I was just up on my roof, opening the roof vents for the summer, and I saw something that has me stumped. Let me describe, and maybe someone can explain what has happened.
The building is appx. 20 x 40′, with a hip roof of moderate pitch. A small duplex, it is covered by your classic 3-tab asphalt shingles. The roof is not shaded, or subject to damage in any way.
One long face – the side facing south – has lost essentially all of the gravel from the eastern half. Remaining shingles on this face, as well as every other face, appear ‘good as new.’ It’s pretty dramatic, with the damaged section ‘stepping’ it’s way down the roof, as though it was limited to specific shingles.
While some weathering has been noted in this area in the past, it’s pretty dramatic this year.
Perhaps it’s a coincidence, but the damaged section is over the occupied half of the duplex. The attic is not partitioned in any way.
What would cause this? Is it something as simple as a defective batch of shingles, or a damaged bundle? Can there be another cause?
Edited 5/24/2009 2:46 pm ET by renosteinke
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Defective batch of shingles. The step pattern you describe corresponds to the order the roofer would have installed the shingles from a single bundle.
"with the damaged section 'stepping' it's way down the roof, as though it was limited to specific shingles."
bad batch of shingles.
"on my roof, opening the roof vents for the summer,"
That's a new one on me. Vents are needed more to prevent ice damns in winter where I have lived.
but in a hot climate, it seems like you would have openned them two months ago.
What is your reasoning for closing them?
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I sort of suspected that we'd go off on a little tangent about my venting arrangements. :)
A little back-story. This little place was built in 1940. I moved in just before 'the' Sept 11,' and that September was an uncomfortable one. Even after sunset - our temps here typically from 30 degrees as soon as the sun sets, and climb again with the sunrise - temps inside would continue to climb. The temperature inside seemed to peak around bedtime.
Examining the roof closely the next Spring revealed that the roof was essentially unvented. The existing vents simply were not moving any air - I thought that perhaps they had been blocked in a re-roof job perhaps - and that there were no openings to let fresh air in.
So, I added a turbine vent to the middle of the roof, and added operable vents to the ceiling of each room. Thus, I can take the hottest air in the house -the air at ceiling level - and vent the rooms into the attic. This, in turn, displaces the even hotter air in the attic proper. When I unwrapped the turbine yesterday, the flow of heated air was obvious.
I swear, the moment I added that turbine to the roof, my indoor temps dropped 10 degrees! In retrospect, it must have been like when you hold a bottle upside down; the contents can't flow out until you add a second opening somewhere.
With our weather, we typically have a cold snap in mid-May, before the Summer really arrives. Thus, I don't uncover the vent until I'm sure I'm done heating for the season. The cover goes back on at the end of September.
I have a 'soaker' hose atop my roof as well. On exceptionally hot days, I will run this just long enough to wet the roof deck. With our low humidity, the fast evaporation cools the roof, which in turn leads to a cooler indoors. (The damaged area is in the wetted zone ... but half of the wetted zone is intact, as well).
Painting the house (it had been unpainted cement siding), planting grass on the bare yard (which acted like a 'heat mirror'), and covering the entire window area (not just the opening parts) with screens also made a major difference in the 'heat gain' of the house.
The result? Last Summer was claimed to be an unusually hot one, and I needed to wet the roof maybe a dozen times. I never felt the need to use the swamp cooler, and my air conditioner (a gift 'window shaker') has never been used.
this little place was build.....
Little place ? 401 feet long???
No attic partition - is moist air being vented into the atticspace?
Forty feet long ... 20x40, split into two 20x20 units. Built in 1940; roof nowhere near that old. Evidence of a roof leak suggests the place got a new roof maybe 10, 15 years ago.
Moist air is generally not vented into the attic. That is, the bath has a window, and the kitchen fan exhausts through the wall. In winter, the ceiling vents are closed off.
I'll go check my earlier post for typos; thx.