The roof is one of the most important parts of your home , providing protection from all types of weather. It is important to the maintenance of your home as well as maintaining the value of the largest investment most families have.
If you have just constructed your home or if it’s a few years old it is wise to keep regular checks on the condition of the shingles . The 3 tab shingle , which is a very common type of roofing has a life of 20 years according to the manufacture, But this can be effected by several conditions. weather, lack of maintenance and ventilation that is not adequate.
Ventilation in the attic of your can effect the life of your shingles heat, when not properly ventilated can reach temperatures over 140 degrees and this buildup of heat can cause deterioration of the decking and shingles on your roof.
Replacing the roofing material on your home is one of the largest expenses you will have in maintaining your home and 3 tab shingles are among the most economic materials you can use.
Labor is approximately half the cost of re roofing your home , this can be a big savings to you if you can manage to do it yourself . The process of re roofing your home is not difficult and if you are handy at all with a ruler and a hammer you can do the job. Just keep in mind that while the job is not complicated it is quite labor insensitive and it is a job that does require some haste and weather watching.
The material and tools you will need are as follows:
1. Shingles , The first thing you must do is decide if you are going to use the same color or go with something different. You will need roofing nails i suggest 1″ nails , you can use 3/4 but you will mash a lot of fingers unless you do roofing for a living. You might check your rental store for air roofing nail gun, compressor and air hose. This will make the job go much faster but you need to use caution with the air pressure or the nail head will go through the shingle.
2. You need to determine the amount of material you need, this is determines by measuring the length and width of the roof, multiply length x width -:- by 100 this will give you the amount of shingles you need in squares, A square of shingles cover a 10×10 area. You will need to add approximately 10% to this figure to be used on the starter row and up each side of the roof.
3. Felt or as some call it tar paper, they make 15 and 30 lb weight in this always get 30 lb felt ( this refers to the thickness of the material ) . A 30 lb roll of felt covers 2 square so for ex. if you need 30 square of shingles you will need 15 rolls. You will also need button tacks to nail down the felt. 1 box does 20 square.
4. It will be a big advantage if you can rent a shingle hoist from your rental store also. This is a machine that will lift a pack of shingles up to the roof and you won’t have to carry them up the ladder on your shoulder.
5. Other tools needed are a ladder, hammer, utility knife with hook and straight blades, chalk box and chalk, tape measure, construction crayon, and a tool bag or nail apron, roofing shovels to remove old shingles, you should be able to rent these from your local rental.
Remove old shingles and insure you have removed all the old nails . Leaving old nails and installing new shingles over them will cause your new roof to leak. One hint, it will make cleaning up the old shingles from yard much easier if you will place tarps on the ground around the house, just remember if the weather is hot don’t leave tarps in one spot for to long or it will kill the grass. Remember to be careful with the shrubs and flowers around the house when throwing old shingles from roof you may damage them.
6. All the help you can round up.
This is the process you will use to apply the shingles.
1. 3 tab shingles are 36″long and 12 ” wide, in the area i am in the common overhand or how much the shingle will reach past the edge of the roof is 1 1/2″. So with the ruler measure from the edge of the roof up 10 1/2 ” to insure you get a straight line do this every 20 to 25 ft.. Use the construction crayon and male a mark at each measurement and then using the chalk line pop a line at each mark along the bottom edge of roof.
On each side measure 10 1/2″ from edge and make marks just like you just did on bottom of roof Do the same on the sides.
On each side, measure 34 1/2″ and make a mark at the same location make another mark at 28 1/2″ or 6 inches from the first mark measuring back toward the edge of roof .Do this at the bottom and top or hip on each side of roof and pop a line on marks. Now you should have a chalk line running completely around the roof that is 10 1/2″ wide you should also have two chalk lines running up the roof 28 1/2″ and 34 1/2″ or 6″ apart these are the starter lines and are very important that you get them correct to insure your shingles are installed straight.
2. Now lay a row of shingles on the chalk lines all the way around the roof overlapping the shingles on the bottom edge with the shingles up the side or rake of the roof. turn these shingles upside down with the slits away from the edge.
3. NOW you will make more lines across the roof , from the top of the starter shingles or from the chalk line you made which should be the same as the top of starter shingles, measure up the roof and pop a line every 5″. These lines will be where you place the top of the shingles when you install them across the roof. The shingles should overlap app. 5″ or the bottom of the shingle should come down to the top of the slit on the shingle below it..
4. Time to start laying the shingles . you will start in the bottom corner on the side where the two lines 6″ apart run up the roof . these are the lines that insure the shingles run up the roof on a 90degree angle or square with the bottom edge.
5. Place the first shingle on top of the starter shingle right side up and slits pointing to the edge of roof, The side and bottom edge of shingle should be even. the next shingle will butt up to this one and run even with the edge. if you want you can tale this run all the way across the roof. the second row of shingles will start in the same corner where the two lines running up the roof are but this one , the edge will be places on the line that will allow it to hang over the roof 6″, there is a small notch in the top of the shingle 6″ from edge you can use this ti check your self but you need to keep the edge on your chalk line up the roof.
6. Now you can tale this run of shingles up the roof switching back in forth from line to line with every other shingle hanging over the edge of roof 6. when you finish this run you go back to the bottom of roof and start the next run keeping the top edge of shingle on the line and butting each edge to the shingle beside it. each row of shingles will be staggered back and forth by 6″ / repeat this until you cover the complete side of roof then do the other side the same way.
7. Using the utility knife and a hook blade cut the shingles, that hang over the roof, off even with the starter shingles , this needs to be cut straight for a good appearance so , pop a line if you need to.
8. As a check, to insure you do a good job and are running straight you should look from time to time and see if all look straight and you should never have slits in shingles that line up with shingle below it they should remain staggered 6″ apart from row to row.
9. Have a few extra tarps on hand to cover up any exposed areas of roof at the end of the day and also for any sudden rains that might come up suddenly. for added protection especially if you are working alone. do your work in small sections of 5 to 10 square areas . roofing is hot work so don’t push your self and keep plenty of water on hand.
Flashing installation and the replacement of vents and pipe boots will be covered in other guides .
If you follow these guidelines you should have a new roof you will be proud of and you will also save a large piece of your home maintenance budget..
