Why do people put tires on the roof of their home?
 

First off, the "Home and Auto" prefix works perfectly on this thread. But on to the topic.

I've been driving through a very rural area the past couple of days. Yesterday I saw a mobile home with a bunch of tires scattered on its roof. I pondered the reason and wondered if perhaps winds could cause a mobile home roof to resonate or something.

But over the past 36 hours I've seen several more homes with tires on their roof, and most of them weren't mobile homes. They were stick-and-brick homes that just happened to have numerous tires scattered on their roofs.

Why do people do this?

I have never once seen this.

Lol Some trailers need weight on top of it's roof to keep the wind from taking it off. Tin roofs.

Rednecks do what rednecks do.


That's your answer.

I imagine they help hold the "roof" down, whether that be tarp, tin, etc.

:D

It's to prevent a phenomenon known as "roof rumble". The roofs are called "bowstring", cause they're built on a roof truss shaped like an archer's bow... flat across the ceiling and arched up slightly in the center of the roof. The wooden trusses are nailed to the top plate of the exterior sidewalls of the home. The sheet metal roof skin is screwed only at the perimeter of the mobile home, along the top plates... NOT across the top of the trusses. This is because the metal roof skin and the wood framing expand and contract at different rates in temperature changes. If the roof skinning was fastened to each truss across the top of the roof, you'd eventually have leaks roof galore. Because the skinning is not fastened across the top of the roof, it tends to rumble whenever a good wind blows up. The weight of the tires prevent the rumbling. I've lived in Fla., Texas, New Hampshire, and Ohio, and it's the same thing everywhere. Watch out in the wintertime though; the tires will fill with rain and snow, and turn to ice, which puts alot of weight strain on your roof trusses.


Got this off of yahoo. I was curious as well

This exactly. Many times old worn tires are the cheapest usuable item to be found so up they go. Unfortunately most folks forget to drill drainage holes so they also end up holding stagnant water in more humid climates, fostering mosquito breeding.

So it sounds like my theory is correct on mobile homes related to resonance. But if it's also about weight, the houses must be poorly built if a frame house needs tires to keep the roof on. Most houses keep their roof just fine without tires on it.

What you said.

I get squirrels running across my roof and they sound like bowling balls.

Tiiiiin Roof...Radials.

BFG-52's

I never knew this.

Because shingles are asphalt

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