Home Clinic; Repairing Asphalt Roofing Shingles
ASPHALT shingles, the most widely used roofing material in the United States, ordinarily last 15 to 25 years before needing replacement. Roofs with asphalt shingles should be inspected annually for wear if they are 10 or more years old. Leaks and damage to individual shingles must be repaired immediately.
The best way to inspect an asphalt roof is at close range. For safety, choose a day of fair weather, with no wind. Wait until morning dew has evaporated from both the ground and the roof, so that neither shoes nor shingles will be slippery from moisture. Wear sneakers, and have a helper brace the ladder while you climb.
Once on the roof, walk with knees bent to preserve balance and stay away from the building’s edges. A professional roofer will sometimes tie a rope around his waist and toss the free end over the roof peak to a helper on the other side. The helper then secures the rope to something solid, like a tree or porch railing.
To assess the overall condition of the shingles, notice whether areas seem dried out, cracked or worn. Shingles are coated on their top surface with fine gravel, which protects the asphalt from sunlight. If the gravel coating seems thin or is missing, this is an indication that a new roof may be needed.
If damage to a shingle is severe, or if several shingles in a group are broken, you may decide on replacement, rather than patching. Be sure beforehand that you can obtain new shingles to match the broken ones.
Roofing Nails Per Square
Most shingle manufactures recommend using four nails per shingle on the main area of your roof and five nails per square in the first row of roofing. This adds up to an average of 320 nails or 100 square feet. If you have high wind areas, you will want to use five nails pers shingle, equating to about 480 per square.
When using a 1.5-inch roofing nail, they usually have a large 11-gauge shank and an oversize, 7/16-inch flathead. These nails are hot galvanized, which helps them withstand sun and rain on your roof. About 140 of these types if nail weighs one pound. You will need approximately 2 ¼ pounds of nails to install a square of shingles in regular conditions, and about 3 ½ pounds if you are dealing with windy conditions. Because nails are purchased by the pound, so can ask your supplier for the correct number of nails for your size roof, in the length you specify.
Lay The Subsequent Rows
- 6.1;-;Start off the first row with a whole shingle.
- 6.2;-;Place the shingle in the starting corner in such a way that the last shingle will overhang the fascia board by 3/8″.
- 6.3;-;Drive in 4 straight nails only until the nail heads make contact with the asphalt. Avoid tearing.
- 6.4;-;Stagger each new row by a half-tab.
- 6.5;-;Align the lower edge of the shingle with the top of the notches on the preceding row.
- 6.6;-;Repeat for every row.
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How Do Dermatologists Treat Shingles
An antiviral medication can:
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Reduce the amount of time that you have a shingles rash
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Lower your risk of developing long-lasting nerve pain and other health problems
One of three antiviral medications is usually prescribedacyclovir, famciclovir, or valacyclovir.
To treat your symptoms, dermatologists typically recommend the following:
Pain: Medication that you can buy without a prescription can help, such as:
-
Acetaminophen
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Ibuprofen
If you have severe pain, your dermatologist may prescribe a medication that reduces inflammation, such as a corticosteroid.
How To Estimate How Many Roofing Nails Are Needed
When you go to the store to buy roofing nails, you will be buying them by weight, not number. Containers of roofing nails will indicate how many pounds of nails it contains, not necessarily a number. Therefore, you need to know how much a nail weighs so you can estimate the number of nails youll be buying.
Knowing the total amount of shingles, youll need for your roof will allow you to calculate the nails needed. Youll use starter strips on the eave and rake ends, and any gable ends you might have. Youll add up the linear feet of starter strip shingles required.
If that is 300 feet, and we know that 16 shingles cover 50 feet, that means youll need 96 shingles. 96 x 5 nails mean youll need 480 nails just for your starter strip shingles.
For a 2000 square foot roof, youll need 20 squares of shingles. If you use standard 3-tab shingles, youll need 312 x 20, which equals just over 6,200 nails.
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How To Install Asphalt Shingles
This article was co-authored by David Bitan. David Bitan is a roofing professional, licensed contractor, and the owner and founder of Bumble Roofing based in Southern California. With over 12 years of construction industry experience, David specializes in restoring, repairing, and maintaining residential, commercial, and industrial roofs. With over 60 years of combined experience, Bumble Roofing provides easy, friendly services to structures including residential, commercial, industrial, multi-family, and government buildings along with hospitals, hotels, and churches.wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. This article received 14 testimonials and 90% of readers who voted found it helpful, earning it our reader-approved status. This article has been viewed 618,516 times.
Installing new shingles yourself can save considerable time and money. You can follow the same steps they do to achieve the same professional look. Re-doing the shingles on your roof can help keep your house in good shape, keep your family safe, and protect you from the elements. Learn to prepare the roof for shingles, lay even courses, and install your ridge shingles like the experts do.
