Hiring a professional like Legends Roofing Company to do your asphalt shingles is the best way to do it but self-installation of new shingles can save you a lot of time and money. To attain the same polished appearance, you might adopt their procedures. Renovating your roof’s shingles may preserve your home in good condition, keep your family secure, and shield you from the elements. Learn how to set up level courses, prepare the roof for shingles, and install your ridge shingles like a pro.
Purchase the appropriate amount of shingles for the task. Typically, three bundles of shingles are required to cover 100 square feet. The “bundles” of asphalt shingles are actually sealed containers. Measure your roof before making a purchase.
A shingle’s length should be measured as it spans the roof. The placement of the shingles on the roof’s width will be influenced by this. The majority of asphalt shingles have a length of 3 feet. You will have a partial piece on one end of each row if the width of your roof is not an even multiple of the length of the shingles.
Delete the flashing and old shingles. At the peak furthest from the garbage can or the corner where you wish to collect the shingles, begin taking them off. To swiftly remove them, use a garden fork or roofing shovel. To remove them more thoroughly, use the hammer method. During this operation, be cautious to safeguard the windows and the sides of the home by, for example, leaning a sizable piece of plywood against the house below where you are working. Otherwise, you might damage the siding or shatter a window.
Tidy up the roof. Clean up the roof as much as you can. Nails that didn’t appear earlier should be removed. Reattach any loose sheathing boards. Check the sheathing for rotten boards and damage, and replace any that are present.
Install new flashing and underlayment. Cover the roof with asphalt, felt paper, or a special waterproof underlayment like a membrane that heals itself. Although the optimal approach is a self-sealing membrane with a rain screen, some roofers will use 15-pound (6.8 kg) roofing paper, which is an effective option. Beginning at the lowest part of your roof and working your way up, staple this felt down. Each row should be at least 3 inches apart. To prevent tearing of the paper, work carefully and use lots of staples. When stapling the paper to the roof deck, use plenty of staples. If the roof will be exposed to wind before the shingles are laid, use “tin caps” under the staples.
Select the type of introductory course you want to take. If you purchased some or plan to cut your own starter shingles to meet the specific project, you can utilize narrow tab-less starter shingles. Others enjoy the convenience of the pre-cut beginning shingles without tabs, while some prefer to only have to buy one type of shingle and cut them to fit.
To create a roadmap for yourself, use chalk lines. You might need to mark a chalk line starting 7 inches (17.8 cm) from the bottom roof edge, depending on the kind of shingles you’re using and the roof you’re working on. In either scenario, the beginning course’s adhesive strip is next positioned at both the rake and drip edges.
If required, trim your starter-course shingles. Cut the tabs off for the “beginning course” (bottom row) of shingles if you are manufacturing your own starter shingles. Shorten the first starting shingle by 6 inches before laying the starter course and preparing the tabs (or about a half of one tab). The drip edge and the rake edges are the best places to place the adhesive strip. This initial course will be covered with shingles, making the bottom course double-thick.
For slots that are staggered, cut five separate lengths. From the three-tab variety of shingles you bought, cut multiple sizes to make sure you have the necessary sizes to lay courses correctly. To begin the first course, trim the first tab to one-half tab width. To move the slots of the shingles on the course of shingles by a half tab from aligning with the slots in shingles above and below, a cut is required for each course of shingles. For use on the ridge cap shingles, save all scrap, especially any single tabs.
Set up the courses. The “cut off shingle” should be nailed in place around 6 inches from the bottom edge. Nails should be driven about two inches from each shingle’s end and one inch above each cutout. As you work, be careful not to get nails in the tar strip.
Up against the cut shingle, insert a complete shingle and secure it with nails. Repeat this fundamental pattern, alternating the shingles as you make your way toward the right side of the roof, maintaining the shingles’ horizontal alignment with the help of the chalk line.
When you get to the end of the row, cut the last shingle to the appropriate size. If you’d like, you can leave the extra hang over the side of the roof and trim it after it’s been tacked on. Continue using this technique until you reach the fifth row, at which point you should start over with the first row starting with a full shingle and a chalk mark. Repetition is necessary to reach the ridge.
Install the final module. In order to extend the roofing over the top of the ridge, where nails will be covered, and leave no exposed nails, bend the final course of shingles over the ridge up to about 6 inches, and nail it onto the opposite side. If a ridge vent system is also being installed, don’t do this though. Ridge venting is a feature of almost all contemporary roofs; on either side, the sheeting stops short. Here, using the hook-blade for cutting, finish the last row of shingles. Install continuous ridge vent or vented cap shingles to cover the ridge.
The ridge shingles should be put in. To secure the tiles on both sides of the ridge, cross to the opposite end while leaving the asphalt granules exposed. When you reach the opposite end, remove the ridge shingle’s asphalt nail line.
Apply asphalt cement with a thick bead. Put a dot of cement where the nail line was removed under and around the border of the final ridge shingle. Add a small amount of tar to conceal the nail heads after nailing the four corners to the end of the ridge.