How to Put Tin on a Plywood Roof

Roll out roofing felt at the eave of the roof until the felt strip extends 1 inch beyond each side of the roof. Cut the roofing felt with heavy-duty scissors. Install the roofing felt with staples spaced every 1 to 2 inches.

Continue up the roof, cutting and securing strips of roofing felt so that the bottom of each strip overlaps the strip below it by 3 to 4 inches. Lay the felt onto the peak and then repeat the process for the other side and any other sections of the roof.

Lay flashing along the valleys and anywhere two roof sections of different heights meet to create a corner on the roof’s surface. Cut the flashing down to the size of the section with tin snips. Also cut a strip of flashing to lay along the roof’s peak.

Install the flashing with metal nail screws every 6 inches and cover each screw with roofing cement. Lay a piece of straight metal flashing along the eave of the roof, attaching it with screws every inch of the way. Cover the seams with flashing tape where the edges of the flashing meet the roof surface.

Lay the first tin roof panel vertically at one end of the felted plywood roof surface. Let the panel hang off the roof edge by roughly 1 inch and off the eave of the roof by 3/4 inch to 1 inch. Secure the tin roof panel to the plywood with a 3/4-inch screw through the screw holes on the outside of the panel.

Line the next tin roof panel up alongside the first and secure it in place with screws through the outside screw holes at the top, bottom and sides of the panel. Continue across the roof in this fashion until you have covered the roof surface, using tin snips to cut the aluminum panels down to size if necessary.

Install ridge caps on the peak of the roof with screws through the built-in screw holes to cover the top edges of the panels. Cover the screw heads with roofing cement. Caulk the seams with silicon caulk where the ridge caps meet the roof and where all panels come together.