roof material for a neighborhood library box
jfsksa
| Posted in General Discussion on
I’m making a neighborhood library box (a box that will hold children’s books so kids can take one, leave one). I’m using cedar for the exterior and can use it for the roof, but am struggling with what to do to make the roof waterproof. It needs to shed water, but my “design consultant” (wife) also wants it to be cute. Simple, cheap and effective would be to use roof flashing, but might not match her expectations. The front is 20″ wide, roof a bit wider, so normal corrugated metal roofing might not look right on such a small project. I checked on the cost of copper and that price is way over the budget.
Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!
Replies
Assuming it is a roof pitched both ways from a central peak... pick up some cedar shims and copper coated weatherstripping nails. Cut the shims into visually correct sized shingles and treat it like a normal roof. A pc of membrane like shower pan liner underneath should help it stay dry as the "shingles" age.
I built a little free library for our house. I did as another comment suggested. I wanted a cedar shake look but the size didn't make sense so cedar shims to the rescue. The planking is also cedar boards with a shiplap joint. It's water tight even with an active ridge vent. Throw some aromatic cedar on the inside. Insects hate the smell. LFLs can be targets for bees/wasps.
Very nice job.
I build one of these with my son for his Eagle project. We put Ultra Siliconizer on the roof, followed by shake shingles. Then sprayed the shingles with water sealer. It worked well.
I made a few of these recently. I picked up a roll of window flashing material to use as a membrane between the top of the box and the cedar boards I used as a roof.
The flashing is an adhesive rubber sheet, either 4” or 6” wide. Get it at any big box hardware store.
It is invisible under any material you want to use as a roof.
“[Deleted]”
We built 24 of these about 10 years ago, using a grant given to the local United Way. Four volunteers did it over 2 months in one fellow's very large shop.
We were lucky, in that a roofing contractor offered to lend 2 fellows to install asphalt shingles. Luckier still that the boxes were then handed off to various organizations and individuals for painting (we primed) in various colors/scenes, etc., which were then judged for prizes.
The last I heard, most were still standing. Two were destroyed by vandals the first week.
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled