I was so close to having the roof sheathed & papered & it started raining. It’s been raining all week long. Now everything is completely soaked inside. The temperature has been 60’s & 70’s so I don’t have much hope of it drying out quick like earlier in the summer.
My fear is that the wood is now subject to rot.
It’s supposed to be less windy tomorrow, so I plan to get back up on the roof & finish it up. My hope is that if I can get the windows in next week I can fire up a heater inside or something to help it.
Will this do anything or am I pretty much screwed at this point? The wood inside is pretty saturated.
Edited 10/12/2005 11:13 pm ET by Soultrain
Replies
soul... most homes get soaked a couple times before they get dried in...
as long as you don't start closing walls it'll dry out..
the only thing you gotta watch for is warping plywood..
one of the reasons Advantech has become so popular
To build on what Mike said....most plywood that is rated for sheathing be it used for roofs or walls, is designed to take a certain amount of "soaking" as in your case. That is, it's ok if it happens several times, just not TOO many times after which its rating is no longer applicable and failure and diminished quality will certainly occur. You should be fine.
No sweat Soul... you're fine. I'm in MA and I'd have to guess that 95% of the houses I frame take at least one good soaking before they're dried in. Many see a heck of a lot more than that. Early Spring gets them the worst with cycles of snow, thaw, rain, freeze, etc. Imagine what Tim Uhler's houses must have to go through out there in the Great NorthWet.
Only thing I'd suggest (and it may not be necessary) but let the roof sheathing dry out before shingling. Even with your paper on it should dry out with a couple days of decent sun.
As said before, delaminating plywood will probably be the worst of your problems and you may not even get any of that. As well as watching the floor and roof seams in your sheathing, check the cut outs around your door and window RO's. Sucks to have to rip a tapered extension jamb because you didn't notice a buckle in the sheathing when installing the windows.
Suggest you avoid using a heater to dry it out. At first anyhow, since a quick forced dry could twist the framing.
Instead, leave doors and windows open as much as you can, letting the moisture evaporate on its own. Make sure you've sucked any basement puddles dry.
costofwar.com/
As far as drying out a house, My best luck comes from running heat and AC at the same time. or in the case of temporary stuff heat and a dehumidifier." If I were a carpenter"
Every house I build I end up being able to take care of the centeral AC or heat about 4 days during the project. And of coarse, these are the last 4 days... :-)
lol...welcome to my world.
Here in B.C. rain is what we live in for half the year.
if you're worried about over saturation; a dehumidifier will do the trick. The last house I helped my brother frame was pretty much rained on start to finish. once he got closed up he brought in some dehumidifiers and sucked out several buckets of water.
couple years later, the house is in great shape.
It is supposed to get nice and sunny here in Jersey after this weekend.
Definitely wait until the roof sheathing dries to shingle or you will just be trapping the moisture and inviting a whole host of problems in the future.
Great weather we're having this week, huh?
Brutal.
Thanks all for the responses. I feel better.