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Roofing plywood advice needed

4K views 2 replies 3 participants last post by  Ed the Roofer 
#1 ·
Hello,

First time poster, was looking for a bit of advice if possible. I have been helping my mom get bids on a new roof for her 50's era house. It is a basic ranch with a single gable roof down the middle.

She just moved in last fall and we've discovered over the winter when there are mid to heavy winds, sometimes there will be some creaking sounds from roof. Not all the time, but we hear it occasionally when the winds hit it the right way.

When getting roofing bids, due to it having two previous layers, it will need to be taken down to the original wood which is shiplap not plywood. We were given options to also lay down 1/2" plywood over the shiplap. My questions are:

1) Would the extra plywood layer reinforce the rafters and help to reduce the roof noises when it is windy?

2) Also, some bids mentioned they could keep the shiplap and only replace with plywood if damaged or worn. Since she is on a limited budget, could the whole layer of plywood be bypassed and have them maybe re-nail the existing shiplap with a nailgun into the rafters to reinforce before laying the shingles? Could this also lessen the noises without spending the extra ~$1800 for a full layer of plywood?

Anyway, was just wondering if #2 could be done to lessen the noise while keeping the costs down?
Thanks in advance for any advice,

Jim
 
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#2 ·
Jim, I'm not a roofer----Just built a few houses in my day----

Option #2 should be fine----peal of the old roof----replace damaged sheeting --add extra nails to good boards and you should be good.

Often the 'popping' you hear during high winds comes from the gable ends, not the roof sheeting.

A full ridge vent is well worth the extra cost---the house will be cooler in the summer and the shingles will give you longer service.-----Mike----
 
#3 ·
It does not sound like she needs a new plywood decking layover on top of the existing ship-lap board decking, which may just mean tongue and groove decking, which is much more common in my experience.

To replace only the damaged ship-lap or tongue and groove boards, the tongue portion of the existing board to be removed should be cut off to allow the old board to get removed and then a nominally sized board of similar width and thickness can be installed from rafter to rafter in that damaged area.

That would not be too expensive, as usually, (but not always), existing plank board decking is much more resilient than any plywood or osb deck sheathing and will last much longer, unless severe and long-term ongoing leakage has been occurring.

Ed
 
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