How Many Nails Should Be Used Per Shingle
Weve had some pretty bad thunderstorms in our area lately, with really strong winds. Many of our neighbors have ended up with some shingles missing, blown down the street, or strewn about yards. As I took a walk this morning, I noticed some shingles still had nails in them. I started to wonder how many nails should be used per shingle.
Manufacturers recommend 4 nails per shingle for standard slopes from 4:12 to 9:12 and five nails per starter shingle. Anything less than four will void any warranties offered. For steep slopes and high wind areas, use 6 nails per shingle. Nails must be long enough to penetrate at least ¾ into the roofing sheathing.
In this article, well go over everything you need to know about nailing shingles to your roof, whether its your house, shed or even a doghouse. Well also cover other types of shingles, such as ridge cap shingles, so there wont be any questions when it comes time for you to shingle your roof.
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How Roof Shingles Are Installed
The specifics of how shingles are laid on your roof vary by manufacturer.
Some roofing shingles, such as Duration®, are applied with a 6-1/2-inch offset and a 5-5/8-inch exposure over a prepared roof deck. Contractors start at the bottom of the roof and work across the roofs surface and up.
Proper overlapping covers up the nails and provides a seamless, attractive look to your roof.
What Is An Asphalt Roof Nail
There are two types of reroofing, a nail-over and a tear-off. A tear-off reroof is when a contractor tears off your old roof down to the decking and installs all new roofing components.
On the other hand, a nail-over reroof is the process of nailing over your current asphalt shingles with new ones.
In most states, youre only allowed to have 2 layers of shingles on a roof for fire safety reasons. However, youll still see roofs that have 3 or 4 layers today.;
If you already have 2 or more layers, a contractor will recommend a full replacement.;
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Driving Roofing Nails For Shingles
Roofing nails should be driven by hand with a hammer or with a properly adjusted pneumatic nail gun.
Nail guns that are improperly adjusted can result in either under penetration or over-penetration of the roofing nails, which then affects the shingles performance. It can also cause:
- Nail corrosion
- Buckling, and
- Shingle blow-offs.
Roofing nails are typically placed no closer than 1 inch fromthe edge of the shingle according to the manufacturers specifications.
Fixing Nailing Mistakes
Its important that nailing errors are fixed immediately.
- Underdriven nails can be appropriately tapped in with a hammer.;
- Crooked or overdriven nails need to be removed, and the holes need to be filled in with asphalt roofing cement.
- A new nail must be driven in a nearby spot to secure the shingle. If this cant be done, the entire shingle should be replaced.
Nail Fastening Pattern
A four-nail fastening pattern per shingle is required to take advantage of the maximum wind warranty available on Owens Corning® Duration® shingles. Six nails are required for structures with slopes exceeding 60 degrees or 21 inches per foot. In some areas of the country, building codes may require six nails as well.
It is important to consult your local building department and to refer to the manufacturers installation instructions as the number of nails required often varies depending on the shingle product.
Where To Nail Shingles
Shingles should be nailed just below the sealant strip, which is found running through the center length of all shingles, just above the tabs. This is a bitumen strip that acts to seal the course of shingles above it, adhering in such a way as to keep water from going up and under the shingles. Nailing through it will negate some of the sealing ability of the strip.
Nail ½ below the sealant strip. Your first nail should be ½ below the strip and 1 from the edge of the shingle. Your next two nails should be placed above the tab cut-outs for 3-tab shingles or evenly placed below the sealant strip on other types of shingles. Both outer nails should be 1 from the edge.
For high wind areas or steep roof slopes where 6 nails are required, nails on the interior of the shingle should be placed evenly spaced in pairs 1.5 apart. On a 3-tab shingle, you would place your first nail 1 from the edge, then place your next nail before the cutout by ¾, and your next nail ½ above the cutout 1.5 from the previous nail. Repeat this same nailing pattern above the next cutout, and finish with your last nail 1 from the far edge.
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Mastering Roof Inspections: Asphalt Composition Shingles Part 25
The purpose of the series Mastering Roof Inspections is to teach home inspectors, as well as insurance and roofing professionals, how to recognize proper and improper conditions while inspecting steep-slope, residential roofs. This series covers roof framing, roofing materials, the attic, and the conditions that affect the roofing materials and components, including wind and hail.;
FASTENERS, Part 1
One of the key components in the wind resistance of shingles is the fasteners that hold;them to the roof.
How effectively fasteners hold shingles in place depends on four things:
- the type of fastener;
- the holding power of the substrate.
Disclaim Proper Fastening
You should disclaim proper fastening of asphalt shingles in your report and in your inspection agreement. Confirming proper fastening would require breaking the bonds of all the adhesive strips to examine all the fasteners, and you will not do that.;For asphalt shingles, the adhesive strip is the most important component in resisting wind damage.
Your disclaimer should state that you dont inspect each fastener, and tell why.
If you do break the bonds of a few adhesive strips to check a representative number of areas, your report should state that you inspected a representative number of fasteners only.
