Next on the duck house project: roofing.

But first, a delivery of materials from Home Depot:

This was mostly lumber for future projects, but also stuff needed for the duck house, including roofing shingles, drip edge flashing strips, and treated lumber.

The projects, from left to right, are: greenhouse shelving (some of the 1x2s, plus some spare), spare 2x4s (handy to have), duck house floor joists (treated 2x4s), duck house ramp (treated 2x6s, though most are spare), and bridge over the waterfall stream to the duck house (2x10s and some 2x4s):

When I get a delivery, I always order more than I need, to allow for errors, replenish my stocks, and make the most of the delivery (since they charge a flat fee no matter how much I get). Fun fact: this was the first order from Home Depot for the duck house; all the plywood and boards I used to build it were stuff I already had on hand, spare from the cat house project.

Speaking of plywood, here’s the roof again, back on top:

The first step for roofing is to add tar paper (also on hand from the chicken coop and cat house projects):

Then the new drip edge flashing strip; it goes under the paper at the bottom, but over on the sides, so any moisture that reaches this level can run off:

Me attaching the drip strip with my air roofing nailer:

Next is a starter strip, which is an asphalt strip with an adhesive backing, which helps secure the bottom course of shingles:

On to the asphalt shingles, installed at 6.5″ offsets:

One side of the roof done:

I actually did the roof and the awning simultaneously, but I’ve grouped them separately for the blog post. So let’s take a look at the awning process, which is like a mini version of the roof.

Firstly the roofing paper:

Awning drip strip:

Starter strip:

First course of shingles:

Second course, trimmed a bit at the back:

The third course is much shorter:

Finally, I used construction adhesive to attach the trim board at the back of the awning, which hides the nails and prevents water from getting under them at the back:

Here’s me attaching the trim (with the air compressor and hose in the foreground):

Back to the roof, the final step was the ridge cap, a series of small overlapping shingles along the peak of the roof:

For the last shingle to cover the nails, I used construction adhesive to hold it in place. Once the roof is exposed to sun, the black sealant strips will melt and seal the shingles together, but this will suffice in the meantime:

To hold it in place, I used a bag of cat litter as a weight:

The roofing is now done! That was quicker than I had expected… I guess prior experience, and the right tools, makes all the difference.

Let’s take a look around it; from the northwest corner:

The northeast corner:

The southeast corner:

Finally, the southwest corner:

Next up: vinyl floor tiles for extra waterproofing inside (ducks are damp!), and electrical outfitting. Definitely getting much closer to being done! Good thing, too; it needs to be finished, installed, and ready in about a month.