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- From: rrw@sunset (Bob Wier)
- Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
- Subject: Re: Shake roof maintenance (and replacement)
- Message-ID: <5860@naucse.cse.nau.edu>
- Date: 15 Nov 92 20:21:01 GMT
- References: <w9J6TB1w161w@cdthq.UUCP>
- Sender: news@naucse.cse.nau.edu
- Lines: 54
- Nntp-Posting-Host: sunset.cse.nau.edu
- Originator: rrw@sunset.cse.nau.edu
-
- While on this subject, I'd like to throw out the following to
- the net...
-
- I have a house in S.W. Colorado (a 102 year old restored small
- Victorian) with a cedar shake roof. This is old type construction
- where there were lathe strips applied over the rafters and
- shakes nailed to the strips. I've been warned a couple of
- times not to go to plywood sheathing in this situation due
- to the potential problems of moisture build-up (since shakes
- over lathe are naturally kind of "leaky" with regards to
- air penetration, the didn't have so much of a problem - the
- roof was just designed to keep the rafters dry, not necessarily
- warm - there are HEAVY amounts of insulation on the floor of
- the attic). Now, there are currently 3 layers of shakes applie
- d to the roof, so I'll have to strip back down to lathe the next
- time (code). Since I'm getting close to needing this (the top
- layer of shakes are curling badly) I'm starting to think about
- replacement materials.
-
- Couple of relevant things: the house is at 8,000' elevation,
- so in the summer there is a high Ultraviolet content in the
- sunlight (if you aren't used to it, it'll boil your brain
- in 20 minutes without a hat - even though it feels cool).
- Needless to say, this is murder on paint and drys wood out
- very quickly. Also the pitch of the roof is 12/12 - this is
- snow country (about 20 miles from Telluride - average about
- 180" per year) so the old timers really knew about how to
- shed snow - the city building inspector has come out to
- look at it (this is a town of 800) and said with that kind
- of pitch, he seen buildings in ghost towns which had holes
- in the roof where birds flew in and out and it still didn't
- get too wet inside.
-
- Anyway, to get back to the point, I live in fear and trembling
- every 4th of July about bottle rockets on my roof. (the 4th is
- THE major holiday in town - fireworks are not only permitted,
- they are SOLD BY THE FIRE DEPARTMENT (believe it or not)).
- So, I'm thinking that when I re-roof I might go to one of the
- shake look-alike materials, but which are fireproof. I've seen
- one type, the "Timberline" series (I forget who make's em) which
- look pretty good, but are somewhat expensive. Since I'm in a
- national historic district, the appearance is extremely important.
-
- I wonder if anyone has done this recently and if you can make
- recommendation / dis - recommendations on brands.
-
- THANKS
-
- - Bob Wier
-
- ---------- insert favorite standard disclaimers here ----------
- College of Engineering
- Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff Arizona
- Internet: rrw@naucse.cse.nau.edu | BITNET: WIER@NAUVAX | WB5KXH
-