Roof slides off Pond Place Lane home in Concord

By SUSAN DOUCET

Monitor staff

Last modified: 2/22/2015 1:23:06 AM

A house on Pond Place Lane in Concord is currently without its roof, which slid off yesterday afternoon.



“This is the first time I’ve ever seen an entire roof slide off,” said Concord fire Chief Dan Andrus.



The fire department responded to a call at the single-family home at 11 Pond Place Lane at 1:37 p.m. yesterday.



“I can’t say what the cause was,” said Battalion Chief Brian Saltmarsh.



The cause is under investigation, he said, but snow was probably a factor.



The homeowners, Kristina and Leigh Levine, were home when the roof slid off. A few hours after the incident, they were calling their insurance company, looking for a contractor and seeking a place to stay for the night.



“The roof literally fell off our house three hours ago,” Kristina Levine said yesterday afternoon.



The roof was leaning against the side of the house; insulation and damaged siding were visible near the roofline.



Saltmarsh said the fire department had shut off the utilities in the house, and Andrus said he had notified the city’s code enforcement department.



Saltmarsh said he did not know of any recent roof collapses in Concord, but said that collapses could have happened that he was not aware of.



Ray Cook, a professor of structural engineering at the University of New Hampshire, said a roof sliding off a home is uncommon.



“This should not happen,” Cook wrote in an email. “Roofs should be tied down to the framing below along the eaves of the house. The lower edge of the roof needs also to be tied across to the lower edge of the roof on the other side as well. Usually this is done via the ceiling rafters.”







(Susan Doucet can be reached at 369-3309, sdoucet@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @susan_doucet.)





