Building a mansard roof

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A mansard is not only great for the look of your house, but it also provides additional living space. Building a mansard is fairly easy if you have the correct roof design. You will also need some technical skills. Some of the required materials are:

Woodworking tools
Dumpster
Ladders
Working gear: knee pads, gloves, tool belt, hard hatandboots
Sheathing
Scaffolding
Blueprints
Shingles
Underlayment material
Lumber
Plastic sheets and tarps
hardware

Planning

If you have to rebuild the roof for the mansard, then you will have to go to your local authorities and get a special building permit. This will also provide you the knowledge of special building codes and regulations. You may also need an insurance cover to protect you against any structural damage.

Building site

Get the area ready for construction. Gather all the tools and make yourself a big table on witch you will to the cutting and measuring. Cover your appliances, plants, and machinery in the area to prevent any damage to them. Use some tarps or plastic sheets to do this.

Rafters

Fix the common rafters to one ridge board using nails. The rise the ridge and fix the other rafters. The outside rafters will need to be places in a way so that the birdsmouth is on a plane with the highest plate of the wall. Also use nails to fix it. Do this on the other three sides. Then fix the rest of the common rafters. Ensure a tight and secure positioning.

Ceiling beams

Use nails to secure the beam into place and make sure that they aren’t loose. After you have securely fixed them, cover the area with some sheathing.

Upper roof extension

Use vertical rafters to build the upper extension of the mansard roof. They will need to be places withing the boundaries of the ridge board. To give the structure more strength, use common rafters on both the inside and outside of the structure.

Shingles

Before covering the roof with sheaths, use collar ties and fascia. Use nails to attach the sheaths to the common rafters. Valleys need to be covered with flashings. After this you will need to cover the entire roof with the underlayment. This will protect the roof against water. The install the shingles.