water stains on the wall below a roof-wall joint
• No visible angled diverter at the bottom of roof-to-wall joints

A Maryland Note

Maryland's driving rains make missing kickouts especially destructive here — wall rot below roof-wall joints is a routine finding on Maryland home inspections.

Questions about your own roof? Request a free estimate or call Nucci Brothers Roofing at (301) 458-1003.