I was talking to a friend recently and he said an old home caught fire and when the fire dept cut a hole through the roof they had trouble cutting through all the layers of shingles. He said the roof had 12 layers.
Don’t know if this is true or not. Has anyone seen a roof with 12 layers of shingles?
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-Do the thing you fear and the death of fear is certain-
-Do the thing you fear and the death of fear is certain-
Replies
I suppose it could happen. Up until they finally re-roofed the place a year or two ago, the house next door to me had seven layers of shingles. It's a rental property, and the owner was a real believer in deferred maintenance...
It's probably easier that way to take the shingles down than tearing them off on the roof.
What would you use for nails?
What would you use for nails?
Framing nailer.
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
I've cut into a roof that had five layers.I can't imagine the weight th roof was under, without wind or snow loads. And then to add a couple of heavily equiped firemen on top of that, their lucky it didn't collapse under them.
Was it a flat roof or pitched?
A flat, built-up roof with felt and tar can be as many layers thick as the roof can physically hold.
I've never seen shingles used on a flat roof yet
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Oops, you're right. I didn't see that shingles were mentioned. I just heard 12 layers.
I know what you were thinking tho. I've had to remove a BUR at nearly three inches thick!
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With a 5" exposure 12" shingles give you alternating "strips" of 3" of double coverage and 2" of triple coverage
with two reroofs w/o tear-off you can have 9 layers of shingles in spots.
add another re-roof +/or some tar paper and you could get 12 layers.
I've seen worse $hit...
Mr. T.
There's a steering-wheel in me pants and it's driving me nuts!!!
That is an intereswting way of looking at it. Obviously a fireman could be seeing it differently that a roofer would
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My sister used to rent a old house and she asked me what I thought about it. The first thing that I noticed was that the shingles were 2 1/2 - 3" thick I never counted the layers, but 12 layers sounds close.
I bet that it would really burn real nice. A few layers of cedar shingles at almost zero % moisture topped off with a couple of inches of petroleum products.
I once torched a old farm house because it was a nuisance. Once the roof caught the oils started boiling out of the shingles and running down. For a couple of minutes we had burning icicle.
I've seen 6 layers of asphalt shingles on top of one layer of cedar for a total of seven. The shingle mold had been replaced with a 1x6 to hide the bulk on the gable ends. The rafters (length no more than 12') were full 2x4 old growth pine on 20"-26" centers. No ridge board or collar ties. They were mortised and pegged. The sheathing was random width poplar split sheathing. There was no noticable sagging.
Birth, school, work, death.....................
http://grantlogan.net/
Most I've ever torn off was five. I bid that job for three, so I suffered on it.
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Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime.
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yeah, I got smoked on the 7 layers. I figured three at most on top of cedar. Tear off wasn't much worse. Dump fees were.Birth, school, work, death.....................
http://grantlogan.net/
Don't know if this is true or not. Has anyone seen a roof with 12 layers of shingles?
I don't think I have - but I have seen 3 tabs installed over a slate roof (no tear off) - -
How'd they manage to nail it on? Liquid nails?LOL
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Pole barn nails would work, but would have to hand nail!
David,
I have seen 3 tabs installed over slate many, MANY times. In some neighborhoods ,also---if I see an interlocking shingle I simply assume it is installed over slate---EXTREMELY common.
a 3 tab over slate tear-off is actually considerably easier than a 2layer or 3 layer ,3 tab tearoff ( many fewer nails)------ clean-up is a monster 'though
It is Very easy to hand nail straight through soft 60 year pennsylvania slate
Stephen
it just seems so wrong....
"there's enough for everyone"
David,
Here in the Northeast it's quite common to have slates laid over cedar or pine wooden shingles.
A lot of our housing stock was built in the early 1800's until Italianate s and slate became common in the 1850's.
When they built originally everything had a wooden roof-then when a new roof was needed slate was often used.Sometimes the wood was stripped and other times slated over.
So here in Maine it's not uncommon to reroof Greek Revival buildings from 1835 and have to remove the only two roofs the building has ever seen.
