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This is the frame that I'm using for my sukkah. In the event that the bars forming the frame's roof cannot be removed, would they completely posul the flat sechach I might construct beneath them? If so, what considerations must be undertaken in order to construct a sukkah with a slanted roof? My understanding is that a slanted roof does not posul the sukkah (Halacha 7) but that, aside from not being optimal, there are complications to consider. I cannot seem to find a source which addresses these complications, though. Obviously, my preference would be if the four bars forming the roof just didn't posul it in the first place. This seems unlikely, though.

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Sounds to me like Shulchan Aruch 626:3:

העושה סוכה למטה בבית תחת הגג שהסירו הרעפים אף על פי שנשארו עדיין העצים הדקים שהרעפים מונחים עליהם כשירה

See also Rama and Mishna B'rura there, or your favorite nos'e kelim. But as this is for you a practical matter, CYLOR.

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  • My rabbi was my first stop - he told me that he had really never thought about that before and that I should ask around and let him know what I found. Am I reading the S"A right? I read it as "one who builds a sukkah underneath a roof where they have removed the tiles, as long as the framework is thin, it's kosher".
    – yoel
    Oct 11, 2011 at 15:47
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    @yoel, yes, that's pretty much it. Although, that case in S.A. is talking about a framework of wooden lathes, where as M.B. :17 points out, they would themselves be kosher sechach once an "action" is be done to make them so (which is accomplished by removing the roof tiles). Here, though, your framework is of metal, which is out-and-out invalid for sechach. So it would probably be more similar to the case he goes on to describe (based on S.A. ibid. :1): any sechach under those poles themselves is considered absent, and the rest of the sechach has to be enough to provide more shade than sun.
    – Alex
    Oct 11, 2011 at 16:05
  • @Alex so basically, the poles don't posul the sukkah the way a tree would, but the overall sechach has to be sufficient for a kosher sukkah without including that which is covered by the poles? This is interesting, because I would have assumed that the sukkah under the poles was not valid and thus could not be eaten under or slept under, but it sounds like it's just like "this part of the sukkah isn't covered with sechach - as long as the rest of it is, no problem". Needless to say, I'll bring this to my rabbi, who is more familiar with the S"A HaRav than the S"A and can advise.
    – yoel
    Oct 11, 2011 at 16:20
  • buy a hacksaw and cut them off! Oct 11, 2011 at 17:16
  • @RaffyVandVaart that's my last resort option, yeah.
    – yoel
    Oct 11, 2011 at 17:18

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