Jack Hudson () -

The Finishing Steps to Building Your Log Cabin: Roofing, Siding

and Interior

After the rafters are in place, you will be ready to put on the

roof boards. These boards can be 5/8-inch by 6- or 8-inch

tongue-and-groove boards. There are some exceptions to this

which are covered in the next section.

For siding, probably the most practical and easiest material to

use as the exterior finish is wood. It has the advantage of

coming in many different shapes, colors, and textures. It can be

stained, painted, or left natural.

As noted in previous articles, I have not specified that

sheathing must be used. Plywood or one of the composition

sheathings or diagonal sheathing boards may be used--in fact,

should be used if you plan to use the cottage year-round at some

time in the future. It should also be used if you are going to

use plaster or plasterboard on the inside.

The sheathing helps to stiffen your structure. One of the most

common types of siding is the lapped bevel. Cedar is one of the

popular woods from which this siding is made. It comes in 4-,

6-, and 8-inch widths. The thick butt edge is usually 7/16 inch

thick. The 10- and 12-inch widths have an 11/16-inch butt.

The minimum headlap for 4- and 6-inch widths is I inch; widths

over 6 inches should have I¼ inches headlap. Hot-dipped

galvanized nails should be used for applying the siding to the

studs. If sheathing is used, try to nail through the sheathing

to the stud.

Rustic and drop siding as well as shiplap and matched siding are

also popular. The first two should have a finished thickness of

¾ inch. The maximum width is 8 inches. Shiplap or matched siding

should be a minimum of 25/32 inch thick. The maximum width is 12

inches.

Plywood is always a possible exterior finish. It is very

important that it should be exterior grade--never use

interior-grade plywood for exterior purposes. Cottage No. 2

would look particularly attractive if it were finished with

%-inch exterior-grade plywood.

In this case I would nail the 8-foot length of plywood

horizontally. The horizontal joints and nails would be covered

with batten strips. Similar batten strips could be nailed

horizontally every foot above and below the joint. This

procedure would also keep the plywood from warping or raising at

the edges.

Be sure the vertical edge joints are joined at the mid-point of

a stud. One of the best ways of finishing the exterior of your

cottage is the use of vertical tongue-and-groove boards. This

type of siding is usually nailed at the bottom to the sill, at

the top to the plate and in the middle to a herringbone brace.

In Hawaii the vertical siding is often used without any

intermediate framing members. The roof load is actually carried

by the siding. Shingles can also be used to cover the exterior

of your cabin. I would suggest that you follow the instructions

of the manufacturer for laying these.

Usually the manufacturer recommends the use of sheathing. If

plywood is used for sheathing, the shingles should be applied

over l-by-2-inch nailing strips, and attached with copper or

galvanized nails. Asbestos-cement shingles should be attached to

the sheathing with barbed nails.

Fiberboard sheathing is not acceptable as a nailing base for

this type of shingle. Wood shingles should be attached to

l-by-3-inch nailing strips which have been spaced according to

the shingle exposure.

There are many types of roofing materials that can be used on

your cabin. To some extent, the choice of materials will depend

upon whether the roof is pitched or flat. The table on page 120

indicates whether you should use a roll or shingle type of

roofing material.

Asphalt shingles require a roof pitch of at least 4 inches to

each lineal horizontal foot. When the pitch is this low, most

manufacturers of roofing materials recommend that roofing felt

or asphalt-saturated building paper be laid under the shingle

roof. If your roof has any valleys, I'd suggest that you start

your work by laying heavy roofing felt down the center of the

valley.

One layer of felt, 18 inches wide, should be laid face down.

Then a second layer, full width, should be laid face up. After

this is nailed down, you can start laying the under roofing felt

or paper. Manufacturers' recommendations vary, but you'll be

pretty safe if the edges overlap about 2 inches horizontally.

Start with the lowest part of your roof. Let the edges of the

paper overlap the end of the roof by 2 or 3 inches. This overlap

should be cut later, a little under the first shingle course.

The next layer of paper will overlap the lower one by 2 inches.

Continue this process to the peak of the roof.

When both sides of the roof are finished, lay one width of paper

over the ridge pole. Short wide-head roofing nails should be

used with this paper. When the paper has been put down, use a

carpenter's chalk line, which is impregnated with chalk, and

snap the guidelines for the shingles. If your shingle exposure

is 4 inches, you will want to snap chalk lines with this spacing

all the way from the first course to the last at the top.

You are now ready to start laying the shingles. The first course

of shingles should be laid double and should extend % inch

beyond the roof edge. The guidelines on the paper will align the

overlap which each course will have. The last rows at the top

will have to be cut; and a strip of granulated roofing paper, a

metal cap, or a ridge piece, or shingles laid edgewise will be

required to finish the top as shown in the illustration.

Wood shingles are laid much as asphalt shingles are except that

they are not butted on the sides. Leave a %-inch space between

the shingles. The ridge piece can be made of wood strips as

shown in the illustration.

Roll roofing is one of the easiest types to apply. The

accompanying illustration shows how this is done. You'll note

that there is an overlap that is cemented down and nailed. This

overlap varies with the type of roofing felt used.

One type has half of the width granulated, the remainder heavy

felt. The granulated section is left exposed, and the felt part

is cemented and nailed. This type can also be used on roofs

having only enough pitch to drain the water, provided that the

roofing boards are first covered with roofing mastic.

Flat or pitched roofs can be covered with a number of materials,

but one of the least expensive methods is to build up the roof

with a number of layers of roofing felt saturated with asphalt

binder. The illustration shows how this is done. A cold roofing

compound or hot pitch may be used as a binder.

Regardless of the above directions, be sure to follow the

manufacturer's directions for applying his particular roofing

material.

About the Author

About the Author: Jack Hudson is a writer for

http://www.log-cabin-plans-n-kits.com and

http://www.best-house-n-home-plans.com/. These two sites work

collectively as a resouce for the planning and building of log

cabins as well as choosing from different house plans. Visit one

of these sites for informative articles as well as free TIPS for

building a log home or choosing a house plan.

• http://www.best-house-n-home-plans.com/

Comment #1 Wayne Garcia (210.4.62.241) -

Epoxy-Coat clean and prep solution is industrial grade solution and outperforms standards home use prep solutions 2X.The only industrial grade single of it's kind.

• Epoxy Coat Industrial Grade Floor Coating Kit

Name:           
E-Mail:         

Optional (please add to our directory first)
Web Link:       
Link Title:     

Message:

Note: once you register your email address with The Furniture Machine it is used across our whole network of forums and blogs. You can create seperate profiles for each forum or blog, but use the same login.