Questions tagged [roof]
For questions regarding the roof of a home or other structure in general, including roofing types, installation, maintenance and repair, upgrades, venting, and potential problems.
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Is fiberglass showing on roof shingles an indicator of immediate repair needed?
We have a storm coming in today so I spent the day yesterday cleaning my gutters which were chocked full of debris. They also a significant amount of roof material in my gutters (my understanding is I ...
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Is it better to vent a bathroom fan out the soffit, the side of the house, or the roof?
Working on a friend's house, we're installing a bathroom fan. He had planned to vent the fan out the closest soffit, which is only a few feet away. I'm trying to persuade him to vent it out the roof ...
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How do I find the source of the water leaking through the ceiling?
I live in Minnesota in a single story rambler with full basement. In an upstairs corner bedroom I started noticing some water leaking in the closet ceiling a week or two ago (picture is current, it ...
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Mild water damage on drywall from leaky roof
We have a fairly new house (built in 1997). Cheap roof and we had a big windstorm a few years back that resulted in some lost shingles that I had patched -- no major problems. Recently we had a much ...
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Cladding removed from sides of dormer, should it be covered if not being replaced for a week?
I'm having all of the soffits, fascias & guttering replaced along with cladding to the sides of upstairs dormer windows. The upstairs windows look like this picture:
The guy doing the work ...
- 173
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Do I need to add roof vents if I close off a small attic space in the garage?
I have a small section of roof over the front of my garage, which I would like to insulate and drywall (making my garage fully insulated).
It is 39" high, and 54" by 17', framed with 2x4 trusses, ...
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How to fit vents in a roof
The home we have just brought has no vents in its tiled roof; therefore it is getting a lot of condensation in the loft.
So how do I fit vents?
Do the vent you fix from the inside (rather than ...
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Do I run screws through the "tops" or through the "bottoms" of the corrugated steel in roofing? [closed]
Suppose I want to cover a roof with corrugated steel sheets. Imagine a sheet laying on the roof. It will have "tops" - zones that are further from the roof surface and "bottoms" - zones that are ...
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My house is nearing 20 years, what will break soon?
Okay, I recently learned that most appliances/things start breaking once the house reaches around 20 years. I'm running 19 now.
From what I have heard, roof (although mine is apparently a 30 year ...
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Does this roof vent flashing need replacement?
We had a water heater and vent put in 15 years ago. It looked odd from the start with some sort of metal mesh and sealer, which I assume is a patch job. Is that the normal way to do patch? We had them ...
- 237
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Can a flat and level roof be waterproof?
I would like to build a 6 x 8 ft playhouse with a deck covering the top. Is there a kind of roofing material that can (1) withstand a floating deck, (2) is DIY friendly (no blowtorches, hot asphalt, ...
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Should I install soffit or gable venting with a 3:12 pitch roof?
Been trying to find a reputable and concrete answer as to what type of ventilation we should use on our ranch house that has a 3/12 pitch shingled roof. The house is located in the Cincinnati Ohio ...
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What is the lifespan of plywood as roof decking?
We have a 30 year old roof in New England, which we have begun to interview roofers for this spring/summer.
The topic of plywood has come up and 2 have said we definitely need to replace the ...
- 1,032
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How is installing roof sheathing horizontally stronger than vertically?
Prompted by a comment in this answer:
What is better for a roof, plywood or OSB?
Why is it stronger to install roof sheathing horizontally? Yes, it ties in more rafters, but in what manner is that ...
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Can hail-damaged shingles be repaired, or should they be replaced?
We had a nasty hail storm recently and while none of the shingles are pierced or broken there is extensive damage to the top layer but so far we had no indication that the roof is leaking. Based on ...
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How can I keep animals out of my chimney?
I own a three story house with two chimneys. The chimney in the center of the house has two flue liners, one of which is used by our hot water heater and the other was for a fireplace that is sealed ...
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Sacrificial Barn Roof
So I am building a rather large (large for me anyway) barn/sheep shelter. It will measure 16x48 when complete. I have already started the framing, as you can see in the pics (the diagonal pieces are ...
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Bathroom vent through existing roof vent
I have a roof with two gable vents as well as slanted vents that look a lot like these one:
I do not want to install an extra vent specifically for bathroom so I was wondering if I could use one of ...
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Why are nails showing in my attic after new roof was installed?
I live in Northwestern Florida (Crestview), and I never go in my attic during the summer because it's tooo hot.
In July we got a new roof and solar panels. I had to go in the attic to retrieve ...
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What do I do with a leaky roof in the middle of January?
I removed the ceiling Sheetrock and insulation during a bathroom remodel in my master bathroom on the 2nd floor of my house. I have snow on the roof that is melting and I found two small drips coming ...
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What kind of vent is pictured here and what are its uses?
While my roof was being replaced, I requested that they install two roof vents. One for laundry and one for bathroom fan. They installed two of these. I just tried connecting the bathroom fan to this ...
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Can gutters be installed on top of shingles?
I saw the strangest thing in northern New York State in an area that gets a lot of snow.
Gutters were installed on top of the roof, maybe over the 4th or 5th row of shingles up from the bottom.
This ...
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What is the minimum roof slope to accommodate rainwater drainage?
I have a patio with a 13ft(4m) by 26ft (8m) Roof, the slope runs vertically down the short (13ft) side.. and the height difference from the high point to the low point is only about 10in (25cm).
...
- 3,372
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Is there a recommended vent for new roof?
I am redoing my roof. I already decided to add sofit ventilation which I currently do not have.
I have gable vents, and already decided to go with normal eyebrow vents Vs ridge ventilation.
Question ...
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Is a ridge beam necessary for a small shed roof?
I am planning a 12x8 shed and looking at frame designs on the web. I see a mix of ideas out there that are all presumably just as good as the next. One inconsistency I see is that some roofs have a ...
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Does water dripping through my soffit indicate a problem?
When it rains, water drips through the soffit and along the inside face of the fascia. This picture shows the water dripping through, but when it rains harder sometimes there's more:
My landlord just ...
- 14.1k
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Do I need soffit vents when I have 2 gable vents and 5 normal peak vents?
We are in southeast Idaho, have a plain simple gable roof on a 1,050 square foot floor house; the roof's pitch is not great, probably 3 or 4/12 but normal for our area.
We have 1 vent at each gable ...
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How do I fix this missing soffit?
After this past harsh winter I noticed this spot on our house where it looks like some soffit panels had fallen out. Honestly, I'm not sure what was in the space prior; I never found any panels on ...
- 421
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Should I insulate my roof on the inside or outside?
I am renovating my house and am completely redoing my flat roof: ceilings, insulation and roof covering (I am planning to use EPDM rubber). In case it is relevant, I am living in the Netherlands.
My ...
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How can I lengthen my vent stack and are there any negative effects in doing so?
I have observed that when we receive a lot of snow here in Ontario, at least one of the drain vents on my roof is covered by snow. While after one winter in the house I have not yet observed any ill-...
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How to fix eaten/rotten rafter
I need to repair some rotten 5"x3.5" (actual size) rafters (the one in the pic is the worst). I'm thinking about using a pair of unequal length 2x6s to create a sort of half-lap joint with the cut-...
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Will combining roof venting systems cause short cycling?
I'm looking into buying a new house here in Wisconsin that has soffit vents, ridge vents and some additional static roof vents installed. However, when the home inspector came through he said that ...
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Does this 2x4 support my gable ridge?
I'm installing a floor in my attic. To open up the space and simplify the flooring I'm removing temporary construction bracing. Most of the bracing is easy to identify, since it clearly does not ...
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Was this part of roof and eaves done right?
Look in pictures below. This section of roof was open before and we asked if it could be covered. We are getting a new roof and roofer said no problem and this was his solution. However, his roofers ...
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Wind Mitigation
I live in Jacksonville, FL and my insurance premium went up by about $500/yr. I was told that the biggest reason was because my house isn't up to current code for hurricane/wind mitigation. I'm a ...
- 365
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How much ventilation do I need on a small roof?
This small building has a footprint of 10' x 12' with a gable roof (sideways, so the gables are 10' apart). Slope is 4:12, so the peak is only 2' above the walls. My ridge isn't vented, so I'll be ...
- 11.7k
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Is translucent fiberglass roof cooler or hotter than opaque roof
We are building a roof over garden table: sort of like a pergola with roofing. We are using OSB panels for insulation and fiberglass roofing sheets for weather protection. We already chose translucent ...
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How can I repair a Palruf roof?
I've installed a couple of transparent Palruf PVC sheets for a treehouse roof. I've gotten some small (several inch) holes in it that I'd like to patch up. I have some small pieces of Palruf left over ...
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How can I locate and repair a leak on a flat roof?
I recently experienced a roof leak on a heavy raining day in the east coast.
Picture 1: This is the interior ceiling.
I tore open the ceiling sheetrock and could see that water was dripping from the ...
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What are the pros/cons of Ondura for roofing?
I came across Ondura in Lowes this morning and had never heard of it. It looks pretty slick. Does anyone have experience with it to share? I found no matches when searching here and was sort of ...
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How to mute water drops on a glass canopy?
I live in a small building (3 stories), and the ceiling of my kitchen is a glass canopy with rain water pipes just above (about 8 meters above).
One of the pipe is directly above a small aluminum ...
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Can a gambrel roof have outer instead of inner supports?
I have built some of the "arches" for a gambrel roof, I know support is needed so the roof doesn't collapse. Is it reasonable to run twin metal straps around the roofing diagonally on the outside for ...
- 155
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Is HVAC heat pump condenser better mounted to a wall or a flat roof?
My home has a split flat roof. One section is 3' taller than the other. I'm considering replacing my gas furnace with heat pump. Would it be better to install the condenser unit on top of the flat ...
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Can you use plywood as roofing?
I've seen buildings where plywood was used as both wall sheathing and siding. T-111 is commonly used this way, for example.
Would it work to do the same thing on a roof?
I assume it wouldn't last ...
- 11.7k
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How to remove moss from my roof?
My roof seems to be growing moss and I'd like to remove it. I did some research and it looks like the solution is to mix water and bleach, spray the mix on the moss and then scrub the moss off about ...
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How do I put up a roof ladder?
What is a safe process for getting a roof ladder on and off the roof?
- 6,219
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How effective to use zinc strip to prevent roof moss
I live in Seattle. My 6 years old composite shingles start to grow moss this year.
I read one post on YouTube that you can use a long zinc strip placed on top of your roof to prevent moss. I am ...
- 209
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How to replace facia boards?
What are the essential steps to replacing facia boards without destroying the existing shingle roofing?
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How to plan for the future when installing a new roof?
We're hiring a contractor to take off the existing roof, repair/replace any rotted sheathing and rafters, and install a new roof. We've also asked that they add a new plumbing vent stack for a new ...
- 1,974
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Replacing damaged shingles
In a recent storm a few shingles were damaged and need to be replaced, so I figured this might be a good question for the site.
What's the proper procedure for replacing single asphalt shingles?
- 132k