DIY wooden tiles. How to make wooden shingles, shingle roofing

Since ancient times, the roofs of huts in Rus' were covered with wood - iron was expensive, and only rich families could afford it. Today, wooden roofs are again in demand: they adorn the roofs of expensive mansions, designer gazebos and houses in restored historical neighborhoods. And this pleasure is not at all cheap if you do not make a wooden roof yourself, going through all the stages from roof production to its installation, but order materials and installation from specialized companies. But even when turning to professionals, you should be on your guard and be wary of non-professionals.

Participants and experts talk about the basic principles of choosing and installing wooden roofs.

Beauty requires

If you decide to “dress” your house with a wooden roof, compare your desires with your financial capabilities: the price of such a roof, including installation, for an average roof of 400 square meters can reach a million rubles or more. If you don’t have money for specialists, you can make your dream come true by making and installing a wooden roof yourself. True, the work is painstaking, requiring knowledge, skills and a lot of time.

Alexander Kurasov , director of the EcoWood company:

– The fashion for wooden roofs came to us not from history textbooks and the Russian hinterland, but from Europe – wooden roofs decorate the roofs of houses on the Alpine slopes, you can see them in other regions of France, Germany, Switzerland, where changing the existing appearance of settlements is prohibited by law . Somewhere, a wooden house covered with ondulin is just bad manners.

In addition to finances, beauty also requires care: it is necessary to clean a wooden roof from natural debris - old leaves, needles - at least once every two years, so that it does not rot under the rotting carpet, does not become overgrown with moss and does not lose appearance. For this you can use wind blowers, and heavy pollution remove using a car wash device.

But even with a favorable climate and compliance with all conditions - wooden roof production technology, proper installation and careful maintenance, a wooden roof will not last forever.

Igor Mashinskikh , director of Biokrona:

– Roofing from aspen shingles will last, on average, 8 years, a plank pine roof - 15-20 years, and a larch or oak roof - up to 50-80 years.

Roof on roof - discord

Wooden roofs vary in the quality of the wood, the shape of the tiles and how they are installed. Wooden shingles come in several types - shingles, shingles, shingles, ploughshares and planks. Let's briefly talk about how to distinguish them from each other.

Shingles

Participant Hut I was returning from a walk and looked at a nearby construction site - the new wooden roof looked very nice from afar:

“Four men were trying to nail new shingles onto the roof sheathing. These are split pine and spruce splinters, 5 to 12 cm wide and 35-40 cm long, soaked in impregnation, like railroad sleepers. When nailed with a thin nail, the splinter burst lengthwise and flew down. Those who made it had no idea what the old shingles looked like. But they sold their product, which had nothing to do with roofing, for good money, leaving the buyer in the cold.

What is real shingle? As you may have guessed, shingles got their name from the word “tear.” These are thin wooden plates, cut along the grain from rectangular blocks with a length of 40-100 cm and a cross-section of 10x15-20 cm.

Shingles from coniferous trees (preference is given to larch - it is least susceptible to rotting) is split manually using a splitting blade and a mallet. If aspen or linden is used as the material for shingles, a shingling machine is used, popularly called a mahal. The architect described in detail how the shingling machine works Alexander Sobolev in his book " Wooden house»:

– In a log of small diameter 12-16 centimeters and 3-4 meters long, a hole with a diameter of three centimeters was drilled at a distance of about twenty centimeters from the end. A metal pin is inserted into it, which is driven into a wooden block before work. The pin should move freely in the hole. A meter from this end from below, a staple-knife about sixty centimeters long is driven into the log. Its blade, sharpened on one side, tears the wood off the log. The distance between the knife blade and the log determines the thickness of the shingles (about 3 millimeters). At the other end of the wave is attached to a log wooden handle about 40 centimeters long. Holding on to it, the master and assistant together sharply jerk the free end of the swing from side to side, and the knife splits off the shingles.

