We had a leak in our garage and some wind damage seen all over the roof.
We got approved and continued with roofers for a re-roof.
Removed all old shingles and replaced rain barrier and then put new shingles on
We checked in the attic once it was completed and noticed our decking has spaces between 1inch and 2 inches in some places. Nails are seen going through the gaps in these places. There also seems to be a split in one of the osb/ply boards, where it flares apart from itself.
Our roofer said that it was probably there previously, that they didn’t cause the issue and no plywood was even used on our roof (which is interesting because we had a leak…)
It failed inspection but the roofer scheduled another inspection because they are saying that there is no code that is broken.
Q: What the proper spacing regarding roof decking?
You’re right! I updated it. - what is the proper spacing between roof decking? And photos posted now
This is in a new roof but no one did anything about the decking - wondering what the code is regarding the it? This seems like it would not pass a proper inspection.
Gotcha. The roofing contractors are saying it’s not their issue and that it was like that before the new shingles. However they should not have put the shingles on a bad deck, right?
Thank you, I have seen this and relayed to roofer but they just seem to think it’s not their problem and that they did the job correctly.
They called in another roofing inspection for tomorrow because they said they are not breaking any code and it should pass.
Do you have any pics? I am in Florida, and the building code for hurricanes changed in 2002. So your home would have hurricane clips or straps, but it would be very odd for the builder to have installed wood slat decking, (if thats what you have, but highly unlikely)
And plywood with gaps that large would not have passed.
When the plywood is first applied to the roof framing, the gap is there to prevent buckling but anything over a quarter inch is too much. (Frankly, in my area, I don’t see gaps being installed intentionally, other than the space that the clip creates, but we’re talking Florida, so…)
Bottom line: You shouldn’t have big gaps in the sheathing and you observed what one the primary resulting problems is; nails going through the gaps. The gap problem is on the builder (and is probably why you were having leaks inside of 18 years). The nails missing the sheathing is on the roofer.
You mentioned they replaced the “rain barrier” after removing the shingles - I assume this means the underlayment, or are we in Florida special materials zone again? If they tore up the underlayment (which you usually do after removing the shingles) then they were looking at the decking and should have seen the sub-par job. Did they advise you or offer to replace the sheathing for extra cost and you declined?
(I am using the terms decking and sheathing interchangeably.)
Looked at your pictures… those gaps are larger than they should be. You want around 1/8" and, as Tom said, no more than 1/4". The original builder was sloppy and your recent (re)roofer did not think it was worth addressing. So, what you have now are some relatively small areas that have underlayment with no sheathing underneath and a few nails that not holding down shingles.
Is this a big problem? Not in my opinion.
Typically, roofers use four nails per shingle. Plus, shingles glue to each other with the built-in adhesive strips after the first warm spell. If you see four nails in a row coming through a gap, you might have a shingle or two that are not secured very well, mostly relying upon the adhesive. If you have a particularly area of concern, you could add some nails to those shingles, apply extra adhesive, and so forth.
You have some underlayment that could deteriorate (crack) quicker than the rest of the roof and perhaps get a small leak in the future as the roof gets older. Remember that the underlayment is the secondary barrier to water, it has to get through the shingles first. If and how soon that any problem materializes depends upon the weight of the underlayment (for example #15 versus #30 felt) and if there happens to be overlapping of the underlayment at those locations. The underlayment material applied should have been spelled out as part of the contract you signed with the roofer. If you have concerns, you could reinforce those gaps from underneath (thinking expanding spray foam might do the trick).
A reminder that home inspectors are not code inspectors. So, the only voice that has any true weight here is your local building inspector. Was the original roof sheathing up to code? Likely not (and they did not catch it). The question is what to do now and I hope our input can help.
Sheathing support increments are stamped on the sheathing. Plywood and OSB panels are supposed to have spaces and the spaces don’t have to be perfect. It’s rough framing. The roofer has nothing to do with the framing typically. But it doesn’t look like some of the plywood clips got bent…they got a little sloppy on the framing. I guess you should find a tall tree and get some rope…a crime like that shouldn’t go unpunished…
I used to make some side money inspecting “failed” Owen-Corning shingles. Although it was not expressly stated I’m positive that my inspection was to provide evidence that the shingles were not installed per manufacturer’s instructions so they could deny the claims.