If you dont inspect fasteners and fail to mention this in your report, you may be found liable in court for roof failure related to proper fastening. Disclaim confirmation of proper fastening.
Fastener Type
Nails
Why Are Your Shingles Wavy And Partially Lifted
Written by Admin on . Posted in Uncategorized
When you look up at your roof, do some of the shingles seem to be wavy along the edges? Perhaps some of the edges seem to be lifted off the roof surface. Often, this does not indicate an issue with the shingles themselves, but rather with the nails that are supposed to hold the shingles in place.
When a roof is shingled, each layer of shingles is positioned over the nails in the layer of shingles beneath it. If one of these nails pops up, the shingle on top of it will buckle or rise, too, which creates a wavy look.
Popped-up roofing nails are not something you want to ignore. Keep reading for a closer look at this problem and its solutions.
Why Do Roofing Nails Pop?
Nail pops can be caused either by environmental conditions, construction mistakes, or both.
Sometimes pops occur if a roofer uses nails that are too short. A short nail cannot fully anchor the shingle to the roofs underlayment, so over time, the nail rises. This is often seen on DIY roofs; homeowners may attempt to save money with shorter nails a mistake that comes back to bite them later on when the nails pop. Nails that are driven in at an angle are also likely to pop.
Nails sometimes pop if the roof decking is too worn or rotten to support the nails. If youve had untreated leaks in your roof for a while, the wood underlayment may now be beginning to rot, leaving it weak and soft.;
What Are Some Other Signs of Popped Nails?
Why Are Popped Nails a Concern?
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How Many Roofing Nails Per Square Of Shingles
A square of shingles simply refers to several right-sized shingles that equal 100 square feet. Typically shingle manufacturers sell bundles of shingles that equal 33.3 square feet. That makes it convenient to order squares of shingles as it takes exactly 3 bundles to make a square.
Using our above example, if there are 26 shingles in one bundle equalling 33 square feet of roof coverage, then there would be 78 shingles in a square 26 x 3. If each shingle requires 4 nails, then 78 shingles x 4 nails equals 312 nails needed per square of shingles.
When Would Someone Nail Over Their Current Asphalt Roof
To nail-over your current asphalt roof, the situation has to be right. With that in mind, most roofs are not going to be a good candidate for a nail-over.;
To nail-over, an asphalt roof has to be near the end of its lifespan, and still lying down pretty flat . The roof also must have only a few penetrations, a small amount of flashing, and no walls that have to butt up against your shingles.;
Ultimately, itll be up to what your contractor finds during your roof inspection that determines if a nail-over is an option for you.;;
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How To Nail Asphalt Shingles To A Roof
When nailing asphalt shingles to a roof, there is a right way and a wrong way to drive the nail. First, you do not want to nail at an angle. Nailing at an angle will cause the nails head to sit at an angle to the roof. That means part of the nail head will not contact the surface and will be a likely entry point for water.
Ensuring the heads of nails are flush with the roofs surface will prevent moisture from creeping into the nail holes of the shingles.
Do not overdrive nails. When hammering a roofing nail, you dont want the head to sink below the level of the shingle. If the nail looks indented on the shingle, youve probably driven it too far. Doing so risks damaging the roof shingle, as it will become more prone to cracking over time.
Under-nailing a roofing nail has the obvious consequence of being a water entry point. Without the sealing effect of a nail head hit flush to its surface, water will slide right under the nailhead and into your home.
How To Lay Shingles
This article was co-authored by David Bitan. David Bitan is a roofing professional, licensed contractor, and the owner and founder of Bumble Roofing based in Southern California. With over 12 years of construction industry experience, David specializes in restoring, repairing, and maintaining residential, commercial, and industrial roofs. With over 60 years of combined experience, Bumble Roofing provides easy, friendly services to structures including residential, commercial, industrial, multi-family, and government buildings along with hospitals, hotels, and churches.wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. In this case, 90% of readers who voted found the article helpful, earning it our reader-approved status. This article has been viewed 645,424 times.
Shingles protect sloping rooftops from the effects of rain, snow and hail while providing an attractive crown for the house. Keeping a solid roofing layer of shingles is an important way to avoid water damage and leaks. Doing it properly will keep you without problems for 20 or 40 years. Laying shingles can be hard and hot work, but the reward of an attractive, watertight roof can be worth it.
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The Contractor Cant Inspect Your Asphalt Roofs Decking
When you get a full roof replacement, your roof is taken down to its decking. This gives your contractor a chance to inspect the deckings integrity to see if it can handle your new roof.;
When you get a nail-over, theres no opportunity to inspect the decking before installing your new roof. If one of the boards break during installation, the contractor will have to take off the old shingles, replace the piece of broken decking, put the old shingles back on, and start installing again.;
This adds to the time it takes to replace your roof and can even add to the final cost of the job.;
