Shed Project: Roofing

[jteneyck]

Here's a link to the last installment:  Framing

My friend Sean, a certified arborist and man of several other part time pursuits, came over at just after 8 AM today.  He volunteered to put the roofing on the shed a week or so ago.  I happily accepted.  Not only does Sean know what he's doing, but he has all the tools that make it easier to do, most importantly, a roofing nailer.  So, in full disclosure, all I did today was schlep materials, hand Sean whatever he needed, and move the scaffolding from one side of the roof to the other.  I think I set foot on the roof itself once all day.  

The process was pretty standard, put on the drip edge, then the ice barrier up 3' past the wall, then the tar paper, then the rake edges, then the starter shingle, then the shingles, and finally the ridge vent and cap shingles.  But it's all the little things of how you do each task that makes the job easy or difficult.  Having put on roofs for over 20 years Sean has learned how to do things efficiently but thoroughly.   

Here's Sean just beginning the shingling on the first side.  



I bought a roll product sold as starter shingle.  Seems like a much easier solution to me.  About two and a half hours later Sean was just putting the finishing touches on the first side.


 

I moved the scaffolding to the other side, and moved it higher at Sean's request.  I saw the logic after we started on that side.  Another hour or so and he was here:




I had cut the ridge slot yesterday.  The instructions said to put a 1" wide slot on just one side, but Sean felt the ridge vent wouldn't bend uniformly over the peak, so he cut another slot on the other side.  The vent material was called Viper Vent. I'm familiar with Cobra Vent, but the building supply place I bought everything at didn't carry it, so this is what I got.  I was surprised to read you have to apply a bead of roofing cement around the slot and set the Viper Vent into that when you nail it down, so we used a product called Geocell for that.  

 

And a few minutes later he was done.



Working alone on the roof, Sean finished at about 3 PM.  

We have some much needed rain forecast for the next several days, so I'm very happy the roof is on.  Oh yeah, the color is called Riviera Red.    

Tomorrow that recommended bracing goes in.  Thanks for following along, and your collective help along the way.  

John

[BrokenOlMarine]

Looks good.  We put twenty five year architecture shingles on our house that look just like that, only in a Mediterranean Tile color.  It's a bit lighter to reflect the heat.  

[Steve Friedman]

Looking good, John.  Really zipping along.  I put a roof on a lean-to shed that was a fraction of that size and it took two of us virtually all day.

Impressive.  Keep the pictures coming.

Steve

[Bill Wilson]

 

Getting a roof on is always a milestone event in any construction project.  Lots of reasons to be satisfied at this point. 

What's the next phase?

[jteneyck]

 

Getting a roof on is always a milestone event in any construction project.  Lots of reasons to be satisfied at this point. 

What's the next phase?

Yeah, it felt really good this morning to watch the rain pound down on and run off the roof.  We got an inch of rain over night, the first substantial rain we've had since I started on the shed.  Next up is to get the diagonal bracing in place and then get the building wrap up and windows installed. We're still working on picking the vinyl siding and trim colors and have to get that sorted out before I can order all the parts.  It's a little frustrating that the color palette is limited for the soffit, trim, and siding parts.  Of course you can get everything in white, but beyond that the choices get limited and finding an attractive combination hasn't been easy.  But we'll get there and then I'll order all those parts.  When I'm done I want to have every exterior surface covered in minimal maintenance material except for the doors.   I plan to make those and they will be painted.  

John

[lift mechanic]

Looking good. Nice to have a good friend that knows what he is doing. Looks like you used felt paper under the shingles. Felt paper works great as long as you cover it right a way. I made the mistake of laying 30 pound felt over the entire shop, rain expected. The roofer ordered the metal which took a few days (8). I looked at the tar paper and at every staple there was a rip 1/4 - 1/2" long. the paper shrunk. I had the roofer replace all of it, 3000 sq/ft. this time a product called Titianimum roofing underlayment. This was not cheap but does not shrink. I have noticed a couple of out building that this product was used and left for more than a year with no damage. Maybe I have missed it, what is the siding going to be?

[cndamm]

House wrap is a waste of money on a shed.

[MstrCarpenter]

House wrap is a waste of money on a shed.

As soon as the sun goes down, the nice, still warm (and humid?) air inside will condense on the first thing that cools down; the vinyl siding. The siding has weep holes to let the water drain out but the sheathing will get wet. Galvanized nails (which should be aluminum anyway) will rust and leave stains under the weep holes, the sheathing will turn grey, swell, and start to delaminate. Carpenter ants and other insects that thrive on the moist wood will create openings large enough to invite rodents inside, and then the animals that feed on them. Now all of this will take some time, so if you won't need the shed in ten years, don't bother with house wrap.

House wrap is designed to let moisture vapor pass though but not air. It is also, for the most part, waterproof. If you've ever stripped siding off of a house wrap you would have seen lines at the top of almost every course where the water evaporated and left the dirt and dust behind. This is true even under a farmers porch where the siding has been exposed to little to no rain. Some may point out that condensation could also form on the back of the house wrap. It may, but I don't spend the extra time to avoid wrinkles and pull it tight so it will look pretty for the few days it will be uncovered. I do it to keep it as tight to the sheathing as possible. There are products available (i.e. Zip Wall) that incorporate this protection into the sheathing itself. The dozen or so times I've used it, I still installed house wrap.

[jteneyck]

House wrap is a waste of money on a shed.

I'm OK with $80 for a roll of house wrap for a building that will end up around $5K.  Siding keeps rain off the sheathing only where it's continuous; it can still get behind it around the windows and doors.  Flashing and house wrap work together to keep it from away from the inside and off the sheathing.  

For the curious, I've got about $3900 in the building now with the roofing on.  

John

[goaliedad]

Roofing is on skill I regret having. A young man’s game, or at least a very in shape older guy’s game

Nice seeing the progress on the mansion