Our Tin Can Roof

Our home was built by a frugal farming family who came up to the Denver suburbs after WW2. We're having our roofs replaced since we had a hail storm at the end of June that hammered us. We had the roofers tear off all layers down to the bare wood.

The roofer noted that some of the old boards look like they're barn wood. "You just can't get lumber like that these days." And where there are knot holes in the roofing boards, they've been covered over with flattened tin cans. The roofers said that they never saw so many tin cans on a roof before. Sounds like it may have been a practice to use cans to cover knot holes back in the day.

Some of the boards in our roof have been replaced. And in other places they're covering over the old roof with roof sheeting. We should be in excellent shape for years to come since we're also going with a better shingle, too.

Funny you metion that. I recall, when I was a little kid, my Dad built a house on land that was formerly his father's garden (a 50'x100' city lot next to the lot on which his father's house was built). On the lot was a former chicken coop. Not only the roof, but also the walls, were liberally covered with flattened tin cans to cover all sorts of 'sins' on the boards. The roof was further covered with roll roofing, but not the walls.

If I could move it to our small pasture, I'd ask him for it! I don't think anyone uses it but the mice. It's a long, low wooden structure with a slanty roof. You see them around here every once in a while. Most have been torn down to make room for more yard space. I should take some photos before my neighbor gets the notion to pull it down.

I'd love to see this place!

But there's some innovative solutions that were used in places. When we had some bay windows built for the living room and my office room, we found old newspapers from the 40s crumpled in the cinder block cavities. Post war insulation, no doubt. They used a lot of flotsam and jetsam around here. I'll take some pics and post, though. As much as I'd like a bigger house, I feel so comfortable in this old place.

that building materials in Colorado were scarce from after WWII through the Korean conflict because so many of the bases were being rebuilt to accomodate the shifting conditions, as well as the run on housing that the various parts of the GI bill helped create. (He was building a house in Colorado Springs in the late 40s and early 50s and bitched about it to his agent.)

I WISH I could get a contractor to do the same thing now - that's recycling in action, baby! but no...

We rented the little cottage here for a few years before buying this place from our landlady. Over the years she'd tell me about her life. When they moved to the Denver area after the war, it was very hard to find building supplies. When they built this, their third home in the neighborhood, they couldn't find a tub. They got a line on one in Julesburg. But by the time they drove up there to get it, it was no longer available. So they built this house with a 3/4 bath. We remodeled the bath and finally replaced the shower with a tub.

Just as an aside - They were farming in Colorado during the dust bowl years. Her husband had emphysema as a result of the conditions. Mrs. Brown once told me that they strung a clothesline between the house and the barn so when a dust storm kicked up, Mr. B could find his way back to the house.

common practice up until the 1970s. The reason the old sheathing had holes and cracks was that most all older homes had a layer of wood shingles and holes and spaces between the roof boards allowed the wood shingles to dry out.
Not sure what the roofer was saying about "barnwood" he may have meant he has not seen boards that wide which again was very common at the time.
One very important thing to ask your roofers is if they have run a ventilation calculation and installed adequate ventilation both intake (soffit) and exhaust (roof vents).
Ventilation info here: http://www.certainteed.com/CertainTeed/Homeowner/Homeowner/Insulation/FeaturesandBenefits/Insulation+Fundamentals.htm#Ventilation_Recommendations

This wood was used over the enclosed front porch when it was added to the house in 1949. If I recall right, the roofer was referring to the thickness.

One thing we had to deal with was the first layer of shingles crumbling and bits falling into the attic. There was no layer of felting or the equivalent available in '48. The first layer of shingles went right over the boards. It's been an adventure.

We're in good shape for ventilation. We took care of new soffits with good intake many years ago. Since then we had to install a furnace in the attic. We replaced a floor furnace from the 40s. This house is on a concrete slab with no crawl space. We had passive vents in the roof but we're now having two electric exhaust fan vents with thermostats installed in the roof. The passive vents and one large twirling vent didn't exhaust enough warm attic air. We're hoping these new vents will help keep the roof colder. We have bat insulation between the joists. But hubby is talking about adding some sort of insulation on the attic ceiling.

This house has given us a lot of challenges. It's cinder block construction with interior walls made of cinder block, too.

insulate the ductwork in the attic area. You will also find the snow will melt and create ice dams when a furnace is installed in the attic. Insulating the rafters may cause more harm than good. Moisture will be trapped between the insulation and your roof sheathing promoting mold and rot.
I hope the roofers also installed ice and watershield up the roof 6 feet before they started laying the felt.
It sounds like you have a well ventilated attic space and thats a very good step.

We've had the attic furnace since 1997. We've used an ice melting heater cord draped across the roof on the north facing side of the house. It's worked well to keep ice dams from forming. Here in the Denver metro area it's a big problem. We might leave it off this winter to see if there will still be trouble on the north side.

About insulating at the rafters, we learned about an insulating product that's a thin metallic sheet. It gets tacked up there to reflect the heat back into the attic where it can be taken care of by the exhaust fans. It's a tricky thing to keep the heat away from the roof and yet not have that moisture problem you point out. It's going to take more research before we do anything. Thanks for the word.

And yes, there's ice and water shield on the roof. It's not 6 feet wide. But the roofer contacted the city inspector to be sure it's what they expect. He's using twice the width of what the city requires.

Thanks for all your advice. It's easy to forget something critical when there's so much to consider in our unique situation.

I find it refreshing to find homeowners that have done their homework on what they want done. It makes everything easier for both parties involved.
Best thing for any homeowner to remember is that the building code for their area is the "bare minimum required" to meet code. Like your roofers installed twice the width of what is required in your area shows that they take pride in their work.

We knew this roofing job was going to uncover problems in a 60 old home. The plus side is that we like the neighborhood and our neighbors. So it's worth it to deal with house headaches.

I think the internet has been the so helpful. We've been on since the old days of DOS and bulletin boards. Now, any research is at our fingertips. But yunno, some of the best information is gotten by having several contractors out to discuss a project for bids. Having them there assessing our situation is always the way we learn more about our home than we knew before.