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DawnDawn · Aug 9, 2012, 09:14 AM

Since the roofers put on new shingles and did it quite violently I have noticed some damage to my home. One of the things are small straight cracks going the length of my plaster ceiling in more than one place. Should this worry me? Also my three decks have come loose of my home I think also due to the heavy slamming of packs of shingles they threw around up there that shook my house so much that stuff on my mantle got jiggled around and almost fell off. I mean they took 1/3 pack of shingles and lifted them three feet off the ground and threw them to the next spot they were working on. My windows rattled, my hanging lights are loose from the ceiling a bit and I hear creaking sounds in my roof. Do you think my roofs OK and my ceiling too?

smoothy · Aug 9, 2012, 09:18 AM

If your house is falling apart over things like that... it had far bigger and more serious problems before they did the roof.

Seriously... playful kids put more stress on a deck than a FULL pack of shigles dropped from 6 feet would do... much less a 1/3 pack from three feet. I sit in front of a bank of computers for a living... I could thrown a 1/3 pack of shungles well over 15 feet, and I'm 50.

I think you are worrying about nothing... or just noticing real issues that have been forming over years before now that have been ignored.

They could all jump up and down on the roof without hurting anything unless there is pre-existing structural damage that needed repair.

hkstroud · Aug 9, 2012, 11:09 AM

playful kids put more stress on a deck than a FULL pack of shigles dropped from 6 feet

Disagree Smoothy. A bundle of shingles dropped on the roof will crack the ceiling. The roofer knows this, I'd make him come back and fix it.

smoothy · Aug 9, 2012, 11:21 AM

Originally Posted by hkstroud

Disagree Smoothy. A bundle of shingles dropped on the roof will crack the ceiling. The roofer knows this, I'd make him come back and fix it.

Need to read the rest of what I posted... it was referring to the deck part as posted, maybe you missed the part I was referring to... 1/3 pack shingles tossed a few feet on a roof might make a lot of noise but not do heavy damage. I weigh 220 lbs and I've been running across roofs a lot of years (not as a roofer) never had a roof ( or sheetrock or plaster ceiling)crack from it. And no unless its wet or slippery I don't step gently.

I asked my Brother who was a roofing supervisor for a number of years about that too..

Maybe its just that roofs are build stronger in my part of the country to handle snow.

I'm really concerned about the condition of her decks if they are coming loose as easy as she said. That can be a very dangerous condition.

DawnDawn · Aug 10, 2012, 08:38 AM

The shingles weren't dropped on the deck. All three decks have recently come loose. My ceiling plaster recently cracked and my chandiliers are coming loose. This all happened after the roofers repeatedly tossed these 100 lbs of shingles over and over on my roof making my entire house shake each time. My main concern is safety. If I have minor cracks extending the width of my house on the plaster ceiling should I be worried? PS, kids playing on the deck never came close to the violence done by these roofers. You'd have to have been there. It was like repeated earthquakes. Thanks for all your responses. (they were standing when they threw the packs around, how high the shingle packs fell from each time is a guess.)

smoothy · Aug 10, 2012, 09:07 AM

Originally Posted by DawnDawn

The shingles weren't dropped on the deck. All three decks have recently come loose. My ceiling plaster recently cracked and my chandiliers are coming loose. This all happened after the roofers repeatedly tossed these 100 lbs of shingles over and over on my roof making my entire house shake each time. My main concern is safety. If I have minor cracks extending the width of my house on the plaster ceiling should I be worried? PS, kids playing on the deck never came close to the violence done by these roofers. You'd have to have been there. It was like repeated earthquakes. Thanks for all your responses. (they were standing when they threw the packs around, how high the shingle packs fell from each time is a guess.)

Full packs of shingles don't weigh 100 lbs... not even the best grade Architectural ones... I've hauled too many of them before.

Believe what you want... but a skinny 10 year that's jumping can fold a steel Queen size bedframe in half. A couple of them will do more damage to a deck than roofers doing their normal work will including the supplies.

If your decks are coming loose they are either extremely old or improperly built. Code (at least where I live in Virginia) has required they be bolted... and not just screwed or nailed THROUGH the sill plate of the house for a fair number of years now. THey should easily support the weight of over a DOZEN full grown adults... or more depending on the size of the deck.

And just because its not 20 years old... doesn't mean it was built to code... there have been many build in recent years in my area that had to be torn down and re-done when it was discovered they were unsafe, some less than 5 years old. A few only a year old.

If a heavy snowfall will put several TONS of weight on the roof depending on a number of factors without the house collapsing, a few packs of shingles aren't going to hurt it.

Houses walls will crack... thats life because the materials aren't flexible. What matters is the size of the cracks.

Simple cracks that are tight are nothing to worry about... however WIDE cracks with gaps that you can easily measure ARE a cause of concern.

I've never seen a house with plastered walls and ceiling that didn't have cracks somewhere... Same with houses with sheetrock walls.

Someone walking heavily across a roof will sound unsettling. I've had a raccon jump out of a tree onto mine and run across it... that was loud enough to wake me up. Yet my roof at one time had THREE layers of shingles (yes a violation of code the inspectore missed... AND weathered more than a decade of WInter snowfalls on top of that...

If you see my point... houses are more resilient than you might think. Wood frame houses as most are built are particularly so.

