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Found 101 results for the keyword(s) ‘Roof’

  • Article

    BBS: Raised Heel Trusses

      How do you get enough space above the wall and below the roof for both massive insulation and ventilation? One way in new construction, or even in the rebuilding of a roof, is what we call a Raised Heel Truss. This design forces the overhang of the house further out from the house, but does gi...
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    Cutting oval holes in a sloped roof for round pipes

      When plumbing pipes and chimneys have to go through sloped roofs, they are always cut fairly large just to make sure that the pipe will pass through. The problem is that a 3 inch round pipe needs an oval hole in a sloped roof. There is an easy trick for drawing out the hole.   Hold the p...
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    An alternative to ducting through the attic in a cold climate.

      In my experience, heating ducts that run through attics cause serious problems in snow country. Don't let a contractor talk you into it. In warm climates it is common practice to run heating and air conditioning ducting through attic spaces simply because it is easy to do. Unfortunately this ...
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    Putting new asphalt roof shingles right over old ones.

      The question is: Can you put new asphalt roof shingles right over old ones. If the old ones are flat and you fill in any missing tabs, and you do no more that a total of two layers of shingles, yes you can reshingle over old shingles. The major question point would be to check out if your old...
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    Is standing water on a flat top roof a problem?

    Yes it is a problem Lorne, except for roofs in some desert areas where evaporating water is part of the air conditioning design, and the roof is specially designed like a swimming pool. For the rest of us, standing water will lead to a premature ageing of the roofing material, whatever material i...
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    Replacing a missing roof shingle

    One of our callers had one missing roof shingle. How to replace it?   Working on a warm day, lift the shingle above to expose the nails. Remove the nail, or cut out around the nail to release the damaged shingle. Pound the nail in flush or pull it out. Getting rid of this nail is probably the h...
  • Article

    Snow and Ice are ripping the rain gutter off of my metal roof.

    Every year the snow and ice slipping down from one of our viewers roofs does great damage to their rain gutters. How to stop it?   POSITION THE RAIN GUTTER RIGHT The rain gutter should be installed a bit lower down so it is not directly in the path of the sliding snow, and the metal roof shoul...
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    Shields for Rain Gutters

    One of the most successful, but most expensive ways to keep leaves out of rain gutters is to place a solid shield over the top.  Using the principle of surface tension of water, the water flows over the shield and wraps around its outside curve.  That curve extends out over the rain gutter itsel...
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    Drip Edge, Ice & Water shield and roofing paper

    Tim wrote in asking if he should use roofing paper on his roof in addition to Ice and Water shield. Well Tim, there are not a lot of hard and fast rules in roofing but there are some guidelines and some little things that definitely make a better more problem free roof. First, on the front edge...
  • Article

    The roof Drip Edge

    Barbara in Montreal had water damage in her bay window area as wind driven rain always found it's way in. Contractor repair bids ranged from $1,200 for a patch to $4,000 for a new roof. A study of the detail where the added-on bay window joined the very edge of the roof showed a flashing flaw tha...
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