Thread: Another New Guy

I am new to Inspection News which seems like a great forum for inspectors. I have been inspecting for 3 years now.
I have been wanting to join this for some time now but have not taken the time to do so.But now I need your help on a building product used in the early 70s on a home I inspected last week. The product appears to be a 2ft. by 8ft. tongue and groove material at 3 1/2 inches thick that layed over the roof rafters that was a post and beam type construction.It had a metal roof over it. They most I could find out was that it was like a homosote type mateial it had a finished look on the inside and ran right out to the end of the rafter end s and was obviously visable on the open eaves of the home.I have no idea on this being a normal construction practice and what if any R value there might be being the home is in the notheast also is the any fireproofing applied to the product?

Tim
Welcome to the forum. You will find an extremely helpful group here. Don't be shy about asking questions, and be ready for some differences of opinion. It's all in the name of learning and becoming better at what we do.
That being said, got any photos of this material? Sounds like some type of modular roof panel system, I have yet to see one in my area so I could be wrong, but by your description that's what came to mind. Pics always help, and since I have been here I haven't seen many things that someone here has not already run into.

Alton

Alton thank you for you responce. I did not get pictures of the product.Due to it being white and flat I did not think that it would show much other than the horizontal joint in the tongue and groove.

Tim,

I am now really confused (which is easy enough to do anyway).

You just said:

Originally Posted by Tim Adams

I did not get pictures of the product.Due to it being white and flat I did not think that it would show much other than the horizontal joint in the tongue and groove.

But previously said:

Originally Posted by Tim Adams

The product appears to be a 2ft. by 8ft. tongue and groove material at 3 1/2 inches thick that layed over the roof rafters that was a post and beam type construction.It had a metal roof over it. They most I could find out was that it was like a homosote type mateial it had a finished look on the inside and ran right out to the end of the rafter end s and was obviously visable on the open eaves of the home.

Which was quite a description for something which is "white and flat" and has a "horizontal joint in the tongue and groove".

I suspect that Alton thought as I did, there must have been something to take a photo of, such as the end you saw which led you to believe it was 3-1/2" thick and of that material.

And what indicated to you that it was 8 feet long? You offered up a lot of details, only to follow with - it was "white and flat".

I've seen pressed fiberglass insulation with a permanent finish bonded to it for exposure to the interior, but not what one would describe as being "it was like a homosote type mateial".

I've also seen that commercial roof decking material which looks like compressed and glued 'ox hair' (like those washable filters, only very densely backed and pressed) and which has been discussed here before - of which I can never remember the name of it either. Used on commercial buildings.

Was that house a 'custom architect designed house'? Typically, whenever I've seen those, the architects like to use unique materials and make design statements, 'statements' which usually end like ... "Yep, it's another leaker."

For whatever reasons, architects seem to be more concerned with "form" than with "function" and by "function" I mean: "functional", "functioning", "functionality" - i.e., it actually "works" to serve as a thermal and weather barrier for the building envelope.

I'm not concerned that 'it sure looks purty' ... until you put a blue tarp over it to keep the rain out ... in which case the blue tarp should have been included in the design aspect.

I had one many years ago (actually several, but this one in particular) where I told my client that they had what I thought would be "a leaker", and, yes, it was custom architect designed, with that compressed fiberglass insulation with the permanent interior finish material adhered to ti, and it was very unique, and it was ... "a leaker".

My client chased leaks around to 4 years, having the roof replaced twice, but, I forewarned them ...