How to make a roof?

[aerontg]

Edit: I can not believe how poorly written this post was

Let's try this again (more or less a correction of what I wrote before, with full acknowledgement of, AND APPRECIATION FOR, any assistance given at this point in the thread):

I am putting up the walls today for my first real carpentry project: a garden shed. Basically, in my first addition of this post I didn't know how to advance beyond nailing up the four wall frames to the floor and to each other.

Someone has mentioned using a speed square, which I pick up tomorrow. A couple of days ago I saw a carpenter's square, which I'm also going to buy. Using a framer's square that is 24" long on one end, to mark a straight line on a 2x4 can be a REAL PAIN!

Last night I met "Tip" and "Ericas" in the chatroom. There was some discussion along the lines of age/sex/height, so I didn't know if I'd entered the Chicken Lover Singles Only club

I have decided to go with assembling trusses on the ground (to ends joining with 45 degree cuts, opposite ends having bird's mouth cuts in them to attack to the tops of the walls).

I'm more of an old fashioned, do things the hard way, kind of person, so pre-fabricated stuff, plastic parts and easy connect pieces aren't my style. It ain't work, unless it's WORK

Aeron

 

[poopcoop]

You have asked a question with alot of different answers depending on the type of roof you are wanting and the pitch.

 

[SeaChick]

I would recommend drawing it to scale on graph paper and playing with the overhangs and pitch until you get it right.

Here are some web pages to get you started and give you ideas on framing:

http://shedking.net/How_to_build_a_shed_roof.html

http://www.buildeazy.com/shed_1.html

We used the galvanized rafter hangers from Lowes to attach the rafters to the wall framing. Made it much easier. You build the roof like the walls.... frame it first, then lay your roofing on, whether it's plywood that you'll then shingle, or metal or plastic roofing (much lighter!!). You can either build trusses, like one of those articles suggest, or but the rafters to a ridgepole (is that the right term? a 2 x 4 that runs down the middle of the roofline).

 

[Their Other Mother]

Go to Home Depot and buy one of their Outdoor project books. I think they are about $25.00 and worth every penny. If I had to move up to our land in the middle of nowhere to survive, ( in other words ITSHTF like the survivalist sites say it will) and could only take 3 books I'd take my Bible, my 1934 American Woman's Cookbook and my Home Depot Outdoor projects book!

It will show you how to set the footings, frame it, roof it, finish it and make sure you have it set on a properly drained site. Something I wish we would have read and done before we built our barn. We live in AZ where it hardly ever rains but when it rains it floods and so does our barn, every time! My husband is not a handy man so every construction project around our place is done by my 11 year old son and I and my HD Project Book. ( and NO I don't work for them, just love that book)

 

[patandchickens]

Method that requires the least math or planning (not necessarily the easiest or best method, but not *much* extra work and is definitely good for the plan-o-phobic

):

Erect all 4 walls and attach 'em together.

Tack on sturdy pieces of scrap 2x4, exactly vertical, exactly at the midline of each end of the coop (screw or doubleheaded-nail temporarily to the coop walls' sill and header). Make 'em the height you want your roof peak. They're just to hold a ridge piece up while you make your rafters.

Tack (preferably with a deck screw) a 2x4 ridge between those temporary props - cut it to exact length, and make sure to check that it's level and all that kind of stufff.

Now hold up a 2x4 with one end against the ridge and the other resting on the wall top. Mark on it where to cut, eyeballing how much of an overhang looks right to you. Overestimate by an inch or so to account for the fact you'll have to cut the top end at an angle so it's flush with the ridge.

While you've got it up there, use a level or plumb bob to draw a true-vertical line, preferably up at the ridge end but really you can draw it anywhere and just transfer the angle to that end once it's back on the ground. This is your line for cutting the end of the rafter that meets the ridge pole.

Cut all your rafters according to that pattern one you've created.

Now put 'em up. Your life will be easier if you have someone to hold 'em in the right place at the ridge while you toenail them into the top of the wall, but it cn be done singlehanded if you arrange a prop or temporary attachment up there. I would recommend just toenailing them into the top of the wall, for a coop, but if you are very paranoid, or feeling very insecure about the accuracy of your toenailing

, you can buy those galvanized rafter tie thingies (also called hurricane clips, I believe) and nail thru those. It will be stronger - PLENTY strong for a chicken coop

Now you can remove those temporary vertical props.

THen put your roof strapping or deck or whatever on, depending on what kind of roofing you will use.

Trusses would be a little easier, but require a certain degree of math, planning, and living with the consequences of any errors therein

Pat

 

[LynneP]

Another product you can consider is PalRUF made of PVC and in clear corrugated or solid color sheets. Very easy to install.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=7693

 

[WikkitGateFarm]

A stick built roof is probably not the best beginner's project. Make (or buy) some trusses. It'll be much easier to install, and they're more forgiving. If you are going with a stick built roof, go buy a speed square.

There are plenty of sites online that generally do a poor job of describing roof framing. Go get a book, or an expert. Some will work for beer.

If you're building trusses, you can do all the layout and construction on the floor before you put the walls up. It makes a great template, assuming you're putting the walls up straight!

 

[aerontg]

Hey Wikkit! I'm not sure I understand what you mean by building the trusses before the walls are put up. What's the connection? What makes a great layout?

 

[patandchickens]

The floor itself does. (You can't build trusses lying on the floor after the walls are up, b/c there won't be room, since the trusses need to be wider than the inside space of the building is, you know?).

A floor that is FLAT (like f-l-a-t genuinely true flat) and square is the perfect place to assemble your trusses. If you are going to paint or cover your floor, you can make your pattern marks or nails (depending how you like to lay out trusses) right on the floor itself, too.

Pat

 

[aerontg]

I'm not sure I even need a truss. Use Pythagoreom's theorem to figure the length of the third side of any one of the rafters. The first side is the vertical height, the second side is the horizontal length (half the width of the shed), and the third would be the result of A-sq + B-sq. After the third side has been calculated add a foot of length so that each rafter is hanging a foot over the side of the shed. Make 45-degree cuts in one side of each rafter to be joined. On the opposite ends of the rafters, one foot in (if you want one foot of the rafter hanging over the edge), make a bird's mouth cut. I'm going to use my framer's square for this. Use the bottom side of the bird's mouth cut (the side closest to the end of the rafter hanging over the edge) as the pivot point. Since I'm using 2x4, I'll go 1.5" up and out, which will give me two points to make the third line. In the third line, I'll stop halfway and connect that to the pivot point. Once I get one of the rafters done, I would just use that as a template.

I tried drawing this with text, hopefully it makes sense.

:

--------x
.
x
.xxxxx .
xxxxxxxxx---------

Of course you all already know how to do this stuff, I probably enjoy the process of breaking down how something is learned, more than anything

On "My Page" I plan on taking pictures of the various steps I am going through to make the shed.

Aeron