You know well how irritating it can be to view the dampness in walls because of the leakage from roof. Besides tarnishing the appearance of your house, leakage also leads to a great deal of damage to other household items. Therefore, it is very necessary to eliminate even the slightest possible chances of a leaking roof. In places of high rainfall and snowfall, sloping roof is preferred over the flat roof. Shingles are installed on sloping roof and once they have been installed you need not to worry for the next 15-20 years. Follow the instructions given below to fix roof shingles.
Complexity Level: Moderate
Time Required: 8-10 hours
Resources Required:
1. Replacement shingle
2. Pry bar
3. Utility knife
4. Hammer/Scraper
5. Trowel
6. 6d galvanized roofing nails
7. Asphalt roof cement
Instructions:
1. Locate the damaged shingle
The best way to find the location of the damaged shingle is to observe the traces of dampness in the roof. This dampness exists because of the water leaking through the defective shingles, hence you can easily track the position of that shingle. The shingles get damaged because of many reasons like storms, snowfall, animal activities etc.
2. Remove the shingle from its place
Now, carefully remove the shingle from its place. For this, lift the edges of adjacent shingle and then remove the nails which are holding the shingle at its place. Now, you can easily slide it out. Also observe the state of neighboring shingles to make sure that even they don’t sustain some defects in them. While taking out the defective shingle, be careful not to damage the adjacent shingles.
3. Observe the extent up to which the shingle is damaged
1. It happens in most of the cases that the defective shingle can be repaired and there is no need to replace it with a sound one. Therefore, carefully observe the reason because of which the defect came into existence.
2. If only one tab of the shingle is damaged then instead of replacing it with a new shingle just cut out that damaged tab with the help of your utility knife, replace that tab from one cut from a new shingle and then the shingle can be used again.
3. Leakage also occurs because of loose shingles. In this case the shingle remains in sound condition but it gets displaced from its position. Just carefully lift the shingle, apply some tar beneath it and use an additional nail to fix it at its place.
4. Sometimes it may happen that shingles fall from their place because of winds. Remove the nails that are left behind and replace the shingle at its place. Fill the hole created by earlier nail by tar and use the nail at a new place this time.
4. Place a new shingle if required
1. Quite often it happens that the damage to the shingle gets beyond the level at which it could be repaired. Then the only option left is to replace it with a sound one.
2. Once you have removed the damaged shingle, then remove all the nails there and clear the spot from the earlier layer of roof cement.
3. Round the top corners of the replacement shingle so that it can be placed at its position without any difficulty.
4. Apply some roofing cement where the shingle has to be placed and then slide the new shingle at its place such that its top edge is below the shingles in the row before it and the bottom edge is above the shingles in the row just after it.
5. Apply 6d galvanized nails on the shingle to fix it at its place.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Asphalt shingles come in different types and sizes. How to identify the shingle which will suit my roof?
There are many factors that play a vital role in determining the type of shingle to suit a particular roof. These factors are slope of the roof, weather conditions, design and size of the structure at which the shingles are to be laid etc. It is the manufacturer who determines the exposure for each type of shingle but the standard one is 5″ exposure.
Quick Tips:
- Cooling the shingles can be useful in the easy separation of shingle tabs in hot weather.
- Do not bend shingles much in the winter season otherwise they will break.
Things To Watch Out For:
- Always make sure that the roof is dry before carrying on the repair works.
- Be careful not to go closer to the power lines and antenna.