i’ve got a couple of questions that i couldn’t find with the search feature.
1. When laying the chafing pads below the sleepers, how much wider than the sleeper should the pad be? 1″ either side, same width as board, less than the width of the board???
2. When determining the sleeper size, 2×4 vs 2×6, does one have an advantage over the other? what other factors should i consider when determining sleeper board size?
Thanks for the help!
Bill
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Replies
I rip the sleeper cushiopning strips about an inch wider than the sleeper.
I usually use 2x4s. Wider boards will spread load over a larger surface so wider is better if the base under the membrane is a foam or other insulation instead of solid like plywood.
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The roof deck is the usual 3/4" T&G, but has a 3/8" layer of insulation board on top of that. then the roof membrane (EPDM) itself. knowing that, do you still think that the 2x4 is ok? one other question:
when you attach the joist to the sleeper, are you simply screwing and/or nailing the through the sleeper into the joist, then just laying the whole assembly down onto the pads?thanks again
whoa, let's back the cart up here!I do not screw the sleepr down into the joist, nor a joist into the sleeper. I seet a few dabs of EPDM caulk and roll the padd into that, then a few dabs to glue the sleeper to the pads.
Then I screw the decking material to the sleepers.Let's see if I can fiond you a couple of pictures here....
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sorry to confuse you. when i used the term 'joist', i meant the joist for the deck and not the joist that is part of the roof structure. i don't plan on screwing anything through the roofing membrane!here's what i envision: the pads go down, the sleeper on top of the pads, laying on it's wider side (the 4" side), then a deck joist on top of the sleeper. then the decking screws down onto the joists. voila!i've reviewed past posts, and have looked at quite a few of the pics you have posted. looking at the 4 pics that you just sent me, it looks like you have the sleeper laying on the pads and that the deck boards will be screwed directly onto the sleeper. am i not looking at that correctly? also, what size are those sleepers? i can't tell 2x2"? sorry to keep bothering, i'm just trying to keep my head afloat on something that SEEMS like it should be fairly easy to accomplish.thanks again
Haven't done this nearly as much as piffin, but I just did one of these two days ago.
I'll attach a picture, thought it's not terribly clear- the sleepers are PT 2x4, ripped on a taper from 1" to 2" x 1.5". 1" is on the thin side for screwing into (IMHO), but height was a big concern, so that's what it was.
The sleepers were set on a pad of the roofing material (80mil torch down) that was 3.5" wide- probably wider than it needed to be, but that's what the roofer wanted.
Of course, you would want a wider sleeper over foam insulation. You could use deck joists on top of the sleepers if you wanted to build up height or to change the direction of the deck boards. If not, attach right to the sleeper.zak
"When we build, let us think that we build forever. Let it not be for present delight nor for present use alone." --John Ruskin
"so it goes"
We do the ripped taper sleeper sometimes too.Did you have trouble with lumpiness at laps with that torchdown?
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Yeah, the lumps at the torchdown were a pain. I wish I was working over EPDM.
I shimmed under the low spots with more bits of roofing. What do you do?zak
"When we build, let us think that we build forever. Let it not be for present delight nor for present use alone." --John Ruskin
"so it goes"
I would do the same but I don't do this ove modified. That is one of the reasons
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I'm hoping you and the others on this post might still receive prompts from this post. It's one of a few that mention sleeper height and ventilation...
I'm building a second story covered patio deck over a roof that will be accessed from our bedroom and bathroom. It's about 14.5' by 15'. A design change has left me with very little in the way of available drop from the interior floor to the roofing material: 1 7/16". The roofer said we could tile right over the roofing material but I don't really want to put tile down. Our idea of using composites won't work because most have a minimum of 5/4 and can't be in contact with the roofing material (we thought maybe we'd just glue it down to the roofing...) or require alot of air space underneath. I've been looking at Pau Lope or Cambara because it comes in 1x sizes, which would leave a small amount for a desired drop down and still have some space for a taller sleeper. My question is, where might I find information about sleeper height and ventilation? I'm concerned that having the sleeper so short I'll be having moisture problems. I can minimize this my using AZEK for the sleeper, which shouldn't wick any water. The deck will only have a very slight slope, but the sleepers will run parallel with the slope. I was also wondering if I could attached the deck boards to the sleeper by screwing up through the bottom of the sleeper into the deck board (using stainless)? I'd appreciate your input and thoughts.
Well, I'll bump this up to the top again for you, but a solution doesn't immediately come to mind. With any tropical wood that I can think of, the deck boards would pull up such small sleepers if they warped, and your deck would look like choppy seas. Even more so with Azek, which is not very stiff at all.
There might be some sort of metal grate panel that would fit in that space, or maybe you could make something that was essentially all sleepers, held together with all-thread, and spaced with washers between boards.
zak
"When we build, let us think that we build forever. Let it not be for present delight nor for present use alone." --John Ruskin
"so it goes"
Thanks Zak. I figured this was not going to be straight forward. One problem has snowballed and left us with very little choice for our deck. I appreciate your input. I hadn't thought of the warping. Maybe I should just glue it down using as wide of a sleeper as I can to increase the glued surface area and fasten from the top. Looks like this is going to take some more thought. Thanks again.
Design change - poor planning produces pisspoor results.But it is doable.Use Ipe`
It is extremely strong, stable and rot resistant - much more so than Camberra. It comes 3/4" thick in the 1x4 designation. With SS trim head screws over PT sleepers and glued to them it can fit.I am not sure of the direction you are running the sleepers. I wold run them with the pitch so water can drain off easier and rip them pitched so the deck ends up level. That way you get deeper sleepers as you work away from the house
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Correct, the deck boards screw to the sleepers.On one of thos jobs, the sleepers were 2x4laid down like you envision. On the other, they had to run across the direction of water flow, and there was more pitch on that roof and the deck needed to be perfectly level, so we stood the sleepers up on the 1-1/2" side and ripped each one to a different size to compensate for pitch. We used smaller 4"x4" pads to create spaces for water to flow under the sleepers. On some jobs we have also notched dadoes on the bottom sides of sleepers for water flow. For that aspect, it is better to be able to have the sleepers run thae same direction as the flow of water. Just can't always be done.I rarely see a place where I have enough dimensional elevation to add joists above sleepers and I am supposing that the edge detail would be more troublesome to make it look good.
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i intend to use trex decking, and they require a minimum of 3.5" of airspace underneath, i guess so no mold grows under there??? that space requirement is the reason i was thinking of having the sleeper lay flat with a joist on top of the sleeper...then the deck boards go on that. using 2x4's, that would give me 5" of airspace. i also have some room to accomodate that build up of sleeper/joist. any thoughts? thanks...
It is for ventilation against growths and for cooling. Trex doesn't rot per see, but neither does it like too much heat. It will really grow lengthwise in heat!
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