Skip Sheathing Metal Roof

On metal frame building and the like you will likely see structural metal roofing installed on purlins that is what those 1x4 are purlins and those metal roofing panels are rated for that type of installation.

Skip sheathing metal roof. By installing skip sheathing as the roof deck the spaces between the boards allow the wood shakes to breathe so that they dry more evenly after being soaked in the rain limiting warping. The typical thickness range for sheathing is 3 8 to 3 4 inch. Roof sheathing comes in grid marked 4 by 8 foot sheets and should be installed perpendicular to the frame. This does not apply in environments with wind driven rain and snow however.

8d ring shank nails should be used instead. Typically 1 4 or 1 6 boards of wood are installed with a 3 5 maximum space between each board directly over the roof rafters or in a cold roof system over the plywood deck. Most you see on homes and many commercial building is non structural metal roofing and needs to be on solid sheathing. Never attach roof sheathing with staples.

The structural panels act as a diaphragm to transfer lateral loads at the plane of the roof to the walls. Spaced sheathing also called skipped decking refers to the construction details of the substrate which the cedar gets nailed to and thus secured to your home. For economic and structural lateral load reasons solid sheathing is almost always plywood osb or other structural panels. Osb or plywood over skip sheathing makes for a much stiffer roof deck resists problems with expansion better and obviously doesn t require all the hassle of removing it.

Metal tile and shingle roofing may also be applied to solid sheathing.