Plank Roof

[Maximus]

EDIT:  Thank you for everyone's comments, all helpfully critical!  You've made me see the maintenance of a plank roof like this will be too onerous.  Sweeping debris annually, respraying preservative every 2-3 years, repairing cracked boards...not a smart age-in-place requirement.  I'll use roofing panels of some kind instead.  Thank you!!

End edit.

Our precious 35-year old barn's cedar shake roof is leaking badly.  I would like to replace it with a plank roof, perhaps board and batten.  The pitch is low, only about 2-1/2' rise for 10' run on the lower level.  The purlins look like they're in great shape.  Like me, this new roof needs to last 30 years, and I want it to be something I can walk on.

My starting idea is to go with 5/8"-thick boards and battens, with perhaps a shallow drain grove in the top of the boards at the edge of the batten.  I'm open to any reasonable solution, though.  My druthers are of course to mill the wood myself.   I have lots of hemlock and doug fir logs, diameters about 6"-16".  Unfortunately, I don't have any cedar.

Any make-sure-you-don'ts or this-worked-well-for-me lessons out there?  I plan to stain/preserve with Cabot 3000 initially, then spray with linseed oil every few years after.  But that also is up for review.

https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/73737/IMG_5030.jpeg

https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/73737/IMG_5031.jpeg

[beenthere]

Maximus
Do you have a link to the product you want to use? 

[Maximus]

beenthere, I'm going to mill the planks myself.  No products to buy except stain, nails, and gas.

[scsmith42]

With a 2.5:1 roof pitch, it's easy to understand why the existing cedar shake roof is leaking.

I don't see how a Board and batten plank roof would last for any amount of time.  There is a reason why you don't see wood planking in use as a roof.  As a decking - sure - with something over it to protect it from the weather.

Why not metal?  Standing seam is the best, but even a 3' wide ag panel screwed down would outlast any type of wood.

[Maximus]

scsmith42, you're absolutely correct, roofing panels make much more sense, especially for such a low pitch.  

Those cedar shakes did last 30 years, though, and wood simply looks much, much better.  We've got standing seam metal on our home, which is exactly why I don't want it on our barn.  I don't like the industrial look of it.

Before we go metal, we would probably try synthetic shake panels.  I just wanted to research a potential wood board-on-board option a bit first.

[barbender]

 The pictures of board and batten roofing I've seen from Scandinavian countries all have extremely steep roofs.