What are the recommended installation steps and materials to install 3/8" thick, 5" wide, tongue and groove red oak planks on a covered outdoor ceiling. The ceiling is 16" o.c. trusses that have a shingle roof deck. The ceiling extends out over my outdoor deck. (see picture)

Oak? Okay... make sure you seal that back side then before you put it up. I would suggest fir or cedar myself they are better in the elements. Oak may move on you.

You'll also need roof or ridge vents preferably or the min. a gable vent.

Start at the peak.
Rip the groove side to the pitch, and install that with the tongue down. Rip the second groove side with a slight back angle so the leading edge touches and it goes over the first. This will shrink over time and still leave you a decent joint there.

These two you have to face nail, use stainless 2" and you want 15 gauge (16's work too) you want the head that's on the thicker gauge. Brads are no good, some carpenters even prefer a box nail for the even larger head.

Measure to your beams and see what the difference to parallel is, and as you proceed down the ceiling fan out the install to close those up as you go.
If it's like 2 inches you can just add a 32nd by the time you get to the bottom you are back to parallel and it won't be noticeable.

The following rows you blind nail on an angle through the back side of the tongue on an angle so that it doesn't interfere with the groove but not seen.
Carry on down like that to the last 2 rows.

Here you cut off the tongue off the two rows to the chamfer. Place the one without nailing and mark that on the rafters and snap a line 1" away but parallel to the beams. You can also make up the slight difference here so you'll have a nice straight rip for the final row. A bit of a fluff factor if you will...

Cut some galv. hardware cloth to 2" wide and fasten that up so you have a 1/2 overlap each side of the lines.

That last piece is ripped to the plumb of the roof pitch on the groove side and turned around so the chamfers face each other and the hardware cloth is your eave vent under those pieces.

Have fun and rent a good set of staging so you'll be safe and the job will go 3 times as fast... the speed and piece of mind will make up for the rental fee.



Alter Eagle Construction & Design

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Thank you very much for your answer and information. This will be very helpful. Do you think I should install roofing felt to the rafters before installing the oak planking?

No you want it to breath... that's why the vents are so important.

We don't use felt paper anymore, it traps moisture. If anything we'd use a building wrap like tyvek, (note it's not recommended on non back primed or sealed sidings) that allows moisture to migrate through one side and blocks it on the other kind of thing.

That said, out there you don't want to place a barrier as it all is trying to maintain a equal balance in temp. as to not create a dew point... in my humble opinion anyway, which is why I'm mentioning the vents just one more time. ;)



Alter Eagle Construction & Design

http://www.altereagle.com/ | Construction & Design | http://decks-ca.com/ | Decks, California outdoor living | http://kingofcrown.com/ | Molding and finishing | http://installcrown.com/ | Crown tutorial

That makes perfect sense. I did place a ridge vent in the roof when I built it plus every soffit panel is vented. Thanks so much for taking the time to help me with this. I really appreciate it.

One more question if you please. My roof trusses are 16" o.c. The planks are 3/8" thick Red Oak tongue and groove on all 4 sides. Do I have to join the planks OVER a joist or since they're tongue and groove not worry about whether the ends fall on a joist?
I'm thinking I don't have to worry since the boards are tongue and groove. Thanks again for all your help.