Re-sheeting
Replacing rotten plywood with new 1/2″ CDX plywood. Also note the ridge vent slot cut in to allow proper venting. When the roof is completed it will have a special “shingle over ridge vent system” installed over the open slot!
a house can add great strength and integrity to a very important component…Your roof!
- There are many homes in Spokane that were built in the 1950’s or earlier, that still have spaced sheeting and eventually will need to have re-sheeting done. Why? Because building codes have been revised over the years to reduce weight on housing structures and to get down to the foundation of the roofing deck to inspect and replace neglected areas hidden under layers of roofing. Click here to look at Spokane’s current roofing permit requirements.
So why do I have to have re-sheeting done?
Again, if your home was built before the 1960’s, there is good chance that your “roofing deck” (the sheeting) nailed on top of your rafters that has multiple layers of roofing shingles on it, is spaced sheeted.
Looking from inside the attic at “spaced sheeting.” This will be covered from the outside with 1/2″ CDX plywood, then rubber ice shield, then felt underlayment and finally roofing shingles.
What I mean is, there is layer upon layer upon layer of roofing materials that were nailed on top of one another over the years. When it came time to replace the roof on your home, rather than removing that first layer of roofing, the contractor or homeowner installed a layer of roofing right over this first layer of roofing. In fact the older the home is the higher chance that the very first layer of roofing is a thin wood cedar shingle. Under this wood cedar shingle is what’s called the “spaced sheeting.” This means that there are typically 1” x 4” boards nailed perpendicular to the roof rafters. These boards cover the entire roofing deck but are spaced with about a 3” gap between each board going up to the ridge. This type of building or construction allowed the wood cedar shingles to “breathe” and allow the moisture out of the attic in the winter and the heat out in the summer.
- So to sum it up. Lets say your home was built in the early 1900’s. The first layer was the wood cedar shingle. Fast forward 25 years from building-birth and someone decided to install a composition/granulated roofing shingle right over the top of that wood cedar shingle. Then fast forward another 25 years and someone installed another layer of composition over this first layer of composition and so on and so on. Now 100 years later with your beautiful 1910 home, you are ready to have a new roof installed and you are told that “all the layers” of roofing have to be removed down to the spaced sheeting and you must then install some sort of “solid sheeting” over the spaced 1 x 4 boards. This is what is called “re-sheeting.” When this is required, and in order to meet code, we must re-sheet the roofing deck prior to installing any roofing material.
Call us at 509-535-1566 or use our contact form to have one of our roofing professionals contact you about your re-sheeting needs.
