Shiplap plank = hen's teeth

KAdams4458

Background: I have a 30 square roof that's very nicely put together with 1X8 shiplap. Some time next year, the old shingles will be torn off and replaced. There is absolutely no reason to install sheathing over the original shiplap which is spaced very nicely, and will cause no issues with shingle warranty.

I tried very hard to avoid it, but a recent repair required the replacement of some planks. With a hole in my roof and wet weather in the forecast, I searched high and low for 1X8 shiplap, and found nothing but strange looks, and people who told me I could not use shiplap at all. (More than one even suggested I use plywood cut in to strips - Ha! Plywood isn't very strong when you cut it in to strips.)

In the end, seeing as the entire roof will be opened up next year and I can replace these planks with the right stuff, I brought home some 1X8 yellow pine and made my own shiplap on the table saw. It worked pretty well, but I wish it was douglas fir instead.

Surely there will be planks to replace here and there when the roof is done, so I really need to have some 1X8 shiplap on hand when the time comes. Where the heck do I buy it? As I've said, no one seemed to know what I was talking about, but given the number of people that also told me planks were never used in roofing, I'm obviously not dealing with well-informed people. (And no, I wasn't just polling box stores. These were real hardware and lumber yards!)

Where do roofers find this stuff? Do I need to ask for it by a different name?

KAdams4458

I always ask the hard questions, eh? I gotta stop doing that.

Maybe I need to actually drive to the lumberyards and show them a picture. Or... Maybe they're calling this stuff something else these days. There are obviously a few of different versions of shiplap out there. Maybe attaching an image of what I'm looking for will spark a response.

Please, someone tell me I just had a stroke of bad luck when I talked to a dozen different people, and none of them could tell me where to find this stuff. I really do not want to make every piece I need on a table saw. It's just too time consuming.

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mark942

Try these guy`s http://www.fritchmill.com/page3739.asp

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Filbee

I've seen plenty of shiplap installed on roofs here in Louisville. We have a large collection of Victorian mansions spaced all around the city. Wherever they pop up we find lots of slate roofs (many are soft and ferrous and failing at this point in their lives) in addition to unique tile roofs. Shiplap boards are interspersed with tongue and groove or spaced sheathing under many roof surfaces. I guess lots of the old timers used whatever was on hand. It is hard to find the stuff at any local lumber yards and using a table saw has been the best way to go for me several times.

http://www.adobelumber.com/products.shtml

KAdams4458

Holy cow... A mill? I didn't know that place existed. Hey, since you found a mill in my back yard that I didn't know about, maybe you can also tell me where I left my spare car keys.

They might not have the stuff, and I'm for sure not ordering thousands of feet of custom stuff from them if they don't have it, but I suspect they might be helpful. Thanks!


Old timer practices can be interesting. Every piece of plank on my roof seems to be the exact same material, but a lot of it has cement residue on it. First, they used the stuff to make the forms for the foundation, and then used it on the roof. Pretty resourceful not having to haul forms on and off the property, or waste much material.

If I really have to make all of this stuff on the table saw, I'm buying myself a dado blade and a new T-square fence for Christmas. My 54-year-old rip fence sucks, and it is pretty much the only thing keeping me from using my table saw for more projects.