Kick-out flashing is a small, angled piece of metal installed at the bottom of a step-flashing run, where a roof-to-wall joint ends at a gutter or roof edge. It diverts, or kicks out, the water running down that wall joint so it lands in the gutter instead of continuing behind the siding and down the wall. A missing kick-out flashing is a well-documented cause of hidden wall rot, since water can run behind siding for years before any damage is visible.
At the bottom of any step-flashing run, the water that has been traveling down a roof-to-wall joint has to go somewhere. Kick-out flashing is the small, angled piece that gives it a clean exit.
Installed right where the step flashing ends and meets the gutter or roof edge, kick-out flashing is bent outward at an angle, physically diverting the water stream away from the wall and out into the open, usually straight into the gutter below.
Without it, the water that step flashing has been guiding down the wall simply keeps going where the step flashing stops, running behind the siding at the bottom of the wall instead of dropping into the gutter.
That gap is easy to miss during construction, since the roof and the siding are often installed by different trades and the small piece can fall between the two scopes of work. It is a detail that rarely gets caught unless someone is specifically looking for it, which is why a careful estimate names it explicitly wherever a roof edge ties into a wall.
The consequence is slow and hidden. Water running behind siding for months or years rots the wall sheathing and framing from the inside, often with no visible sign until the siding is pulled off or a wall starts to feel soft.
A missing kick-out flashing is one of the more expensive oversights to catch late, precisely because the damage builds silently behind a wall. Anywhere a roof edge dead-ends into a wall, check specifically for one before assuming the flashing is complete.
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