wood fiber-cement roofing?

Question

wood fiber-cement roofing?

psustruct (Structural)

(OP)

20 Oct 11 20:20

I was on a job site today -an old warehouse- where we thought concrete was spalling on the roof. What we thought was concrete was actually a wood chip and cement mix. What we thought was rebar, well... it wasn't. I'm not sure what it was as I could not get close enough to touch it. There was wire spaced about 3 inches on center and it ran perpindicular to the bar. It was kinda like a mesh.

I'm not familiar with this construction. Is it structural or just a form of insulation?

psustruct (Structural) · Answer 1 · 2011-10-20 20:23:07

Here's another photo (taken from the floor).

http://files.engineering.com/getfile.aspx?folder=dfcc5afb-720a-4776-acf6-a1

Ron (Structural) · Answer 2 · 2011-10-21 05:51:56

It is a cast-in-place form of insulation, similar to cast-in-place gypsum, and pre-dating Tectum panels.

It looks like it has lost most of its integrity. Be careful walking on that roof, although the mesh provides some protection from falling through.

psustruct (Structural) · Answer 3 · 2011-10-21 07:24:52

Thanks, Ron. Do you think there is anything else structurally holding this roof up? My brain tells me there has got to be, but I really don't know.

Ron (Structural) · Answer 4 · 2011-10-21 12:45:43

Not necessarily. These cast-in-place systems were popular in the late 40's, 50's and 60's. Most were gypsum based, but some were portland cement with a variety of insulative aggregates used.

sbouvia (Structural) · Answer 5 · 2011-11-18 09:13:57

This could be a metropolitan type floor system. How old is the building? There is a paper by Donald Friedman that you can check out and see if this is what you have.

http://www.apti.org/publications/PP-archive/Friedman-PPs.pdf

Hope that helps.

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wood fiber-cement roofing?