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How To Build A Shed Roof

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DiffeHow to build a shed roof depends on the particular design of your roofrent Styles in Building a Shed Roof?

How to build a shed roof depends on the particular design of your roof. Some common styles are a tilted, gable, gambrel, and hip style. A tilted roof is the simplest where you just have one linear pitch with no roof ridge. The back or front wall will just be lower than the other. The Gable and Gambrel are the most commonly found roofs on most garden and tool sheds. Gambrel roof is more of a barn-style with more than one pitch on each side of the ridge and the Gable style has just 1 pitch with a ridge. The hip-style roof is the most complicated to construct which consists of each corner of the structure meeting up to a center ridge created 4 seperate faces to the roof.

How to Build a Shed Roof from Scratch

You may opt to build your own roof from scratch which is very easy to do and can save you some money as well. The easiest way is to have frame a ridge from the top of one gable end to the other. The rafters will be cut on the proper angle to meet the ridge and notched on the other end to sit on the top plate. The same is done on the other side. Smaller sheds can be spaced 24" on center. Plywood is laid across the bottom row and staggered to the top of the ridge. It's a little more work than having trusses assembled ahead of time but may be worth the savings. This method will also allow you to choose your own pitch and style for your roof.

How to Build a Shed Roof With Trusses

If your shed was purchased as a kit there's a good chance the rafters would come as preassembled trusses. If not, you can even have trusses built for you at your local lumberyard. You would start on one end of your shed and mark every 24" along the top plate of both sides. You simple drop each truss on these marks, center their width and tack them into place. Each truss can be temporarily secured to the last using cut pieces of strapping. Once all the trusses are tacked in place the first row of sheathing, typically 5/8" plywood can be laid across. The next row of plywood would be staggered for support. In no time you'll be ready to sheath and finish your roof.

How To Finish Your Shed Roof

Once you've got your rafters in place and sheathed with plywood you're ready to roof your shed. Although there are several different roofing materials you can choose from, we'll be discussing conventional roofing shingles. A roofing underlayment should be used before laying down our shingles. This could be felt or tar paper. Next, you'll start your first row of shingles at the bottom of your roof and work your way up. All roofing nails need to be covered by the next row to ensure no leaks. Each row of shingles must also be staggered with the next. When both sides are complete the top ridge must be capped and your roof is complete.