I don't have to tell you what a mess you look like upon returning home from work on those days.
That process enables me to have a large inventory of salvage slates however,since most customers opt for Architecturals to be used as the new roof-unless they are in a Historic District.
Something tells me that I am going to need your contact information someday, if you don't mind emailing it to me through here.
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Piffin,
Happy to oblige.I'm just up the road a piece-once you get to shore.
I'm heading out to Vinalhaven on Tues. to do some more on the Library and several private jobs.
Then a total hip replacement on March 1 using a minimally invasive procedure.
Hope to only be out a month.
I'll e-mail directly my info.
Hope you're progressing nicely.
Walter
If your new hip goes like my old shoulder - better be preparred to be out longer than that! Good luck with it!See you on the side.
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>>>>>>>a total hip replacement on March 1 using a minimally invasive procedure.Minimally invasive hip replacement? Sounds impossible to me, but good luck, Walter and please keep us posted. You'll probably have to stay off the roof for a day or two..........Birth, school, work, death.....................
http://grantlogan.net/
Grant,
The Doctor has done several dozen this way with real good results.
Less cutting of muscle so a much quicker healing and return to work.
He thinks a healthy 55 year old with a strong work ethic can be back in a month.
Thanks for the kind words,
Walter
OK, then. As long as you're not experiment to find out if it works.Birth, school, work, death.....................
http://grantlogan.net/
My girlfriend is an occupational therapist, and she treats MIS hips daily. One of the doctor's that pioneered the surgery is here in Pittsburgh. The advice she gave me to pass on is don't rush anything. Don't go home the same day if it doesn't feel right. Apparently, you will know if it feels "right". She said that you will heal faster, but that doesn't mean it's instantaneous.
She also said really be careful about not bending past 90 degrees, and you should be mostly pain free.
Good luck, and get well soon.
I was wondering how you do a minamal evasive hip replacment on a slate roof. Then I cought on that the hip replacement was on you.
Good luck.An inch to short. That's the story of my life !
bstcrpntr --- I hope to grow into this name.
David,
I would agree that it seems wrong
but I also know that many of these houses were built in the 1920's with low quality slate roofs( soft PA)---and then overlaid in the early 70's with 3 tabs or interlocking shingles
so that makes about a 30 plus year life span out of the roof that was done "wrong"
often the tear-off is quite easy---but the cleanup is absolutely filthy----and the house---and also the neighbors house usually needs a lot of plywood and tarps to protect from dust and flying slate.
Best wishes, Stephen
Long story I'll try to keep short.
My house has a kitchen ell built circa 1800, formerly an outbuilding that got moved over and attached to the house at some point. It has chestnut rafters about 3"x6" across a 14' span with about a 10-pitch. The rafters are about 30" on center. There was a layer of 3/4" plywood on the bottom and going up from there were 2 layers of 3-tabs, a layer of 5/8" plywood, 2 more layers of 3-tabs, 1/2" plywood, 1/4" plywood and 2 more layers of 3-tabs.
I guess somebody thought it was easier or cheaper to just nail down another layer of plywood and shingle over that than to strip the roof. Weird. There were skylights that looked flush with the roof but actually had a curb. The roof had been built up around them until they were flush, then somebody tried to stop the leaks by taping around the edges with bituthene.
My parents bought a farmhouse many years ago. When they ripped up the linoleum in the kitchen there were 13 layers. Seven layers down they found a dead mouse.
The farmer's wife kept about a dozen cats in the house. Not hard to guess what else was between those layers.
happy?
Ha, we counted 19 layers of wall paper here in my log house..some of the layers were pages from a bible, long ago pasted up in the stairwell. I have a hollow drill for ( of all things) drilling paper holes , I used when I packaged a product I was selling..and I drilled a plug of wall paper to get an accurate assessment of the layers..thats a lot of wall paper.
I guess it kept the drafts to a minimum?
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
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It was probably holding up the house. Where I work we do the same thing with computer cables.
If ignorance is bliss why aren't more people
happy?