One of the most important priorities of a homeowner is to protect the home from rain and other weather-related damages. A properly constructed roof overhang can serve this purpose.
Without any preceding knowledge and experience, extending a roof overhang can be challenging. But, don’t worry about how to extend a roof overhang as this article will help you overcome the problem.
So, let’s get started.
What is a roof overhang?
Before starting the whole article, let’s first know about a roof overhang. An overhang is the part of the roof that extends past the wall and provides protection for the area around your shed’s base. The breadth of an overhang can range from a few inches to many feet.
Usually, two types of overhang are used and they are rake overhang and eave overhang. The first one is created by extending the gable ends of your roof and the next one is created by extending the slope of the roof at the longer side of the shed.
How To Extend A Roof Overhang: Step by Step
Extending a roof overhang is quite tricky work and is very important to be done accurately. Otherwise, it will create water leakage, damages to your roof.
Following a couple of steps can be of great help.
Step 1: Inspection:
The first and foremost roofing task is to do a thorough inspection and have an overall idea of your roof’s situation. Whether your roof can be extended in the way you want it or if it is feasible to do so, etc should be considered.
Step 2: Removal of old sheathing materials:
Then, you need to figure out how much sheathing you will need to remove. This all would depend on the length of the rafter. Sometimes you may only need to remove the roofing only by 2 feet, but sometimes you may need to remove the whole sheet or even more.
Step 3: Remove the fascial board:
Then, you need to remove the fascial board. Now, there is something that needs to be pointed out that sometimes you need to remove the drywall from the ceiling or a section of drywall and then work below it.
You need to have the plywood on or the roof sheathing on and then work on the inside and outside of the house.
Step 4: Extending your rafter:
So, your work starts with a rafter or a truss-like structure and what type of method you are going to use to extend the rafters.
The first thing is the cantilever on the rafter that you are going to use or the rafter tail should be ⅓ of the distance of the rafter’s total length. It is a minimum distance commonly used by professionals.
It also depends on the materials that you use. If you have a tile roof, you might need to go with a 2*6 or 2*8 extension. In the case of wood shingles roof, you can go with something lighter such as 2*4 size extensions. Make sure to secure them with nails.
Again, keep in mind to attach appropriate soffit materials to the frame and covering the area with a 1*6 fascia board.
Step 5: Roofing the new overhang:
It is best to ultimately change the whole shingles layer of your roof. But, if you have a budget constraint, then it will be better to try to match the existing roof shingles.
Once the overhang is placed and secured, then you need to cover up the areas with plywood or other sheathing materials. It is a good practice to use the plywood sheathing at least ⅛ inches thick as compared to the previous roof shingles.
Step 6: Install metal drip edge:
Begin by attaching a metal drip edge to the new overhang’s edge. After that, you can install a new course of shingles.
Finish the process by working your way up until you reach the shingles that are already in place.
Why roof overhang is needed
Roof overhangs give temperature regulation, weather protection by concealing windows, ceilings, and doorways from the rain while also diverting water away from the base of your roof.
Roofs with broad overhangs work as a front porch on your house and can also serve as supplementary equipment storage.
Final Words
Hopefully, this article has helped you have an idea about how to extend a roof overhang. But, as you can see this job is quite sensitive and requires experience to avoid common pitfalls.
If you are not sure enough, it is always the best solution to get help from professionals.
