We bought a house built in 1972. It has cathedral ceilings and tongue and groove throughout. The house is u shaped and the tongue and groove is not only the ceilings but the north and south walls, thus the roof extends down and encompasses the exterior walls. None of it is insulated and ventilation is poor. Needless to say our power bills are atrocious! It is time to re-roof/side our home and we want to fix the problem. We want to keep the tongue and groove on the inside. We had a mold re-mediator come and inspect and fortunately we don't have much of a problem. The roof is leaking in a few spots causing some moisture. I am looking for the best way to fix all of these issues at one time. My husband thinks he is capable but I won't let him on the roof at 72 years old…HELP!
Roofing insulation nightmare
heatinginsulationroofingtongue-and-grooveventilation
Related Solutions
The plywood of your roof is typically not as thick as your standard galvanized steel roofing nail, so it is expected for nails to show through this in your attic. The plywood can and is expected to take a bit of damage over time and this is okay as long as the shingle has something firm to hold itself down onto.
Over time if the plywood is too damaged to properly hold down new shingles or becomes too dangerous to walk on safely then a roofer should be able to identify such compromised plywood board and replace it as needed.
What is worrying about your question is that you specified that the roofing nails have split and damaged the roof trusses. Standard roofing nails should not be long or thick enough to split or crack structurally sound dimensional lumber.
If this is what happened then you may have a problem unrelated to the quality of the roofing job. Your home is over 50 years old in a warm wet climate, so you should inspect for a number of different problems.
Dryrot
Termites
Carpenter Ants
If you have any of the following indications of current or past damage to any of the three items then that would explain split, cracked or damaged roof trusses during a typical roofing job.
On another note: The soffit typically fits into a groove that is known as J Channel when installed on a roof overhang. The roof overhang is typically MUCH too tall for any roofing nails to reach soffit. I imagine instead you might be seeing a roofing nails perforating the fascia, which can be a sign of a sloppy rushed job. Without pictures though we can't tell that for sure.
If your insurance adjuster is fair, He/she will cover the costs of removing all damaged materials and replace them. In fact, water soaked insulation and drywall cannot be dried out and salvaged. This will be a mold factory soon. The sooner you remove this stuff and expose the framing, the lesser the chance of growing mold on the framing. If the framing is already showing mold, it will have to be remediated and treated before proceeding. This should be done professionally. It is not an easy DIY project and if not done properly will cause more problems in the future.
Related Topic
- Will styrofoam insulation prevent condensation from dripping from metal roofing
- Ceiling – Insulation challenge – exposed wood beams with 6″ tongue/groove slats on top form ceiling with attic above
- Most efficient way to improve the house’s heating
- Insulation – Spray Foam Insulation Against Metal Roofing
- How to insulate a thin hot roof and bring it to current Southern CA code
Best Answer
I have nearly the same situation, although we have 1" of rigid foam insulation over the T&G. We could have added insulated roof panels when the roofing was replaced, but it was very expensive. The materials aren't cheap, and further it requires replacing the fascia to accommodate the increased thickness.
It's not an easy project. Imagine replacing the roof. Now imagine something much harder. I wouldn't attempt it without help, and I'm a lot younger than 72.
It's possible you could sneak some rigid insulation and a layer of decking in when the roof is replaced, and cover it with extra wide drip edge to avoid replacing the fascia. It's not going to be great insulation, but compared to none at all it's a significant improvement. The seams between panels should be taped to provide a vapor barrier. If the warm, humid interior air can't leak through to the cold exterior and condense, you don't need ventilation.
https://buildingscience.com/documents/digests/bsd-149-unvented-roof-assemblies-for-all-climates
If you are looking to save some money on heating and cooling costs, I'm almost certain there are more cost effective things you could do. In my case, it was more cost effective to take the money that would have been spent to install insulation on the cathedral ceiling, and use it instead on a more efficient HVAC system.
Better still, a house built in the 70s is probably full of air leaks. This is something you can fix yourself, with very little money, without the hazard of climbing on a roof. It's also probably the only job where a can of Great Stuff is legitimately a good idea.