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Roofing an arched roof

Bdub | Posted in Construction Techniques on August 2, 2004 09:38am

Greetings,

I have read BT for a long time now, posted a bit, but never introduced myself. I live in Colorado and own a couple of circa 1880 rental properties. I have a wonderful 2 y.o daughter and son due on Halloween. I am a good DIY’er, and I know enough to know when to hire a pro for a project. I am also an attorney (I know, we get a bad rap here on BT) who represents subcontractors in construction defect cases, mostly excavators.

My father in law owns a very old mining cabin (log) near South Park, between Fairplay and Breckenridge (the same South Park as on the Comedy Channel). The cabin has no utility service which makes it a fabulous retreat. The roof is arched (not a dome) with a continuous curve from the peak on down. It is not steep, and not very big – 15X30 or so. It was built originally with the arched roof, not a common sight around here. The roofing material needs to be torn off and replaced. The plywood decking (correct term?) under the existing roof is in good shape.

His plan is to put down a snow and ice membrane, then tar paper, then rolled roofing. I know from doing some archive searches here that rolled roofing gets a bad rap. But it seems that this would be good use for it because the roof is arched and wind is factor. It seems to me that regular shingles on a curved roof would stick up and catch the wind.

We are wondering how much overlap there should be for the tar paper and how much overlap there should be for the rolled roofing. Because both the paper and the rolled roofing are the same width we want to stagger them so that the overlaps are not in the same place. Make sense?

We also wonder whether we should put roofing tar under the lower edge of each course of rolled roofing to further prevent the wind from peeling it up. The winds are not constant, but they can be strong.

Lastly, what nailing pattern should we use? How close to the edges?

I know this is a lot, but I have faith that you all can help. Any critiques and suggestions would be greatly appreciated. If I have not provided necessary info please advise and I will respond.

Thanks

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Replies

  1. Piffin | Aug 02, 2004 02:42pm | #1

    First,

    Welcome. You are the kind of lawyer who is on our side, right?

    ;)

    I have done five jobs for lawyers in the last couple of years and made money on all of them, though I enjoyed some more than others.

    Anyway - I used to live in Kremmling up in Midddle Park for ten years 76-86. I have done a few roofs down in Breckenridge. The style roof you describe devolves from the old sheepherders wagons with first canvaas, and then Sheet metal tops.

    There is a new type of product on the market that you will want to seek out. The brand marketed here is called Polyglas, but there are others.

    Essentially, it is a peel and stick product like the bitiuthene ice and water shield. but it also has re-inforcing fibre mat contained opr encapsulated, and a mineral surface like roll roofing. I would apply the bituthene first, and then overlay it with the Polyglass. Another option is to apply a 43# base sheet directly to the deck, well nailed to resist wind uplift, and then apply the polyglass over that.

    If you are certain you want dry roll roofing, I suggest you get split sheet selvedge which has 18" exposure to weather with the mineral surface and 18" underlapped. It is applied with hot asphalt or with roofing tar from a five gal can and a roller. That way all exposed nails are elinimated.

    The plain roll roofing would only give you about a 5-7 year roof. To keep it from blowing away, you would need to nail the exposed edge down about every six inches, and to keep those nails sealed, yuou would have used plastic roof cement under the lap. The 34" of unadhered exposure would be subject to uplift from wind and it is common to see a section removed on places that were done that way.

    The polyglas product is the best, the easiest, and safest, especially for a DIY. Biggest trick is geting it laid out to roll straight first.

    I know of at least two really big roofing wholesalers in Denver so any local supplier who is willing to make a couple phone calls can get it for you.

     

     

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    1. Bdub | Aug 03, 2004 02:21am | #3

      Piffin,

      Yes I do represent builders or subs when they have been sued by HOA's. Litigation is no fun for the trades.

      Thanks for the advise, I'm sure with phone calls I can find Polyglas around here. Thanks for the historical perspective on the roof, I've always wondered why it was built that way.

      I enjoy your posts and have learned much from your contributions to BT.

      Thanks

      Brian

  2. DANL | Aug 02, 2004 03:34pm | #2

    Yeah, roof deck or sheathing is the correct term.

    I just discovered a product I didn't know existed and that's small (12" wide) rolls of ice membrane (bituthene) called "Starter Shingle Roll" (by Owens Corning). It's just like the Ice Guard, only shingle width, and it has the tar/adhesive strip continuous along the bottom edge (actually up a couple inches from the edge). It is self adhesive and you roll it out instead of your first course of shingles (usually have tabs removed (best because adhesive is in right place then) or upside down). In your case, it would hold that first lower edge of the roll roofing. This product can be seen on-line at http://www.owenscorning.com. I used it around the rough opening of a window and didn't have to mess with cutting the usual 3' wide rolls of bituthene.

    1. Bdub | Aug 03, 2004 02:34am | #4

      Thanks Danno,

      I could not find it on the Owens website. Am I correct that this is rolled over the ice membrane? Is it only for the first course? Why wouldn't it work for the whole roof? Too expensive? After that first course do you then reccomment the polyglas that Piffin recomended, or shingles, or rolled roofing? I'm confused.

      Thanks for your help, its much appreciated.

      -Brian

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