How to Roof a Barn

Historic icons of America's heritage, barns tell the story of farmers who help put food and milk on the dinner table. Barns are quickly vanishing from America's landscape because of lack of upkeep or use. Preservation of any barn can be achieved by adding a new roof. Follow these steps to roof a barn and preserve some of America's history.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Crowbar
• Hammer
• Plywood
• Staple gun and staples
• Liquid waterproofing membrane
• Metal flashing
• Nails
• Nail gun (optional)
• Shingles

1. Evaluate the barn's architecture. If the roof is too steep, professional help may be necessary.

2. Figure out the amount of shingles, plywood and liquid seal needed by calculating the roof's square footage. To calculate the square footage, measure the length and width of all roof sections including inclined areas. Multiply length times width to get the square footage of each section. Add the areas together to calculate the total square footage. A bundle of shingles equals 21 shingles and can cover about 32 square feet.

3. Remove the old shingles and plywood from the barn roof using a crowbar and hammer. Watch out for any wayward nails.

4. Lay the new plywood pieces onto the bare roof. Start at the corners in the lowest level and work up to the peaks. Make sure there are not any gaps between the plywood pieces to prevent future leaks.

5. Staple the plywood to the roof.

6. Apply a liquid waterproofing membrane over the plywood as a seal. Pay special attention to peaks since they receive more weather damage. Seal the cracks well also.

7. Nail metal flashing to any valleys or ridge tops to help direct water flow.

8. Nail the shingles in place. Start at corners in the lowest level and work up to the peaks with the shingles. Overlap the half of each shingle with the preceding shingle. Use four nails per shingle and place nails at top of each shingle so they're not visible. Make sure to keep shingles in a straight line.

Tips & Warnings

• Rent a dumpster to toss old shingles and nails in to save time. Locate tossed nails with a nail magnet. Use chalk if necessary to draw a straight line to follow when laying shingles down. Use roofing cement to cover any visible nails.
• Use only ridge shingles for gable roofs. Take a standard shingle and cut one 12-inch tab and fold it in the middle or purchase prefabricated ridge shingles.