Assistant Chief David Wolf from Cayuga Heights (NY) Fire Department sent in these photos of a friend’s house in Houston. The initial view from the scuttle opening makes it look like any other attic set-up we would expect to find, however that wouldn’t make for a good post. A closer look reveals the problem.
Not only do roof over’s make the ventilation process much more difficult, they may also allow the fire to burn undetected for quite some time. They are more common than we may originally expect and are something we should have a back-up plan to deal with. Sure, most codes won’t allow this, but we all know how that goes. Nothing worse than opening the vent only to find an attic full of $#!+, or better yet, another roof to deal with.
28 thoughts on “Residential Roof Over”
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Damn
Score another one for my “Going to the roof is stupid most of the time” arguement!
Could be worse, those could be floor joists.
🙂
You know what I’d do about this…..Ahh, nevermind….
I have run in to this a few times in NJ.
Is it bad that our station has a nice little roof over??! It’s like our own little indoor vent prop. heck, they even have mountains indoors in Japan!!
We have a lot of these in DC. Many older PD’s and MD’s which origionally had flat roofs (which tend to leak a lot)have bean roofed over with peaked roofs. The only way to know is to pay attention to the construction going on in your district, and to check all areas of the building (MD’s) during inspections and walk-throughs.
We have a lot of these in DC. Many older PD’s and MD’s which origionally had flat roofs (which tend to leak a lot)have been roofed over with peaked roofs. The only way to know is to pay attention to the construction going on in your district, and to check all areas of the building (MD’s) during inspections and walk-throughs.
I’m glad some one got a picture of this, I was talking about it the other day and wanted a picture to reference but had none. I’ve seen this done here in FL. What a nightmare for us.
DMAN72 – If I went to the roof for this one, I would cut the first roof in the normal fashion, and then donkey kick the interior roof out of the way.
DMAN72 – If I went to the roof for this one, I would cut the first roof in the normal fashion, and then donkey kick the interior roof out of the way.
Excellent pictures.
Next time the Assistant Chief is in Houston, ask him to take a picture of “shiplap” ceilings and two man pike poles….they’re greeeeeeaaaat.
“DMAN72 – If I went to the roof for this one, I would cut the first roof in the normal fashion, and then donkey kick the interior roof out of the way”
Proven fact that a good “donkey kick” will work in any situation.
HAHAHA.
Double roofs suck. See them all the time, especially on trailer houses. But I live in the land of two story doublewide mobile homes and million dollar mansions all within a mile of each other.
BROTHERHOOD ABOVE ALL.
Be Safe.
Lad288,
That’s quite possibly the best idea I have ever heard. HEE-HAW, boys. HEE-HAW.
Nice, our station has something similar but its bowstring truss and flat bar joist underneath light weight roof trusses that span over 50 feet!!! Pretty crazy when you think about it were supposed to be the ones not letting things like that happen and we have it on our station, but it gives us a nice place for a sweet SCBA maze that’s out of the elements.
On the other hand salvage is going to be a lot more productive.
When someone jams a huge nozzle into a hole in the roof the ‘inside’ shingles will protect the contents of the home from water damage………..
What exactly is the purpose of the homeowner doing this? I can see making a roof over and existing roof and then eliminating the original roof for the purpose of making a room or higher ceiling… But to just put a whole new roof and not taking away the original sounds silly to me. Maybe im missing something. Good Post!
We have a problem in my county with people putting pitched roofs on double wide tailors and then putting siding on the house. Looks like a regular stick built, especially at night.
you know you’re redneck when…
This is very common with additions build on private dwellings in the suburbs of Chicago (at least the north and northwest suburbs).
John asked why this is done. In many cases the pitch is extended when a room is added. Now the width of the roof might be 40 feet versus 25 feet. This eliminates a valley that would need extensive flashing or something visually unapealling to the homeowner. To remove the roof is very costly. Now, I am not advocating this process but the buildign code apparently does not require the removal.
In some case the original roof has had a large portion removed and the new roof built above creating large voids and avenues for fire spread. Also, the bracing added to support the old roof sometimes appears questionable.
We also have an area with around 130 three story apartments all build originally with a flat, built up roof. Now, more than half have a 6/12 pitched roof of frame construction with asphaly shingles.
Had a fire like this 2 winters ago not an easy fire to put out. We had to use chainsaws in the inside and cut the roof from the inside out there ended up being 3 roofs.
One thing for sure, you get a good fire in a house with one of these and you probably wont have to worry about THAT roof on THAT house again!!!
We just had a 3-alarm fire last month where one of the businesses involved had this similar type of multi-roof feature. the outer roof collapsed.
More horizontal vents available to us then going to the roof of peaked dwellings. Pull, then extend gable vent opening. Truckies, gear up, get in there and pull, pull, pull. Constant re-evaluation of “what are we saving here?” must be ongoing to keep us out of the hospital and the funeral home.
And………. I once dated a chick that I Donkey Punched whose family lived in a house like this. 🙂
More horizontal vents available to us then going to the roof of peaked dwellings. Pull, then extend gable vent opening. Truckies, gear up, get in there and pull, pull, pull. Constant re-evaluation of “what are we saving here?” must be ongoing to keep us out of the hospital and the funeral home.
And………. I once dated a chick that I Donkey Punched whose family lived in a house like this. 🙂
BTDT more than once. Wasn’t any more fun the last time than the first.
I see this mostly because of homeowners / landlords trying to get off cheap and not tear off and dispose of shingles.
Anyone else heard the term “rain roof” to describe this arrangement on a commercial building?
This is why you should never assume anything, firefighters a killed daily doing our job, stuff like this makes it even worse, never had to deal with it but i have seen it and it really makes our operations level of training kick in. Great pic and story.
Had a fire one night last winter in a SFD just like this. Ranch style home approx. 1800 sqft. the home owner decided to add on to the existing structure.
First due engine reported heavy fire condition on arrival, made entry and the occupant had no clue the house was even on fire. Absolutely no fire condition inside. When the truck got there we set up to go to the roof(SOP) and chased this thing all over that void space.
Just as drew smith mentioned earlier the new roof was at least 40′. Due to the heavy fire and it being night we couldn’t tell immediately what we were up against. We had to pull interior ceiling and open the original roof to access the void space, because there was no attic access.
This was one tough fire to beat!! I couldn’t believe in city our size that code would allow this, but hell what do I know. Watch out boys!
our small rural department ran into this nut 3 roofs we dont vertically ventilate everyday so when we ran into three roofs it was a challenge but we actually got it done very quickly just had to replace the chain lol