New roof ???'s

[CWebster]

Looking for some info/experience from anyone who has tore off (shingles decking and truss) a roof and put on a new one on an existing home. I'd like to attach a garage and make the pitch similar from garage to existing home so I could add a bonus room and vault the ceilings... . My questions are; How difficult? how much damage occurs to the existing walls and such while the work is being done? expensive? does everything have to be moved out of the house while under construction? Any and all experiences/info appreciated.



Chris

 

[nps]

Roof and decking is straight forward. When you get into the trusses you are talking about wiring, ceiling drywall, and maybe some plumbing/gas/hvac depending on how it is built. Plus you are going to have to rebuild the facia and eaves around the perimeter. If you don't move the contents (including carpet and floor coverings) they are going to get damaged and trashed.



I'd think of a new house if you are going to go that far.

 

[Dieselnut59]

I have seen people add an addition over the top of the existing roof, but using a slightly gentler pitch. One way to achieve a gentler pitch and still have enough to shed water is to go with a metal roof. I have a green metal (steel or "tin") roof on my now restored 1940 farm house. It is available in any color nowadays and most have a 30-50 year warranty. Metal is also a lot easier to work with.

I don't see why you would have to remove the trusses to add a garage? Another option is to add the garage/bonus room seperate from the house, but connected with a breezeway, screened room or sun porch. My mother's house is that way (sun porch/2-car garage). If you are fond of the house, anything is possible but some things are easier or more cost effective.

For the roof, I would definately suggest metal.

 

[fkovalski]

You can use fiberglass shingles on roof pitch as low as 2:12 if a snow/ ice shield such as "Bituthene" is used in lieu of felts. I spec this all the time. In fact, this is pretty much standard now. I don't use felts except for behind stone veneer.

 

[CWebster]

Thanks for the replies...



I'm not a big fan of the metal roof... . it's used commercially, but I have not seen it on any residential around here..... and I wonder how it would perform with the crazy weather we get.



The pitch on the existing roof is as low as it can be currently. I am wanting to attach a 2 story garage, but the low pitch roofline meeting up to a 2 story garage will make the house look terribly out of proportion. The existing shingles need to be tore off and some damage repaired. Since I will have tore off all of the shingles, a good portion of the decking, and have everything exposed to me I was thinking that it might not be much of a leap to putting the correct roof with the correct pitch to match to the garage. I've seen many houses where this was done, but never paid any attention to what was going on. I'm hoping that a member here who has done this would be able to give some insight.



Chris

 

[daveshoe]

If you would consider putting some pictures up,or better yet,FAXing sketches to me. I might be able to help. I may be able to help you draw an elevation with my drafting software. Let me know. I could also calculate rafter lengths. If you are going to ue trusses,a local lumber yard might be able to help you out.

 

[TPCDrafting]

I have personally removed a roof completely and added a second floor onto an older home. When we cut off the trusses, we left the bottom chord or ceiling joist. This left the ceiling intact below. We had to be careful of where we walked as the ceiling joists were only 2x4's. This also allowed us to leave the electrical intact as well. We notched the top of the existing joists to put the wiring down within an inch of the top of the drywall below. We then blocked up the top of the exterior and interior bearing walls with a 2x and set the new floor joists on them so the existing wiring would sit below. We put the new joists right next to the exist. ceiling joists and nailed them together so the ceiling below wouldn't sag from all the notching. Once this was done, it was a breeze from there. You could do the same with new roof trusses, just set them on the raised bearing walls. The demo work is a messy job with the ceiling insulation if it's the blown in type. It's also something you will want to plan to do out of the rainy season and you'll want to pop the old roof off and get the new on ASAP. We ended up only having to patch a few locations where we cracked the dw.