How To Repair Rotted Roof Trusses

How to Determine if a Roof Deck has Wood Rot and How to Supervene upon Roof Capsule

Roof decking or sheathing refers to the thin boards of wood that bridge the trusses and back up the residuum of the roof. If your roof decking gets wet, it can develop wood rot and impact the performance of your whole roof. This problem tin can become unnoticed, as damaged roof decking hides beneath shingles and in a higher place the attic insulation. Sheathing isn't usually visible, so it tin be challenging for homeowners to observe this problem before it becomes serious. However, you can easily avoid this problem if you know when to expect for forest rot on your roof decking, how to place the problem and how to prepare information technology. This guide volition tell you what you demand to know to protect your roof and your habitation from wood rot.

Why is Rotted Roof Decking a Problem?

Most roof decking, also called capsule, is plywood or oriented strand board (OSB). These thin sheets of forest blot wet when exposed to it through excess condensation or a roof leak. When capsule is exposed to moisture ofttimes, there is ever a chance it will decay or develop wood rot. While a single exposure to moisture is unlikely to lead to rot, routine h2o exposure may.

If your decking is rotting, it may or may not have adult a fungal growth that can ruin its stability by eating away at it. Whether or non at that place is a mucus, or merely normal decay of forest due to moisture, rotting roof decking can cause several problems for your roof and your home, including:

• Bowing or bulging: Wet and wood rot may cause your decking to sink in or cracking up. From the outside, this looks similar you have a jutting or bowing spot on your roof. The shingles above this spot may not function properly. Further, the decking tin can eventually fall in.
• More fungal and mold growth: Unchecked wood rot and moisture can lead to the growth of other fungi and mold. These can reduce the air quality of your dwelling and may make the symptoms of certain respiratory conditions worse.
• Damage to insulation: Forest rot and moisture can impairment your attic insulation, which is below your decking. This damage can reduce the energy efficiency of your dwelling and cause you to spend more than money heating or cooling it.
• Damage to other wood: Dry wood rot (one type of wood rot) can spread to other woods in your dwelling house, potentially even to structural wood. Replacing structural woods tin can be expensive, so it is best to finish dry woods rot as before long equally you lot find it.
• Impairment to other home systems: If the moisture consequence that caused the wood rot goes unresolved, information technology may damage many other parts of your domicile, including the electric system. Moisture rot may also spread to other wood if the moisture is left unchecked.

How to Identify Wood Rot in a Roof Deck

There are two master types of woods rot: dry out rot and wet rot. In that location are also several subspecies of woods rot fungus. Therefore, every wood rot infestation may look different. Wet wood rot tends to wait discolored or darker than the roof effectually information technology. Dry wood rot tends to look like a fungal growth, and information technology makes the forest cracked and dry out.

Here are some more signs to help y'all identify wood rot in your roof:

• Wood is darker in spots.
• There are black, white, xanthous, brown or grey growths and discoloration.
• The woods feels spongy and weak to the touch.
• The wood easily crumbles or cracks.
• In that location is a damp, musty smell.

An experienced roofer may suspect wood rot simply past stepping on the shingles above the rot and feeling it give more than than normal.

Signs of dry out wood rot include:

• There are gray, white or brown growths on the wood (may wait like mushrooms or like pizza.)
• The wood has stale out and has long cracks in it.
• There is a musty smell.

When Should I Check My Roof for Wood Rot?

Violent up a few shingles to look at the decking isn't a normal home maintenance practice that you'd do on a monthly or yearly ground. You should look for wood rot either when yous don't know the status of the deck (as in, yous're buying a new domicile) or when you doubtable that moisture may accept penetrated to the roof deck. Y'all should ask a professional dwelling house inspector or roofer to cheque your decking for wood rot when:

• You're about to sell your home and want to brand sure your roof volition boost your home value.
• You're purchasing a new home and want to make sure its roof is in skillful condition.
• Your roof has had a leak, ice dam, tree damage or other potential harm.
• You're doing a full roof replacement.
• Your attic has adult moisture issues.
• You are most to install new attic insulation or ventilation.