To make logs easier to split, the wood is soaked in water overnight, although it can also be chipped dry.

Hut:

– On the bottom side the shingles are flat and smooth, on the top side they are chipped, so they won’t crack from a nail. The finished roof resembles raised fish scales.

High-quality shingles will not flake.

Burglar:

“When my father and I were nailing shingles onto the roof, I bent each shingle to check for layering, and only then gave it to my father.

Shingle

You can distinguish shingles from other types of wooden shingles by the presence of a trapezoidal groove - it stretches along the thick edge of a wedge-shaped board 40-60 cm long and 6-14 cm wide. The shingles have a bevel across the grain, and in each row during installation the sharp edges of the shingles fit tightly into grooves of adjacent tiles. The most suitable wood for shingles is larch and spruce.

On the roof, shingles look very beautiful due to the variety of installation methods - they are laid both in straight rows and diagonally, changing the direction of the slope.

Schindel

A spindle is a plank with a length from 20 to 80 cm and a width from 6 to 25 cm. There is also a spindle with a wedge-shaped cross-section.

The tiles are laid according to the principle of scales coniferous trees. Thanks to this device, the shingle roof is perfectly ventilated. In Europe, shindel is also widely used in facade decoration.

To create tiles, wood of various species is used - larch, spruce, oak, cedar.

The spindle is made by chipping - manually or using machines (as in the case of shingles), or sawn - in this case the spindle most often has the same width.

ploughshare

Russian architects have long decorated church domes with ploughshares. The ploughshare got its name for its resemblance to the shape of a plow. The planks have the same size - up to 40 cm in length; the ends of the ploughshare are made rounded, pointed or in the form of rectangular ledges. Typically, these shingles are made from aspen, which over time acquires a beautiful silver tint.

The ploughshare-covered dome of the Chapel of St. John the Evangelist. Village Zekhnovo, Arkhangelsk region.

Board roofing is made by sawn and chipped methods. They chop pine logs 1.2 m long using a knife and a wooden mallet. Experts believe that a disadvantage of a plank roof over time may be its leakage - the boards will dry out, and the exposed seams will begin to let water through. In this case, the roof will need to be repaired.

Moisture resistance and safety

It is impossible to describe in detail the design of wooden roofs in one material, so let’s pay attention to the key points.

Unlike roofing materials made of iron and polymers, wood shingles are a very living material that can absorb moisture and dry out. This main point, which must be taken into account during installation. It is better if the laying of wooden tiles is carried out by a professional or the work is carried out under his supervision - there are many nuances when working with wood. Having purchased shingles, for example, you will not be able to immediately begin laying them - not all tiles will fit together, it will need to be reconsidered and the ridges trimmed. If the shingles are well dried and laid on the roof, at the first rain it will absorb moisture, swell and may warp.

Our forum member Hut I was indignant when I saw that the shingles were impregnated with a protective solution before installation. The discussion of this problem on the forum continued. So, Burglar stated that roofs installed correctly “have stood for many years without any impregnation.”

Expert opinion Igor Mashinskikh :

– Wooden roofs do not require additional treatment with various impregnations - they will not significantly affect the increase in the service life of the roof and will not protect against ultraviolet radiation.

To prevent a roof fire, first of all, it is necessary to properly install the chimney and ensure the presence of a lightning rod.

Another important issue discussed in the topic of wooden roofs is the installation of additional waterproofing. Some forum users are afraid to lay shingles directly on the sheathing, as was done in the old days, but decide to play it safe and additionally lay a waterproof layer.

wyat-80:

– The continuous sheathing along the rafters is covered with glass hydroisol. A batten is laid along the rafters to provide a ventilation gap, then a sheathing is made along the batten desired type roof and is covered with boards, shingles, or straw.

Expert Alexander Kurasov:

– Additional waterproofing is only necessary if the roof has an inclination angle of less than 25 degrees. In other cases, when correct installation The water should not linger and run down.

The reliability of many wooden roofs is also ensured by their multi-layer nature. Thus, a roof made of aspen shingles is usually laid in three to five layers, shingles in two layers, and shingles in three layers.

You can find out more interesting things about wooden roofs and participate in their discussion in our forum. And our video will inspire you interesting ideas from the exhibition “Wooden House-2014”.

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Since time immemorial, people have covered the roofs of their houses with wood. Also often used natural tiles, reeds, reeds (more details: " ") and straw (see: " "). And in those regions where forest was rare, roofing shingles were used. This material called differently, in some regions it is a shingle, in some a spindle, a ploughshare or a shingle. But regardless of this, the essence of the technology is the same - the roof is covered with wooden roofing boards, sawn or split in a certain way. Such a roof is as original as, for example.

Today, a shingle roof is an elite solution, which is distinguished by its high cost. In addition, there are various artificial materials, which imitate natural shingles.

What is attractive about shingle roofing?

The main advantages of this roofing material include:

Methods for producing shingles

Wooden plates fights are carried out by splitting small logs. This makes it possible to obtain boards with a thickness of only 3-8 mm and a length of 35 to 50 cm. The width of such material depends on the initial diameter of the logs.

The wood is selected of the highest quality, that is, without flaws, knots or rot, the trunks must be straight. Before starting the production of shingles, the bark must be removed from the wood and the core cut out (this element is most prone to cracking). Blocks up to 50 cm long are cut from halves or quarters of the trunk. It is from these that shingles are produced.

Today, this manual method of producing material is used quite rarely, since the process is highly labor-intensive. In industrial quantities, shingles are made by sawing trunks on special machines.

Manufacturing and installation of aspen shingles, details in the video:

Laying shingles on the roof

When arranging wooden roofs, the slope should not exceed 15 degrees. The sheathing is made continuous or in increments equal to a third of the length of the shingles. The sheathing beams must have a cross-section of 50*50 mm or 60*60 mm.

But according to some recommendations, continuous sheathing is regarded as an unnecessary element. This opinion is explained by the fact that the ventilation gap in this case will be insufficient, and this can cause the material to quickly deteriorate. A similar situation exists for arranging waterproofing. Some sources claim that it is simply necessary, others simply deny it. If you follow the canonical rules for laying shingles, then waterproofing is not applied at all. Such roofs can easily last 20, 30, or even 50 years.

Previously, larch shingles were fastened using the method of installing grooves and ridges. Now it is fixed with nails, which must first be boiled in drying oil.

The shingles are installed in several layers. On the eaves, it is additionally necessary to nail boards up to 40 cm wide and increase the number of layers of shingles by one. This is due to the greater exposure of overhangs to moisture.

Total layers of material can vary from 2 to 5, and it depends on functional purpose building:

for non-residential premises, 2 layers of material are sufficient;
for residential it is necessary to lay 3-4 layers. They allow you to provide reliable protection Houses;
if the roof has a slope of more than 45 degrees, then the shingles are laid in 2 layers.

The installation of wooden shingles begins at the eaves overhang. As already mentioned, for this area use one more layer. The top row should completely overlap the bottom row, while protruding a few centimeters beyond it. The third row is placed in a similar way - larger than the previous one, with a protrusion of several centimeters. And only the last fourth row does not reach the end of the previous one by a third of the length of the shingles (if the roof is laid using the 3-layer method). This installation scheme allows you to completely protect the eaves overhang from the action of moisture that flows from the roof slopes.

The shingle roofing technology itself is very reminiscent of a fir cone. Most likely the builders borrowed the arrangement of its scales for roofing works, thanks to this they were able to develop reliable design a roof that does not leak and protects well from cold and wind.

In the era of polymer and metal roofing materials, wooden tiles have become exotic, although previously they were practically the only in an accessible way cover the roof with your own hands, since wood was mined everywhere in the European part of Russia. Shingle roofing has many advantages, thanks to which even now it can compete with more expensive analogues. In this article we will tell you how to manufacture and lay wooden shingles in modern conditions.

Making a wooden roof begins with choosing suitable wood. In order for the roof to protect the structure well from the penetration of rain and wind, the tiles must be made from hard wood with a dense structure. Larch wood is best suited for shingles, because, in addition to other useful properties, it has a high content of phytoncides, which makes roofing made from this valuable material resistant to rotting. Experienced craftsmen They believe that wood used to make tiles with your own hands must meet the following requirements:

Small number of knots. Therefore, to make the dies from which the shingle roof is assembled, the butt part of the tree, where there are no small knots, is used.
High density of annual rings. In order for the wood to reliably protect against moisture, the rings must be thin and dense.
The diameter of the round timber is at least 30 cm. The optimal range of round timber diameter that can be used for making tiles is 30-60 cm.
Rock hardness. A wood shingle roof is made from hardwood whose fibers fit closely together and are waterproof. The most durable and highest quality tiles are made from larch.

Note! A high-quality larch shingle roof is quite expensive. One square meter of coating from dies 400 mm long costs 1,500 rubles, and if you use dies 600 mm long it is even more expensive - 1,700 rubles per square meter. You can save money only if you prepare dies and do the installation yourself.

Preparation of dies

There are two ways to obtain wooden dies for making a wooden shingle roof - you can purchase them in specialized stores or make them yourself. Independent preparation of tiles allows you to guarantee high quality the wood used and personal control over production. Before starting the production of blanks, larch wood undergoes the following preparation:

The larch tree is cleared of bark so that an even round timber with a diameter of 30-60 cm remains.
The round timber is left to dry to a normal humidity of 19-21 percent.
The round timber is cut into blanks 40 or 60 cm long, depending on the length of the slope.
The young part of the wood is cut off, as it can rot if it comes into contact with water.
After preparing the wood, the round timber is divided into separate dies 8-10 mm thick.
After this, the blanks can be impregnated with an antiseptic composition and fire-retarding drugs to make the roof less fire hazardous.

Important! The process of preparing dies is carried out by splitting or sawing. Experienced craftsmen claim that a wooden roof made by hand using the splitting method has better resistance to rotting, since the fibers do not split.

Design Features

Wooden tiles are a piece of roofing made from larch wood, which is suitable for any type of pitched roofs with an inclination angle of 18 degrees. The less slope it has wooden roof, the shorter the dies can be used. If overlaps non-residential premises, then the installation is carried out in one layer, and residential buildings are covered with 2 or more layers of wooden tiles. Roofing pie shingle roofing consists of the following layers:

Rafters. Since shingle roofing is relatively light in weight, edged boards with a section of 50x150 mm are used to make rafters. The step between the legs can be 50-100 cm, depending on the design.
Waterproofing. Perpendicular rafter legs fastened waterproofing material. It must sag by 1-3 cm so that ruptures do not occur under water pressure.
Counter-lattice. Counter-grills are slats that are attached along the rafters directly on top of the waterproofing. The thickness of the slats should be at least 2-3 cm, as it forms a ventilation gap between the layers of the roof.
Lathing. To lay a wooden shingle roof, continuous or frequent sheathing is required. The maximum step between the lathing slats is 5-10 cm. The lathing is made from edged boards or square bars.
Finish coating. A shingle roof is laid on top of the sheathing. The dies are attached with long nails boiled in drying oil to the base of the roof. They should overlap each other by half a board.

Please note that wood is natural material, which allows air to pass through, due to which the roof “breathes”, and a pleasant microclimate for living is formed in the room. Therefore, if you decide to use waterproofing to install wooden shingles, it must be exclusively vapor permeable. Otherwise, " Greenhouse effect", causing wood to rot.

Advantages

It is difficult for a wooden roof to compete with modern materials, which have for a long time service and excellent performance. However, the attractive and original appearance of this coating makes it popular among connoisseurs of antiquity. Other advantages of this material are:

A light weight. The tree has a strong, mechanically resistant structure, but at the same time time is easy weight, so installing a shingle roof does not require a reinforced rafter system or a powerful foundation.
Independent production. Shingles, unlike other roofing materials, can be made with your own hands by monitoring the quality of the coating from the beginning to the end of production.
Environmental cleanliness and safety for human health. Wood is one of the most environmentally friendly materials, which provides a healing microclimate in the building due to its high content of phytoncides and vapor permeability.

Shingle roofing, made from high-quality wood, is a beautiful and practical coating that goes well with buildings in the Provence, chalet, and rustic styles, complementing the architectural design and decorating appearance Houses.

Video instruction

The first roofing materials for the roofs of people's homes were reeds and flat stones; as soon as technologies and tools appeared that made it possible to process wood, chips and then shingles began to be used as roofing materials. Subsequently, with the development of technology, more modern materials. People of the older generation still remember how happy the inhabitants of the Russian outback were at the appearance of ordinary roofing felt; they began to replace shingles everywhere with this modern one for those times roofing material. Slate made a real revolution in construction; this covering made it possible to significantly increase the comfort of living in buildings. Today, this material is hopelessly outdated; it is being replaced by new, more practical coatings.

Before looking at the actual performance shingles, we need to find out what they are. Among inexperienced developers there is still a misunderstanding of the differences between shingles and shingles.

Table. How does shingles differ from shingles?

Name of wood covering	Performance characteristics
	The thickness of the wooden plate does not exceed 8 mm, but is most often made to the 5 mm standard. The coating is quite flexible and requires the installation of a durable sheathing and increased care during installation.
	The thickness of the boards is 1–2 cm, and may have special tongue/groove connections, which improves the tightness and reliability of the roof. It is made with a rectangular or wedge-shaped profile, and can be done by hand.

Misunderstanding of the differences leads to inexperienced developers getting confused about materials.

Actual performance characteristics of shingles

It is impossible to obtain objective information from manufacturers; they all only indicate strengths of its products. But is this really so? Let's analyze them advertising brochures taking into account many years of experience in the operation of such coatings by our ancestors. How are shingle manufacturers trying to attract customers?

Environmental friendliness

Almost all manufacturers talk about the environmental friendliness of their products. If we consider it from a person’s point of view, then indeed, the tree does not bring him any harm. But this is called safety or harmlessness. Sustainability is related to ecology environment, and to produce shingles you need lumber. Accordingly, the forest falls, causing great harm to the environment.

Resistance to temperature changes and high humidity

Wood has resins, which significantly slows down the decay process, this is true. Almost never used for shingles conifers wood, and resin is only in them. The fact is that these breeds have a large number of knots, such material is unsuitable for shingles. It is made from hardwood that does not have resin. To increase resistance to decay processes, shingles are impregnated with antiseptics; these chemicals cannot in any way be considered safe for the human body.

Like all lumber, wood reacts extremely negatively to increased humidity, due to which not only the service life is reduced, but also problems arise with the need for periodic repairs.

Covering the roof with shingles allows it to breathe

This is true, shingles are a non-hermetic covering, in attic spaces The wind is constantly blowing. Why the roof should breathe is unknown. Another disadvantage of such a “breathing” roof is that it is very difficult to do with shingles. attic rooms, and this is a popular type of structure today.

Durability

Outright deception. Like all lumber, shingles are susceptible to moisture. Accordingly, it rots faster on the roof than indoors. Another problem is that the coating constantly gets wet/dries out and is exposed to direct sun rays. As a result, the sheets become deformed, bend and crack. Elderly people know that the coating must be inspected every summer, and damaged or overly deformed elements must be replaced with new ones. This does not bring joy to users. Besides, after about 10–15 years it needs to be completely changed– the amount of damage becomes critical. Replacement is a very expensive and time-consuming process.

Price

Price of one square meter shingles are at least three times the cost of metal tiles or flexible coatings made on the basis of modified bitumen. But that’s not all, the estimated cost of coverage increases several times more due to the very high cost of roofing work. They can only be done by professional roofers, labor productivity is low, and wage very high.

Design qualities

There are no comrades according to taste and color - this proverb very accurately characterizes the design qualities of shingles. Some people like antique roofs with curved blackened shingles, others prefer modern coatings. There is no point in giving advice; every developer has the right to choose his own style of home. But at the same time, you need to take into account all the actual properties of the shingles described above.

Conclusion - compare shingles with modern roofing coverings according to operational characteristics it’s the same as a cart with a car in terms of technical parameters. This material is most often used during the restoration of ancient buildings to restore their authentic appearance. Ordinary developers do not cover houses with shingles; it is too expensive and troublesome. Sometimes you can find homestead extensions under shingles, but the average consumer cannot afford such a roof.

Features of shingle manufacturing

To make shingles, you must make the simplest planer. It is impossible to do it by hand; wood cannot be split into such thin plates. All manual manufacturing methods found on the Internet describe the production not of shingles, but of shingles or wooden tiles more than a centimeter thick.

Prices for various types of timber

Wood requirements

It has already been mentioned that only deciduous wood is suitable for making shingles; coniferous wood has many knots. The quality, quantity and cost of shingles largely depend on the correct choice of wood. There are a few general requirements to raw materials.

Important. It should be remembered that the yield of ordinary lumber from one round log no less than 80%, and the yield of shingles from the same round timber is no more than 40%. This significantly increases the cost of roofing material.

How to make a simple machine for shingles

You can make a special machine yourself. To do this, you will need rolled metal (channels, angles, fittings), the assortment does not matter, you can use everything that is at hand. If the channel or I-beam small sizes, then it is reinforced with corners, rods, etc. It is much cheaper to make a machine from scrap ferrous metals; you can visit recycling collection points and find excellent rental products there at bargain prices.

Important. It is better to buy a knife for the machine; it is very difficult to make it yourself, and the quality will always be much worse than the factory one. And the quality of the knife is crucial when making shingles.

Step 1. Make a stand. The height is approximately 1.0–1.3 m, the main condition is that it allows comfortable work. The frame is welded from rectangular profile pipes 20×40 mm, if they are not available, then any durable rolled metal can be used. It must be borne in mind that quite large loads will be applied to it during planing of shingles; all welded joints must be made reliable. The length of the bed is approximately 2 m, this is quite enough to ensure maximum stroke of the knife and guaranteed stability of the machine during operation.

Step 2. Make a movable table from 50x50 mm corners. It should be smooth, rigid and stable. The knife, drive lever and bearings are subsequently fixed to the table.

Step 3. Weld the strips at an angle in the middle of the table and attach the knife to them.

Practical advice. In order to reduce the amount of scrap, we strongly recommend that the knife is not installed at a right angle to wooden blanks, and under acute. Due to this position of the cutting element, cutting processes are significantly improved, and this is very important for thin shingles.

Step 4. Place the table on the bed. The table moves on ball bearings closed type. Do not install simple bearings; chips quickly get between the balls and races, and the bearings jam. Check the smooth movement of the table; there should be no hitches or wobbles. If problems are found, fix them. Attach wooden boards of appropriate length, approximately 20 mm thick, to the surface of the table.

Possible problem - this part needs to be sawed off, but you can’t do this with a grinder

Step 5. Use a cylindrical grinder to remove all burrs and scale, and paint the metal surfaces.

Prices for popular models of angle grinders

Angle Grinder

Step 6. Place ball bearings on the table axles and precisely adjust their positions taking into account the width of the bed.

