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Three-Decker Roofs

Replacing the Roof on a Worcester Three-Decker

A shallow hip with a deep bracketed eave, three floors of heat under it and a century of coverings on the deck. Written for owners who live in the building.

Call (555) 555-0142Mon–Fri 8:30–7, Sat 9–4 ET · WORCESTER

A Worcester three-decker is not a Boston triple-decker

The distinction matters before anyone prices the job. In Boston and the inner suburbs the type was often built with a flat roof under a membrane. In Worcester it was not. The surviving houses listed on the National Register here are described again and again as carrying a hip roof, frequently a low pitch hipped roof or a shallow hip, with an extended eave on decorative brackets. Gambrel and front-gable examples exist alongside them; flat ones are essentially absent.

So the Worcester three-decker is asphalt shingle territory rather than membrane territory — but at a pitch near the bottom of what asphalt is rated for, on a house where the eave detail does most of the work. That is why a bid written for a suburban colonial does not transfer.

How much of the city this is

Twenty-four percent of Worcester's housing units — around 21,500 of them — sit in buildings of three or four dwellings, and a third of all units are in buildings of two to four. That share is not spread evenly. In the 01610 ZIP, covering Main South, Vernon Hill and College Hill, 56.6% of units are in two-to-four-unit buildings and 59% of the housing predates 1940. Webster Square, Grafton Hill, Union Hill and Quinsigamond Village all run near or above 38%. In large parts of the city this is the ordinary house.

Four things that are different about the roof

The pitch sits in the doubled-underlayment band

Asphalt shingles are permitted down to 2 in 12. From 2 in 12 up to 4 in 12 the code requires two layers of underlayment rather than one. Shallow Worcester hips commonly measure in that range, so the assembly costs more than a steeper roof of the same area. A bid that has not measured the pitch has not priced the roof.

The overhang pushes the ice barrier a long way up

The membrane has to run from the eave edge to a point at least 24 inches inside the exterior wall line. A three-decker's bracketed eave projects well past the wall, so meeting that requirement can mean membrane over the first several feet of every plane. On a four-sided hip that is a substantial area, and it is invisible the moment the covering goes on.

Three floors of heat under one deck

A single-family house puts one storey of heated space under the attic. A three-decker puts three, with stairwells carrying warm air the full height. The deck above runs warmer than the outside air for most of the winter, so snow melts reliably rather than occasionally. Ventilation is not a refinement here, it decides whether the new roof dams every year.

A century of coverings

A house built in 1905 has been re-roofed three or four times. Massachusetts permits a recover over one existing layer only; at two, everything comes off. On this stock the answer is usually two, so the job is a full strip, the disposal volume is large, and the board sheathing underneath is exposed for the first time in decades.

Where the membrane does belong

attic, warm from below 24 in exterior wall line snow over the heated part roof covering underlayment, thickened at the eave roof deck 1 2 3 4 1 Snow melts over the warm attic 2 It refreezes where the deck runs cold 3 Water backs up under the courses 4 Only the ice barrier stops it there
A shallow hip carries snow instead of shedding it, so the eave detail decides the job. Snow melts over the warm part of the roof, the meltwater refreezes where the deck runs cold past the wall line, and water backing up behind that ice sits under the courses rather than running off.

The main roof takes shingles, but a three-decker has other roofs. The stacked porches front or rear each carry a deck close to level, well below the pitch at which asphalt is permitted. Those need a continuous waterproof surface — self-adhering modified bitumen or a single-ply membrane — and each needs its own detail where it meets the wall. Bay windows and entry hoods are the same in miniature.

In practice a three-decker replacement is one shingle roof plus three or four small membrane roofs, and the membrane work is where a scope is most often vague. Ask for the porch decks to be listed individually with their material named.

Living in the building while it happens

Owner-occupancy is the normal arrangement on this housing type and it shapes the logistics. A strip is loud in the upper unit and audible everywhere. A container needs a place to stand and usually a permit if it goes in the street. Porches have to be cleared, entrances have to stay usable, and cars have to move. Worcester's older neighbourhoods have narrow driveways and close-set houses, so staging frequently requires a word with a neighbour.

Multi-unit and three-decker roofing by town

Frequently Asked Questions

I live in one unit and rent the other two. Is my building treated as residential?
For permit purposes in Worcester, yes. The city's fee schedule draws its residential line at buildings of up to three dwelling units and prices work above that as commercial, which puts a three-decker on the residential side. That governs the permit and the fee basis. It does not govern everything: your insurance and any lender may classify the building differently, and it is worth knowing how each of them sees it before work is scheduled.
Why is the pitch such an issue on these houses?
Because it sits close to a line in the code. Asphalt shingles are permitted on slopes of 2 in 12 or steeper. Between 2 in 12 and 4 in 12 they are allowed but require a doubled underlayment beneath them, and below 2 in 12 they are not permitted at all. A great many Worcester hip roofs measure in that middle band, which means the correct assembly is not the same one that goes on a suburban colonial and does not cost the same either.
The porch roofs are flat. Do those get shingles too?
No, and they should not. A porch deck at or near level is below the pitch at which asphalt shingles are permitted, so it needs a continuous waterproof surface — normally a self-adhering modified bitumen or a single-ply membrane. On a three-decker that means three stacked porch roofs, each its own small membrane job with its own tie-in to the wall. They should appear in the scope either way.
How much disruption is there for the people living in the building?
More than on a single-family house, mostly in noise and access. A tear-off is loud directly overhead and the upper unit gets the worst of it for the length of the strip. Parking has to be cleared for a container and for staging, entrances need to stay usable, and anything stored on porches has to move. None of that is difficult, but it needs arranging with everyone in the building before the crew arrives rather than on the morning.
Is it worth doing the whole roof if only the rear slope is bad?
On a hip roof, usually yes. The four planes meet at hips that have to be cut and capped as one system, and a hip cap that is new on two sides and twenty years old on the other two is a weak joint along the length of the roof. Add the fact that the planes have weathered together and will not match, and partial work on a hip tends to buy less time than the price difference suggests.
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