Sunfish Shack Roofing Crew

 16 Jul 23:

We had time today to get another section of the metal roof installed, just in time for the rain showers to pass over. Actually, we worked on the roof between bands of showers, it was nice to have some cloud cover at times and a little shade from the tree. 

We left the purlins long as they will be trimmed to fit after the last panels are screwed down.

The top plate that holds the rafters will also get trimmed and ogee-ed, once the last rafter finds its permanent spot. 

Can you make all of these final cuts early on? Maybe, if you know you have panels that are all from the same batch and you align each panel overlap perfectly, every time. Each panel "spans" 36 inches but measures just over 39 inches, including the extra for overlap. There is a here is some wiggle room in those laps, and over 39 feet of paneling  a16th of an inch every 3 feet can add up. Plus the wood framing is only as square, plumb and level at the time you put it up, the framing moves with changes in moisture content and the free will of the wood grain. 

The metal panels can also fan in or out as you lay rows and columns, fun. The pros must have ways to deal with this, maybe they just put trim pieces over all of the ends? Anyway, this is just some of our experience to share to help prevent head scratching for future metal roof panelists. 

Now the fun part. The fun part is the screws, they have a micro bit head design to pilots the wood screw threads through the metal and the screws are driven with a hex head socket. There is a tiny EPDM washer under the head create a weathertight seal. Quick and easy.

And here's the note that we should have lead with in regards to this method of metal roofing, THE SCREWS NEED TO BE THE GOLDILOCKS LENGTH. Too short in no bueno and too long means the screw pierces the purlin below and creates a pointy puncture problem for the noggin, especially with our low profile slope design. (Quiz: You do remember why we set the back side of the shack so low, don't you?) Each panel manufacture has fun information buried on their website somewhere about which screws to use, proper installation methods and materials. Did we read it? Your guess is as good as ours :)

So where were we? Oh yes, 54 more square feet of roof installed!

(Quiz answer: We wanted to have head clearance at the front of the shack to grab dollies and trailers, but keep the rest of the shed as low as possible to prevent side entry of rain and leaves. Plus we needed some slope for rain runoff.)

Log of the Sunfish Shack.