Step 7 Proceed to assembling the machine elements into a single structure. Check the table stroke and install limiters if necessary. Secure the knife, adjust its position in relation to the surface of the table. This must be done carefully; the thickness of the shingles depends on the height of the knife. Make sure that the cutting edge of the knife is positioned strictly parallel to the plane of the table. If this condition is not met, then the thickness of the shingles is various places will be different. Deviations up to a millimeter are considered non-critical, but more cannot be allowed.

Step 8 Check the operation of the machine while idle. If vibrations or fluctuations are detected, the frame should be strengthened. Use any available metal for these purposes.

Practical advice. In order to reduce the noise of the machine, it is recommended to attach the connecting rod to the table through a rubber bushing.

The machine is ready, you can start making shingles.

Video - Homemade roofing material. Shingles

Video - Homemade roofing material. Shingles. Machine design

How to make shingles yourself

The requirements for raw materials have already been described, do not neglect them. Otherwise, you will waste time, and the whole chock will be scrapped. Before starting work, check the knife, it must be perfectly sharp and in the correct position.

Important. The machine is homemade, you need to work on it very carefully and not forget about safety rules.

How to make shingles

The shingles need to be planed from the selected material; we have already mentioned what criteria to choose it by.

Practical advice. The selection process must be approached creatively; the size of the shingles depends on the size of the workpieces. You shouldn’t try to make everything exactly the same, but you shouldn’t allow a large variation in width either. The length should be as uniform as possible within 35–45 cm.

Step 1. Chop a large block in half, and then into several cylinder sectors. In this case, you need to ensure that the length of the arc of the cylinder sector is 5–10 cm greater than the desired width of the shingles. It is worth remembering what a cylinder sector is. This is a part of a cylinder (in our case, a log), limited by two radii and a part of a circle between them.

Step 2. Check the length of the sector, cut a little if necessary. The workpiece must fit freely into the supports of the working movable table.

Step 3. Remove workplace. There should be no production waste, pieces of wood, cuttings, etc. lying under your feet. Always remember safety precautions.

Step 4. Turn on the machine and place the workpiece on the work table in one of the corners of the sector. Remove part of the tree until flat area will not be approximately 10 cm long.

Step 5. Turn the workpiece over to the other side and remove the same section of the workpiece. Turn it with the other one towards the knife and remove the entire arc of the sector, at the same time the tree bark is removed. After this, the cross-section of the workpiece should look like a sector with parallel side edges, the distance between them equal to the width of the shingles. Unfortunately, it is impossible to describe all practical situations. The more experience you have, the faster the work will go, the less waste there will be. Theoretical knowledge without practice is nothing, you have to try to do everything yourself. There is no need to believe those who claim that making shingles is easy and simple, this is not so. You must have sufficient experience working with wood to accept right decisions in each specific case. During preparation of the segment, it must be constantly kept in one position.

Important. Safety regulations recommend wearing mittens when working with wood; they protect against splinters. That's right, mittens protect your hands from splinters. But safety precautions are designed for industrial equipment, is not written separately for each homemade machine. Industrial woodworking machines have a protected area cutting tools, gloved hands cannot get there. On homemade machine there is no such protection. If you work on it with gloves on, then there is a big risk that they can be grabbed by a knife. It moves relatively slowly and will not cut off a piece of a thick mitten, but will pull the entire hand under the workpiece. The consequences will be very unpleasant. It is better to work without mittens and risk splinters than to wear them and suffer a serious injury to your entire hand.

Step 6. Remove waste from under the machine and begin planing shingles.

Practical advice. When aligning the arc, pay attention to how the knife cuts the wood - along or across the grain. You only need to cut lengthwise; in the opposite direction they rise, the surface is rough, and explosions are possible. If the direction is incorrect, then while planing the shingles, turn the workpiece to the other side.