If your roofer has reason to doubtable that your roof decking may not be in good condition, they may recommend yous let them expect at it. They may non have to remove shingles to do so. Instead, they may be able to spot the signs of decking rot from inside the attic.

Why is My Roof Decking Damaged?

Leaks and condensation are the two almost common causes of a rotting wood deck. It makes sense to look for deck rot around notorious leak points, such as skylights, roof penetrations and anchor points for roof-mounted items. In order to fix the problem, you first need a professional roofer to resolve the underlying leak.

How to Replace Rotted Roof Sheathing

Once your professional person roofers take fixed the underlying crusade of the moisture, they volition demand to replace all the wood afflicted by the dry or wet rot. Here are the tools and materials they will use and a step-by-step guide on how they will complete the task.

Tools and Materials Required

Here are the tools and materials your roofers volition need:

• New decking.
• Rubber equipment.
• Crowbar or tool to remove shingles.
• Measuring tape.
• Saw.
• Roofing nails.
• Roofing hammer or nail gun.
• Other roofing material to cover the new decking.

How to Replace Rotted Roof Decking

• Step One: Approximate the extent of the damage. It will be impossible to know for sure how much of the roof decking has rot until your roofers can remove all the shingles above it. However, your roofers may requite y'all an estimate of how much woods rot there could exist to assistance you become a sense of the scale of the repair chore. If this volition be a costly project, they may have options to assist yous finance the roof repair.
• Step 2: Remove the covering. All the roofing in the affected area above the decking needs to be removed, including the shingles and underlayment. Depending on the location of the rot, your roofers may need to remove the flashing as well.
• Step Three: Measure the area. Your roofers will detect the extent of the forest rot and and then mensurate the areas that they demand to replace.
• Step 4: Cut out rotted wood. Your roofers will use the saw of their choice to remove the rotted woods advisedly, without cutting the rafters below. Every section that is cut should extend higher up a rafter. That way, when your roofers place the replacement boards in, at least ane rafter supports them.
• Stride V: Cutting the replacement decking to fit. Back on the ground, your roofers will cut out new decking material to fit the gaps. Y'all can choose a new material as it is fine to mix plywood and OSB. Even so, the new decking should be the aforementioned thickness as the old, so that the shingles will lay apartment.
• Footstep Six: Position the replacement. Your roofers will then position the replacement materials on the roof. They may demand to brand final-minute trims to ensure a proper fit.
• Step Seven: Secure the decking. Now, your roofers will secure the decking using nails or screws.

• Step Eight: Take optional additional measures. Depending on your roof's unique circumstances, your roofers may choose to have some extra steps to protect your decking. They might seal nearby wood with treatments meant to resist wood rot, or they may utilize waterproof record to the edges where the new and old decking meet.
• Step Nine: Supplant other roof materials. At present that they have taken care of the decking, your roofers will add in the rest of the roof. Ice and water protector, such as ArmourGard™, is particularly important, every bit this membrane can assist protect the decking from collecting moisture in the time to come. The new ice and water protector should overlap the old past a few inches. It'south also important to annotation that your roofers should supplant and not reuse the original shingles they stripped off the roof. If the flashing may have contributed to the h2o intrusion, it should too be replaced.

What if My Roofer Didn't Replace My Roof Decking After a Leak?

Homeowners may be concerned if they discover that although decking is routinely replaced as office of roof repair, the decking on their roof wasn't. This may be a cause for concern, or it may not. Not all moisture decking needs to exist replaced. If only a modest area of the decking was exposed to water, and it wasn't exposed long enough to impairment it significantly, your roofer may cull to go out it in place. Withal, your roofers may have also fabricated a mistake past leaving behind decking that did demand to be replaced. To start, inquire your roofer why they chose not to replace your decking. If you're not satisfied with their answer, reach out to another roofer for a second stance.

Enquire a Professional About the Status of Your Roof Decking

Are yous concerned that your roof deck may take wood rot? Getting a handle on it as soon as possible is best to protect the remainder of your habitation. Reach out to a professional today through IKO's Contractor Locator.

Source: https://www.iko.com/na/pro/building-professional-tools/roofing-101/rotted-roof-deck-how-to-replace-roof-sheathing/

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