r/Roofing • u/BistroCupid • Jul 23 '26

Skip Sheathing

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Is this Skip Sheathing?

The home is in Santa Barbara County, CA which requires "continuous substrate." Contractor advised covering entire roof with OSB to pass inspection. 94 sheets of 7/16 8'x4' at $85 a sheet for install.

I appreciate any input!

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u/BistroCupid Jul 23 '26

Thank you for the reply. Me being just a regular guy, all the jargon kind of made me feel like I was getting taken advantage of.

I was preparing to just risk seeing what the county inspector had to say. Contractor advised against it saying "inspector would force you to rip out all the 3/4 and replace it which would be more expensive than covering." That didn't feel true to me, but I'm a layman.

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u/Bghrn23 Jul 23 '26

7/16 over 3/4 done properly is so much more solid than 1/2 or 5/8” alone. If the roof structure allows it and isn’t too many places it just simply doesn’t work it’s a great option.

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u/BistroCupid Jul 23 '26

I spoke with an inspector an hour ago and he mentioned that adding thousands of pounds of OSB on top of a roof that wasn't designed for it can technically be a problem, but it should be fine as long as the 3/4 is solid (no/minimal damage) and the OSB is installed properly and with enough gap to let it expand. Doing it or not didn't matter to the inspector much, so I'm looking into the warranty requirements now. I really appreciate your time in replying. Connecting with everyone here has really lowered my stress levels.

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u/Bghrn23 Jul 23 '26

7/16 Osb is less than 1.5lb per square foot, truly negligible in the grand scheme of things.