Cutting plywood, starting a roof

Today I finished roofing a shed on my property that I started building with my dad 2 weeks ago. My dad loves building sheds. The weather has been excellent so I put on some music, rolled onto the roof and finished what I started yesterday.

It was last week that I cut a bunch of plywood to cover the roof. I got some free OSB (chipboard plywood) from my neighbor who works at construction sites. He said it was used to temporarily cover skylights so they all had notches at all four corners. A little more work and not as high quality as roofing plywood but hey, the price is right and it is just a shed.

I measured the usable areas on my plywood and then went up to the rafters with my measuring tape and found the largest middle-of-rafter to edge-of-roof I could make from my pieces, measured the leftover, and then back down to cut them all.

I used a circular saw to cut, a T square to draw my line, and a long 2x4 screwed down as my guide. The saw has a metal guide on it too but it is the width of a 2x4 so I aligned my long 2x4 by using a small 2x4 block against my pencil line and screwed my guide with some hex head screws and an impact gun with a bit holder on it. Impact guns save me soooo much time and they have gotten to  better prices so buy one and a bit set if you don't have one. I have the Milwaukee since I already had some batteries.

This is how I cut all plywood; it is just way easier than having to get the table saw set up and grabbing a buddy to hold an end while you stretch your arms to their full extent. Bleh. Just measure each side, T-square between the marks, 2x4 block at the line, then long 2x4 against that and screwed down. Cut, unscrew board, and on to the next. Good idea to wear safety glasses, ear protection and gloves. My antique circular saw is noisy and all of them spew wood chips.

To put the plywood pieces up on the roof first I screwed (with my 3" hex head screws) some small 2x4 blocks to the rafter ends with just a bit poking up to stop the plywood from sliding down and I put extra blocks on the corners making an "L" to have a hassle free alignment.

Now I had to enlist my boyfriend's help to slide me up the plywood pieces while I stood on the attic. Start with the corner and shove the plywood into the 2x4 "L" and screw that bad boy in. I used a hammer to start some 1 3/4" screws with a Torx (star) head and my impact with a Torx bit to screw them in. Screw on the rafters oh about every foot in the middle and six inches on the ends.  Align the next plywood pieces to that piece. Screw away. Then repeat. If you are like me and get a few gaps, it is OK because tar paper and shingles will cover it. The last pieces and biggest pieces I had to climb up on the roof to do so make sure to wear shoes with good tread.

Next post I will get to tar paper and shingles which in my opinion is easier but the plywood took a bit to do so I figured I would cover that first.

Enjoying myself on the roof. Wear sunscreen! Luckily I have plenty of big trees to shade me.