# Roof that froms a plateau



## Terminallance (Aug 31, 2013)

Doing a job on a church, and the roof is 25 yr shingles with a 6 inch slope, and toward the top it cuts off with a 4-5 foot flat roof, with rock and black tar. Church is probably 50-60 yrs old. The tar has leaked over the years, out of one of the seams, which looks like its made out of copper, partially broken. 90% of the tar is gone, leacing exposed rock which is often missing.

I'm going to be having an adjustment meeting soon. My question is, is this top portion damaged or just worn out? Could wind have ripped the tar lose like that? Would tar literally flow like lava down a valley, out of collapsed copper flashing? Would this be wear and tare or actual damage?

Also, what is the point of having a roof like this, and should I replace it with something else? I thought about closing it up mostly and doing ridge vent.


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## Stefan Mach (Sep 21, 2013)

*Framing it up should not be that difficult*

I have removed the flat top portion on a number of hip roofs for customers who had gotten sick of the problems often associated with such a design. Easiest way to frame it is to remove the flat roof, nail 2x4's on the larger slopes extending up so they criss cross each other, account for the decking and make goal post supports on either end of what will be the new ridge ( account for hips by nailing a 2x4 extending up on these two ends as well), lay your ridge pole in and mark any final cuts for hip ends, cut and install ridge pole in goal posts, continue rafters in to new ridge pole, remove goal posts if you need to, extending hips is the hardest part, remove about 1-2 feet of plywood from original roof slope, deck, and shingle shut. Obviously this is not fully detailed, but it isn't too difficult to do. Potential biggest design error would be having your ridge pole set too high by the thickness of the decking. 2x4's are on top of the decking, and so bottom plane of 2x4 represents top surface of decking, not top surface of rafters. Hope this helps. If you want, hit me back and I will draw what I am saying in Sketchup and put it on my youtube channel where I draw roofs typically over aerials.

Stefan


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## Terminallance (Aug 31, 2013)

Hey Stefan, thanks for your reply man. I actually got the same advice from the owner of my roofing supply.

My main concern is the weight that's going to be placed on those slopes, and whether the damage to the flat decking should be paid for be the insurance co vs them just paying for a retar and rerock.


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