What is the difference between a pipe boot and a pipe jack?
Short answer. In practice there is usually no difference: pipe boot, pipe jack, roof jack, pipe collar and vent pipe flashing all describe the flashing that seals a plumbing vent where it comes through the roof. Some people say pipe jack for all-metal or lead versions and pipe boot for the rubber collar style, and roof jack can also mean an exhaust vent hood or the steel brackets roofers stand on.
The terms, decoded
- Pipe boot: most often a metal or plastic base with a rubber neoprene or EPDM collar that grips the pipe.
- Pipe jack or roof jack: a regional name for the same part, sometimes used for all-metal versions.
- Lead boot or lead jack: soft lead folded down into the top of the pipe, with no rubber to crack.
- Storm collar: a metal band clamped around a hot flue pipe above its flashing; used on furnace and water heater vents, not plumbing vents.
- Exhaust jack or vent hood: the louvered cap where a bath fan or kitchen hood vents through the roof.
- Roof jacks for staging: steel brackets nailed to the deck to hold a plank for roofers. Same name, nothing to do with pipes.
What matters more than the name
- Size: matched to the pipe diameter, commonly 1.5, 2, 3 or 4 inch.
- Collar material: standard rubber cracks soonest in the sun; silicone and lead last longer.
- Base: galvanized steel, aluminum or plastic, installed with its upper half under the shingles and lower half over them.
When a quote says replace roof jacks, ask which ones: the plumbing vents, the exhaust vents, or both, and what material the replacements are. See pipe boot leaks and roof anatomy explained.