Old Roof Decking

In older houses decking is typically made of lumber place perpendicular to rafters trusses.

Old roof decking.

Since the boards used for shiplap were manufactured here in the pacific northwest it was still cheaper than plywood up through the 1960s. It is important for us to point this out because here in maine many historic homes are maintained for both residential and business uses. Until the 1940s exterior grade plywood was not available. To prevent future mold growth remove the source of moisture causing it.

Prevent future mold growth. These decks rarely had roof insulation installed on them since energy was relatively cheap so typical construction might have called for a layer of rosin treated paper followed by two layers of bitumen impregnated roofing felt nailed followed by three more layers of 15 asphalt or pitch impregnated organic roofing felt mopped together. If you remove it all then reinstall you can have cracking and popping of the drywall ceiling. That will save you as much as 1 000 and a fair bit of mess but it means the roofer can t inspect and repair the decking and flashing underneath.

In the 1950s plywood sheathing and particleboard became common and today most standard construction roofs use either half inch plywood or particleboard s big brother oriented strand board osb. Old houses with asphalt shingles usually had either tongue and groove boards or straight sided boards abutting. We knew that this old house had significant gaps in the wood p. In the first half of the 20th century roofs in missouri were built with wood shingles over planks spaced about 1 apart.

It s important to know what kind of a substrate is underneath the wood shakes before removing. Strip away the old you re permitted to have two layers of asphalt shingles on your roof so if there s only one in place now you can have a new layer installed right on top. Plank sheathing usually 1 6 or 1 8 was used as a roof deck before plywood. Roof decks on homes built before 1970 are often 1 8 fir pre plywood shiplap.

Plywooding over old roof deck one thing to consider when stripping off the old plywood is to remove and replace as you go. If there is a leak in the roof plumbing or windows the mold will reappear if the water is.