DawnDawn · Aug 14, 2012, 11:17 AM

Glad to hear that the simple cracks that are tight are not dangerous. I appreciate that. As far as my house shaking, you'd have to have been there. It was like an earthquake but I'm glad to hear the weight of the shingles won't harm my roof. It wasn't just the weight it was that the weight was concentrated in a small area when tossed like the weight of a tree limb falling on my house if you know what I mean. But I am going to take your word that it didn't harm anything. Thanks again, I mean that. Also, I'm sure the deck was not set up well and the heat must have had a factor because they all decided to slant and pull away from my house within the same week. Go figure?

smoothy · Aug 14, 2012, 11:35 AM

I'd recommend having a pro check those decks out... you don't want them collapsing when someone or a group are on them. From your description I have a very real concern about them. Leaning or pulled away from the house a visible amount is a cause for concern.

If only for your own peace of mind. They shouldn't be pulling away or leaning... or moving for that matter.

joypulv · Aug 14, 2012, 02:23 PM

I'd be concerned about the total weight of the new shingles on the roof. How many layers are there now? Roofers have been known to lie about how many you have to keep the quote down and not have to strip old layers off.
If your roof is actually spreading and pushing the tops of the top walls outward, that could loosen decks, not weight slamming down.
Also, what is your top floor (attic) like? Are there collar ties (ceiling joists tying the rafters together)? Or trusses? Nothing but rafters?

smoothy · Aug 14, 2012, 04:24 PM

Originally Posted by joypulv

I'd be concerned about the total weight of the new shingles on the roof. How many layers are there now? Roofers have been known to lie about how many you have to keep the quote down and not have to strip old layers off.
If your roof is actually spreading and pushing the tops of the top walls outward, that could loosen decks, not weight slamming down.
Also, what is your top floor (attic) like? Are there collar ties (ceiling joists tying the rafters together)? Or trusses? Nothing but rafters?

Two layers is safe and legal... Three is a whole different thing, my house had three layers at least 15 years before it was discovered, had issues with the gutters but nothing else detectible. The Home inspector missed it when I bought the house. I discovered it replacing an attic vent 10 years after I bought the house. Its since been stripped off and re-shingled. Walls aren't pushing out because first of how houses are built... the roof isn't part of the walls... it sits on top, and then all but the older decks, they are required by code to be through bolted and not nailed or lag bolted to the sill plate... which is what the entire house sits on and rests on the foundation. Decks aren't attached to the walls literally.

joypulv · Aug 16, 2012, 10:00 AM

Some local codes are restricting roof shingles to 1 layer. There are several reasons including thinner sheathing and lack of new technologies on the old shingles, plus the cost to remove 1 layer is offset by the shorter lifespan of both layers. And in hurricane areas they lift off more easily. There's more.

Yes, weight on the roof is transferred down the walls, regardless of whether they are on a plate or notched or end out on overhanging joists. And with more and more people renovating attics to live in, they take out collar ties and such. And with a high snow load plus 2 layers of shingles, you can go over the load limit.
Imagine X pounds spread out over the roof: the rafters sag, pushing their bottom ends up, and depending on where the ends are resting, something has to give. The floor joists could go down on the outside and up in the middle, and so on. The walls definitely can be affected by all this, especially if there are not a lot of walls holding it all together inside.

DawnDawn · Aug 16, 2012, 10:51 AM

There is only one layer of shingles. My concern was with the tossing of the packs of shingles as they were up there re-shingleing my house. My insurance agent warned me about this company but due to all the tornadoes in the area it was hard to find anyone available at the time so I hired them against my better judgement. The wind damage to my home was minimal, the roofers themselves were more violent than any wind storms I've experienced so far.
But you are correct about not putting shingles over shingles. Thanks

joypulv · Aug 16, 2012, 11:34 AM

OK, now I'm beginning to think that there are different issues here. One is tiny plaster cracks and loosening light fixtures - yes, that can be from all that weight slamming around. Unfortunate but not dangerous.
The other is the loose decks. I really do think you were more attuned to looking around and examining the whole house when a few things were wrong, and found things wrong that were probably in the works for some time. I don't see how the roofers could be responsible for that no matter what they did.

DawnDawn · Aug 20, 2012, 07:07 AM

The deck issue may not be from roofers but all three slanted abruptly within the time frame of 1 week. If you can see 3 inches of nails and huge gap between deck and house that were not there before and you can visibly see one side of deck 3 to 4 inches higher than the other which is obvious because the vinyl siding reveals one side of deck 3 layers of siding lower if you know what I mean. I'll have to get them releveled and proper cement or brick under posts. What a drag. Every time I fix one thing it breaks another. Well that's life. That's what all the people say. Not sure how to close thread but I've got enough info on this topic.

smoothy · Aug 20, 2012, 07:36 AM

Originally Posted by DawnDawn

the deck issue may not be from roofers but all three slanted abruptly within the time frame of 1 week. If you can see 3 inches of nails and huge gap between deck and house that were not there before and you can visibly see one side of deck 3 to 4 inches higher than the other which is obvious because the vinyl siding reveals one side of deck 3 layers of siding lower if you know what I mean. I'll have to get them releveled and proper cement or brick under posts. What a drag. Everytime I fix one thing it breaks another. Well that's life. That's what all the people say. Not sure how to close thread but I've got enough info on this topic.

You don't close the thread... it just withers away, yes that the joy of home ownership... there is always something that needs attended to... but at least its yours.

Please DO get those decks checked ASAP... everytime you say something more about them they appear to be more and more at risk of imminent collapse...

Particularly now you are saying there is 3 inches of nails showing... even with longer nails that doesn't leave much still in the wood, there is effetively nothing now supporting in in a sheer, and the fact there are no bolts at all, means you have an excetionally unsafe condition right now and I hope you prevent anyone including yourself from using them at all until its resolved. THey could collapse the next time you set foot on them as you are describing them now.