jimmyj
Elite Member
- Joined
- Aug 28, 2007
- Messages
- 4,145
- Location
- Ontario Canada
- Tractor
- Allis Chalmers 616 (Two) and a Kioti CK30 HST with loader and backhoe
Hi gang.
I need your advice about the work I am about to do at our home. I am going to get the local code requirements tomorrow but in the meantime I'm in a quandary.
The house is not quite 30 years old and the existing roof is OSB sheets 16" OC. The OSB is frighteningly thin, I think it's only 3/8" which apparently was allowed even though it's shocking to me. When I walk on the roof I can feel the flex and I guarantee if I stomped really hard I could break through. The other issue I have is the roof is shingled, but when I check the pitch it's way too flat for shingles. The pitch is less than 3 / 12, I'd estimate about 2.6 / 12. The current shingles are failing badly, I feel because of this, and about 3 of the sheets of ply show rot when I inspect them from the attic. The rot appears to be where the 3/8" OSB has sagged and water is simply going around and under the shingles (although I cannot confirm that to be 100% accurate). The baffles that vent from the soffit are made of plywood and 2x2s, but at least there are baffles! The venting is by way of a ridge vent and all soffits are vented. Roof size is two halves, each 53 feet long and about 14 feet wide so total roof is about 1500 sqft.
So, here is what I was thinking.
Option 1. Remove all shingles, replace all bad existing OSB with identical thickness new OSB. Then, lay an entire new layer of 1/2" plywood overtop to give me a thicker combined roof deck (I already have this ply on hand leftover from another project). Then, put complete coverage of ice and water shield over the whole roof (the torch down kind) and lastly put a sheet-steel roof over the whole thing (with all proper drip edge, new fascia flashings, etc etc.). Stick with ridge venting but install some sort of gaskets to prevent wind pushed water from flowing up hill and down into the ridge. (Goodness knows why we have not had water flow up the shingles and in the ridge to date, I know the ridge vent has a bit of a lip inside).
Option 2. Remove all shingles and all existing OSB (seems a shame considering 95% of it is fine in terms of no rot). Install all new plywood and then the same final covering with the ice and water shield and sheet steel.
Option 3. Replace the entire works with new trusses with a steeper pitch and the steel roof. This would create all sorts of extra work as the gable ends would no longer match, plus other issues with the intersecting peak of the house etc. Also I would have to involve an engineer and it would be very costly.
I would rather do option 1, I estimate it would add about 1500 lbs of ply to the roof, then on top of that the ice and water shield and steel. Overall I would have to calculate the total weight to make sure it's ok but considering how much snow and ice we've had on this house I can't imagine it would be too heavy. The current trusses are engineered but only 2x4, again on 16" centers.
So wise TBN'ers, what do you think? Have you ever double thicked roof decking on a house? I know they do for wood board houses but not so much ply over OSB.
Any comments would be appreciated.
Jim
I need your advice about the work I am about to do at our home. I am going to get the local code requirements tomorrow but in the meantime I'm in a quandary.
The house is not quite 30 years old and the existing roof is OSB sheets 16" OC. The OSB is frighteningly thin, I think it's only 3/8" which apparently was allowed even though it's shocking to me. When I walk on the roof I can feel the flex and I guarantee if I stomped really hard I could break through. The other issue I have is the roof is shingled, but when I check the pitch it's way too flat for shingles. The pitch is less than 3 / 12, I'd estimate about 2.6 / 12. The current shingles are failing badly, I feel because of this, and about 3 of the sheets of ply show rot when I inspect them from the attic. The rot appears to be where the 3/8" OSB has sagged and water is simply going around and under the shingles (although I cannot confirm that to be 100% accurate). The baffles that vent from the soffit are made of plywood and 2x2s, but at least there are baffles! The venting is by way of a ridge vent and all soffits are vented. Roof size is two halves, each 53 feet long and about 14 feet wide so total roof is about 1500 sqft.
So, here is what I was thinking.
Option 1. Remove all shingles, replace all bad existing OSB with identical thickness new OSB. Then, lay an entire new layer of 1/2" plywood overtop to give me a thicker combined roof deck (I already have this ply on hand leftover from another project). Then, put complete coverage of ice and water shield over the whole roof (the torch down kind) and lastly put a sheet-steel roof over the whole thing (with all proper drip edge, new fascia flashings, etc etc.). Stick with ridge venting but install some sort of gaskets to prevent wind pushed water from flowing up hill and down into the ridge. (Goodness knows why we have not had water flow up the shingles and in the ridge to date, I know the ridge vent has a bit of a lip inside).
Option 2. Remove all shingles and all existing OSB (seems a shame considering 95% of it is fine in terms of no rot). Install all new plywood and then the same final covering with the ice and water shield and sheet steel.
Option 3. Replace the entire works with new trusses with a steeper pitch and the steel roof. This would create all sorts of extra work as the gable ends would no longer match, plus other issues with the intersecting peak of the house etc. Also I would have to involve an engineer and it would be very costly.
I would rather do option 1, I estimate it would add about 1500 lbs of ply to the roof, then on top of that the ice and water shield and steel. Overall I would have to calculate the total weight to make sure it's ok but considering how much snow and ice we've had on this house I can't imagine it would be too heavy. The current trusses are engineered but only 2x4, again on 16" centers.
So wise TBN'ers, what do you think? Have you ever double thicked roof decking on a house? I know they do for wood board houses but not so much ply over OSB.
Any comments would be appreciated.
Jim