The neighbor's house

[Bain]

The photo is of the house next door to the one I was checking out this morning. The thing was approximately 100 years old, so I have to assume the decking was one-bys. But how could they sag so uniformly? The decking could have been replaced, clearly, but in my area roofers typically install OSB on top of the original plank decking if it's shot. Both layers could be sagging, of course, but that would be pretty strange. Has anyone ever been in the attic of a house with this kind of failed roof? I realize it sounds a little weird, but I sat there on the roof this morning, fascinated by the mess next door.

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[charlie]

looks like shingles over an old standing seam roof maybe

[hausdok]

Well, it's kind of a far-out-there thought, but what if they stripped off the original wood shingles and then worked their way from the top down, nailing the shingles directly to the rafters without any skip or decking? Or, maybe the original cedar shingle deck is still there and is in pretty bad shape. It looks like it had rotted from the eaves inward, necessitating repairs. If the cedar was rotten enough and old enough it might be sagging under the weight of the comp cover.

OT - OF!!!

M.

[charlie]

seriously---I think you will find they just hammered the standing seams flat and then just shingled over it

[Bain]

Both notions seem plausible. What kind of knucklehead thinks sheet metal will suffice for decking?

Then again, it's probably been done many, many times with similar results.

John

[Bill Kibbel]

Charlie is correct. I've probably seen a couple hundred.

What kind of knucklehead thinks sheet metal will suffice for decking?

Old metal roofs are always over solid planks here.

[Jim Baird]

I've seen multi-layered asphalt shingles look like that. So much weight that deck is swagging between rafters, roofers just keep piling it on.

[hausdok]

Originally posted by Jim Baird

I've seen multi-layered asphalt shingles look like that. So much weight that deck is swagging between rafters, roofers just keep piling it on.

Huh,

I had a roof with no less than 6 layers of asphalt on top of a 3/8" plywood deck and there wasn't any sagging like that.

OT - OF!!!

M.

[SonOfSwamp]

I vote shingles over standing seam. Seen it lots of times.

WJ

[hausdok]

Wow,

If that's the case, they would have taken a roof that can last 100 years and stuck a 20-year product on top of it. What a shame.

OT - OF!!!

M.

[Jim Baird]

Hey Mike O',

The one or ones I saw looking like that were shingles piled on top of old wood shakes that had been put on skipped nailers.

[InspectionConnection]

I have a couple of questions,

How would you guys report this condition and what actions would you recommend? (if this was indeed the house being inspected)

[Jim Baird]

Without a look from underneath I wouldn't render a description.