Photo ©2007 Lesley Shepherd, Licensed to About.com Inc.
Now it is time to create the parts for the shingled roof. Read the information about shingles if you have never applied shingles to a roof before. Before you begin, trim and age your shingles. Rough shingles on cabins were a variety of widths, so trim your shingles from 1 inch to ½ inch in width, and make sure they are approximately 1 1/8 inches long. If the shingles are longer, the roof will appear too thick. When you have them all trimmed, treat all sides and edges with an ageing wash the same way you treated the siding in the previous step. Cut two pieces of 1/16 inch plywood to 7 inches by 9 inches and treat one side of this wood with ageing solution as well.
When the shingles and the roof are dry, create a narrow strip of leftover shingle material along one of the 7 inch edges. Glue this material in place This will be the bottom of the roof. Lay your first line of shingles across the roof so that the shingles overlap this first edging strip (and the bottom edge of the roof) by 1/8 inch.
Use a ½ inch wide strip of material to create a guide for the next row of shingles. Lay the guide so that it lines up with the bottom edge of the first row of shingles. Your second row will start up against your spacing guide. Lay the second row, choosing shingle widths that will allow at least a small overlap of the shingle gaps in the first row. Place the shingles with only a hairline between them. Glue each shingle individually, using a T shaped glue line across the top of the back of a shingle and down the center back of the shingle.
Cover both roof pieces with shingles right to the top and set aside to dry.