Everything got wrapped up and the new patio cover looks great. The roofing works well, but there was a major problem the first time it rained. The installation instructions for the roofing product list that you should be 24-36 inches on center for your supports with no further details. Due to the pre-existing header, I hadn’t checked the real rise. I knew there was some and that was the end of the thought.

The rise was not enough. At approximately 1 inch over the entire 12 feet, the water pooled in place. At 36 inch on center for the supports, the water pooled and caused the roof to sag. I initially placed a few supports in to reduce the sagging, but realized that it needed a solution to increase the rise of the roof so the water would flow.

Using a bottle jack, I was able to lift the header and place a 2×6 the entire width as well as additional sections of 2×6 at the support joints to increase the total height by just over 3 inches. This allowed the water to run off much better. The 36 inch on center supports are still a bit to far off and needed additional support to make the whole thing work properly.