Making Wood Roof Shingles

Make sure to use clean and straight grained oak to do this.

Making wood roof shingles.

Of course since only the heartwood has any decay resistance of note and sapwood is more prevalent today with smaller logs most shingles or shakes used for roofing are treated to resist decay and may be fire retardant treated as. As the shingle or the sawn shake use less wood they are financially preferred for large areas such as roofs today. Take the limbs off and move it to a cleared area where you can make your wood shingles. Make a template piece that will be used to mark all the others out with.

We found this to be the largest manageable size to work with. Cut until the tree starts to lean and fall. Start off with round oak wood then split it with a splitting axe. Now remove the bark from the wood and split into thin sheets.

Once you get halfway through the tree then start at a downward angle above your original cut. Shingles are cut from blocks of wood shake bolts split out of a whole trunk of cedar. Cover all of the nail heads with roofing cement. Cover the length of the cedar shingle roof peak that the new layers of shingles have made.

Make sure all shingles on each side are covered. Prep a wood shingle roof for reroofing a synthetic mesh underlayment allows continuous airflow between the roof deck and the shingles. Turning out handmade wooden shingles isn t difficult in itself the hard part is finding the right material. Pa mac demonstrates how to make wood shingles otherwise known as wood shakes for roofing material to go on his new log chicken house.

Cut a piece of rolled roofing eight feet long. Boards that allow air to circulate under the. Each eight foot piece will be cut into thirds lengthwise. One side will be straight and one side will be wavy.

How to make your own shingles. Then use a mallet to split them out further. Keep your eyes on the tree as it falls and move quickly out of the way.