For the roofing, I used architectural shingles over asphalt felt. I bought the architectural shingles because I had read that because of their pattern I would have to make less cuts on the ends of the runs but I don't really think that was true. I used the felt because it was a lot cheaper than some type of synthetic underlayment. The roofing felt is easy to work with but does tear easily. I put the felt up one weekend and most of it had blown off by the next weekend when I returned to put the actual roof on.

Installing the shingles went quickly because it's a small roof, I had a friend helping me, and I had a roofing nailer.

For the exterior siding I used 4x8 sheets of Hardie Board because it requires little maintenance, paints and caulks easily, and should last virtually forever. The downside is that it's heavy, is messy to cut, and doesn't take fasteners well. Since I had help, the weight wasn't too big an issue but the fastening turned out to be a problem. I had used Hardie Board on a previous shed I had built and we had to pre-drill holes for nails when attaching the siding. This time, I tried using the framing nailer with shorter nails. It appeared initially that it was going to work but we eventually came to the conclusion that the nail depth wasn't consistent enough to avoid damaging the siding and ended up pre-drilling and driving standard nails.

I don't think I'll use cement fiber-board as siding again. The finished product is nice but it's just too much trouble to work with.