Buying small cottage: part of roof is sloped 2/12, but due to settling the lower part of roof is 1/12

[Rickcin]

Originally Posted by 1insider

The lone post addressing the real issue. Even without the settling, shingles are not designed for a 2 on 12 pitch. Repair the structure and then reroof with appropriate roofing which is not shingles.

If the structure needs to be repaired! We obviously don’t know what the rafters are or their span, do we?

It could be a flat roof in snow country and still be properly designed to carry the load.

[1insider]

Originally Posted by Rickcin

If the structure needs to be repaired! We obviously don’t know what the rafters are or their span, do we?

It could be a flat roof in snow country and still be properly designed to carry the load.

I thought OP said it was 2 on 12 but some section had settled to 1 on 12 indicating some structural issue.

[turf3]

Looks to me like the roof is way underbuilt and a combination of undersized rafters bending and also spreading the walls apart. At such a low roof pitch the tensile load in the ceiling joists is tremendous just from the weight of the roof decking and roof material. If they're not well attached to the rafters (I question whether there's even enough ROOM for trusses in there) you can get the spreading of the walls. Add snow load to that and you've got a recipe for trouble.


Honestly I'd be thinking about either taking the whole roof off and doing it over, correctly, or passing on the whole thing.

[KCZ]

Originally Posted by Fedupwiththis

According to google snow weights around 20lbs a cubic foot. So figure out the footprint of the house, decide if you'll ever see 2'+ of snow fall and make a judgement call I guess.

Then Google isn't very smart. Snow weight is proportional to the amount of water it contains, and there's a 3-fold difference (or more) in weight between light fluffy snow and the water-saturated sticky stuff. Anyone who's ever picked up a snow shovel knows this.

Originally Posted by turf3

Looks to me like the roof is way underbuilt and a combination of undersized rafters bending and also spreading the walls apart. At such a low roof pitch the tensile load in the ceiling joists is tremendous just from the weight of the roof decking and roof material. If they're not well attached to the rafters (I question whether there's even enough ROOM for trusses in there) you can get the spreading of the walls. Add snow load to that and you've got a recipe for trouble.

Honestly I'd be thinking about either taking the whole roof off and doing it over, correctly, or passing on the whole thing.

My first thought was to take the roof off and put a second story up there. That cottage looks tiny, particularly if they're planning to use it year-round.