Hold the sector top corner, this is the core of the tree, shingles are not made from it. There are recommendations to chop the wood at an angle of 30° or 40°. It's all nonsense. You need to chop in such a way as to increase the amount of high-quality shingles and reduce waste. The decision is made by the master depending on the diameter of the log, its condition and the required width of the shingles. There are no general universal recommendations, which is why it is important practical experience, not only theoretical knowledge. Theory can be explained in a few minutes, but experience is gained through years of work.

Step 7 Collect planed shingles in a stack and sort by width. The fact is that the workpiece was planed by eye, the less experience, the greater the dispersion in size, it is advisable to even it out a little. Select 8–10 shingles of approximately the same width, align the bends, lay them on a level table and install all the bottom side faces in one plane. The top ones will be at different heights.

Step 8 Turn on the machine and align the shingles to the width. This should be done several times for each batch of shingles. They need to be selected in such a way as to reduce the amount of waste; you should not put shingles with a large difference in height into one pile.

This operation may not be necessary; the width of the shingles can vary widely. But some developers want to have a more or less symmetrical roof, and for this they need shingles of the same size.

Step-by-step instructions for covering a roof

For example, consider covering a roof with shingles 45 cm long; fixation is done with nails made of stainless alloys. The sheathing is made of 20x30 mm slats with a step of 20 cm along the lines of symmetry. The sheathing pitch is selected taking into account the length of the shingles. You need to keep in mind that it is fixed approximately in the middle, the lower overhang is not nailed down. This fastening method not only increases the tightness of the roof, but also prevents cracking of the material. The shingles are very thin; if you drive nails in near the edge, cracks may appear.

Step 1. Temporarily nail a board to the roof at a distance of 15–50 mm to control the amount of overhang. At the same time, this strip will align the ends of the covering; they will be located on the same line.

Step 2. Lay out the first row of shingles, align the ends. To regulate the amount of overhang at the edges, you can use a piece of slats 5–10 cm long; you need to apply it to the wind board and thus control the position of the outer elements. Nail the first row.

Step 3. The first row is made double, which increases the operating time roofing. It is in the lower part that there is most water; it must be further strengthened. And, of course, it is needed to cover the cracks of the first one. The second row of shingles should protrude beyond the first by 1–2 cm; taking this requirement into account, lay the material on the roof. Secure it with nails.

Practical advice. To speed up and facilitate roofing work, it is recommended to make a simple template. It is made of slats and is necessary to control the position of the lower end of each row. The template is a long strip with two nailed vertical stops. The stops are temporarily fixed to the sheathing, and the shingles rest against the batten. If you don’t want to make a template, then for each row you will have to pull the rope, which takes much more time. In addition, the shingles cannot rest against the rope, so you have to waste time manually aligning the position of each roof element.

Step 4. Lay out the next row, making sure that the joints of the bottom row overlap the shingles of the top row by at least three centimeters wide. The rows of shingles should be parallel to the ridge of the roof. Be sure to leave a gap of 5–6 mm between the elements; it is needed to compensate for linear expansions that occur after the wood gets wet. If there is no gap, the coating may be undermined. As a result, leaks will have to be eliminated. It is necessary to choose the correct position of the joints due to the different widths of the shingles.

If you have little practical construction experience and there are doubts about the eye, it is recommended to first beat off the nailing line with a marking cord. Make sure that it is located approximately in the middle of the sheathing slats and must be covered by the next row.

Step 5. The last row at the ridge will have to be laid without a template under a stretched rope. It is better to trim the protruding part of the shingles above the ridge after it is installed. To do this, use a hand-held electric circular saw. Using the same method, you can also level the protruding parts of the shingles near the wind boards. The shingles must be laid carefully; if they are very thin and long, there is a risk of mechanical damage under the weight of the roofers. Use on the roof special devices for movement.

And one more important point. Always pay attention to the location of the fibers; water should flow along them and not against the wool. Fiber directions are visible with slight bending, and experienced builders determine this parameter without bending.