Roofs

[BantyHugger]

Today we had something like 50 mph winds. The old roof on our chicken house had been looking kinda shabby for a while and today part of it collapsed. We have never been master builders so i'm sure this was partly due to our craftsmanship. Does anyone know wind tollerant roof options? I will post pics tomorrow if i can.

 

[acheeknmanbestfren]

Metal is probably your best bet though a properly installed and seasoned comp. shingle roof should do well too. Trick is to install the comp. shingles at time when temps are high enough to "melt" them together.

 

[DarkWolf]

Metal won't do you good if the underlying roof deck fails. Or did I misunderstand your post?

Guess I'll wait for pictures before I give my two cents.

Also, doesn't have to be warm for the shingles to bond.. Just has to be a sunny day. Shingles heat quickly and the underlying tar strip will heat in a couple hours enough to hold new shingles in place.

 

[acheeknmanbestfren]

Thought OP was asking about roof covering.....you are absolutely right about the sheathing failing!

Wish the practical application of melting tar strips was as you mentioned - I've had a section of roof come off in the wind 3 times this year (winds were much heavier than usual), upon inspection, none of them bonded to the others so they came off 1 at a time.

 

[DarkWolf]

Dunno.. They say collapsed, which implies fell inward. *shrug*

Not sure why you had so much issue with your shingles.. I redid part of the garage (patch job) after a harsh wind storm and it's held up to everything thrown at it since.

There IS another option. At Lowes (at least in my area) they sell heavy grade shingle paper with the grit in rolls. It's some odd 3' wide and.. hurm.. 50' long or so?

Fairly cheap and all it needs is nailed down. Though tacking felt paper and using roofing cement to glue it down is a better option.

Ah.. Something like this... It's a cheap option which should stand up to high winds so long as it's secured well at the edges. I nailed every 4" when I redid my mothers low slope porch.

Mineral surfaced roll roofing
http://roofing.owenscorning.com/homeowner/shingles/mineral-surfaced-roll-roofing.aspx

Anyway, just my two cents..

 

[acheeknmanbestfren]

We have some of that on one of our sheds. Was there when we bought the place so I'm not sure how long it's be on but sure is doing the trick. I'd think it could be an excellent option for most coups, particularly smaller ones where one swath would cover each side of the roof.

 

[patandchickens]

If the roof rafters/trusses/whatever fall inward in a strong wind, it is often because they detached from the walls and/or ridge.

What can happen is that the pressure of the wind, pressing sideways/downwards on a sloped roof and/or pushing against the side wall of the building, rips apart [already-fragile, for whatever reason] connections. This is especially likely to happen if you had rafters (rather than trusses) without collar ties or anything like that, to hold the two different sides of the span together.

The solution, when you rebuild, is to make sure things are REAL STRONGLY stuck together: use hurricane ties (or whatever they are locally called - little galvanized widgets) instead of just toenailing things onto the tops of the walls; use 1/2"+ plywood gussets to build trusses, not those little rectangular metal plates with a gazillion holes to nail into; use collar ties and that sort of bracing wherever possible/necessary, to keep things from pushing together or pulling apart. Make sure your nails are long enough, and good quality galvanized (rusted-through plain steel nails, or too-short nails, tend to lead to things coming apart in time). And make sure the building's walls are braced diagonally, especially if you use plank siding rather than plywood as the skin of the building but it's worth doing even with a plywood sheathed building IMO -- the less the building wants to flex, the better off you are.

(It is also possible for structural members to just collapse in a strong wind due to utter rot, that is to say break right in the middle of a punky-rotten rafter... but that's not real common IME and you generally know it's coming because of the general state of the building.)

Best of luck,

Pat

 

[BantyHugger]

I know I said I'd get some pics up but i got too busy. Basically the top plywood sheet got torn off (it had some very minor sagging). Then the rafter that was supposed to be holding it on fell into the chicken house. It is only one little 18 inch by 5ft strip on the west side of the building (building faces south). We tried that rolled roofing some one mentioned and the wind took it right off. I hope that was a better description.

 

[patandchickens]

In that case, probably longer screws to hold the plywood roof decking onto the rafters, hurricane ties on the rafters, and you might want to either reduce the size of the wind-catching roof overhang or reinforce it to tie it down extra strongly.

It's possible it was one of those freak things where you just had one little spot of rot in just exactly the wrong location; but, never hurts to overbuild the next time

Good luck,

Pat

 

[BantyHugger]

we patched it. Since it was just a little section we are thinking it was a freak accident. Thanks for all the ideas on how to improve it.

Mariah