# sagging roof, rotten ridge board



## sonoflee (Jan 22, 2008)

Hello,

I'm a new homeowner, and it looks like I have a serious roof issue: 

I have a 1964 ranch home with a 2-car attached garage here in Southeast Michigan. I noticed sagging in the roof over the garage, and when I went up in the attic to investigate I saw that the section of ridge board in that area had definite frost on it, and that moisture tells me it's probably pretty rotten underneath. Some of the rafters near this area had started to slip down where they are nailed into the ridge board, which I'm guessing is leading to the sag. Additionally, this section of ridge board appears to sit about half an inch down from the ridge board over the non-sagging 3/4 of the roof.

I know the cause of the moisture (not enough vents; stove and bathroom vent into attic; no vapor barrier) and will be addressing that issue as soon as the weather permits, probably by doing a complete tearoff and reroofing, adding ridge vent, etc.

My question is about what can be done in the meantime to make sure that the roof doesn't cave in - I'm worried that a heavy snow is going to cause some real issues. I'm relatively handy, and if my friends and I can't handle it I can definitely call in a contractor to help.

- Should I try to use a strongback to push the slipping rafters back into place and reattach them? 
- Is sistering the rafters a good idea in this situation? 
- Is it even possible to replace that ridge board section soon (in place, before the roof comes off), or is there another way I could reinforce it in the mean time?

I would welcome any other ideas on good temporary support, too. Thanks!


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## the roofing god (Aug 2, 2007)

if it`s a big worry,you can build a support wall underneath,use a 2x6 longer than the problem area,secure it to your attic floor joists,take another same size,and secure it to the bottom of the roof rafters,insert 2x4s as temp wall installing wher raftes are good 1st,then pushing bad ones up and inserting 2x4 in the gap and secure,use as many 2x4s as rafter for the run you need to support---probably a good idea when you do that roof ,to replace those bad rafters as well


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## redline (Mar 5, 2006)

can you post a photo?


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## sonoflee (Jan 22, 2008)

I will try to post some photos tonight - thanks for the suggestions so far!


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## redline (Mar 5, 2006)

:thumbsup:


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## sonoflee (Jan 22, 2008)

Okay, here are some images - the first 3 show the white (I'm guessing) frosty ridge beams and the general structure, the last one shows where the two sections of ridge beam are spliced, complete with a loosened rafter. Let me know if any other particular views would help, I'm not used to balancing on a ladder with my wife's camera!

http://img295.imageshack.us/img295/2715/img7668th0.jpg
http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/5135/img7670wj8.jpg
http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/6973/img7674xt8.jpg
http://img295.imageshack.us/img295/6792/img7675ex2.jpg


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## the roofing god (Aug 2, 2007)

don`t see much slippage.see where the beam was spliced,typically spliced areas should be supported from underneath


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