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Re-Roofing With 3-Tab Shingles:
Part 2
Installation Details For Professional Results
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In
This Article:
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Related Articles:
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| Skill Level:
3-4 (Intermediate to Advanced) |
Time Taken:
About 32 Hours |
By
Bruce W. Maki,
Editor
Start:
Installing New Asphalt
Shingles -
The Starting Point:
The old shingles had been stripped and the
roof was covered with builder's felt (a.k.a. tar
paper).
Click here to read about tearing off the old
shingles. |
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Since I was trying to do this re-roofing job
as cheap as possible, I made the eaves
starter shingles from some old 3-tab
shingles I had saved from a previous roofing
job.
I used a utility knife and a straightedge to
cut the tabs of these plain black shingles. |
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| As I
installed the starter shingles, I applied a bead
of roof cement (tar) to the drip-edge. To
avoid having tar squeeze out afterwards, I ran
the bead about a half-inch back from the edge. |
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I nailed the starter shingles so they just
barely hung over the drip-edge. Like ordinary
shingles, I drove 4 nails per shingle: One nail
about an inch from each end, and the other two
nails 12 inches from each end. |
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In the old days, many roofers would
make their eaves-starter by simply using a full 3-tab
shingle turned around so the tabs pointed uphill. The
method I show provides a tar strip close to the edge of the
roof, which will help secure the tabs of the first row of
shingles. The turned-around method does save some time, but
it also creates a slight bulge between the second and third
rows of shingles. It took me about 15 minutes to cut the
tabs off the 16 shingles I used.
| To make a
row-starter shingle, I placed a shingle
upside-down on a work table. Then I cut the
shingle with a sharp utility knife and a
speed-square. |
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For each set of starters, there will be 3
shingles that need to be cut in the center of a
tab. Shingle manufacturers normally make a
small cut in the top edge of their shingles to
mark the center-point of each tab. I just
curled the shingle material up to form a
"stop" that I could place my speed-square
against.
This makes it easy to cut the row-starter
shingles because there is no need to measure
anything... all the cuts are either made at one
of these 3 points, or at one of the two notches
between tabs. |
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Tip: I find it easier to
cut the shingles if I let them sit in the sun for a few
minutes to warm up. |
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| A typical set
of "row-starter" shingles. The shingle near the
bottom is a full shingle, the other five have
been cut. These are cut on the left side,
so I will need to place the cut edges against
the left edge of the roof. |
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The rows formed by each set of
starter shingles will cover a strip of roof slightly more
than 30 inches wide. My garage roof was just under 15 feet
from the lower edge to peak, so I cut six full sets
of row-starters, and I had a couple of pieces left over.
It's easy to get carried away and cut too
many row-starters.
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The South Side:
Left-To-Right
The row-starters after being installed.
The first shingle was a 5/6th shingle,
because I used a full shingle for the
eave-starter. |
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When cutting the row-starter
shingles, I made an effort to keep the pieces organized.
Since the cut-off pieces were cut on the right, I saved them
for use on the north side of the roof, where the
shingles will be installed from right to left.
This brings up an important
point:
I was tempted to use the off-cuts on the
first side by switching to a right-to-left installation
sequence, but then I realized that I needed to maintain the same
left-to-right direction or else the shingle tabs wouldn't line
up. This isn't a problem with "architectural" shingles, just
with 3-tab shingles.
Spacing Adjacent Rows:
Each row of shingles should be
placed 5-1/8 inches above the previous row,
according to the instructions. That placed the lower
edge of the shingle very close to the top of the notch
in the shingle below. |
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| After the
first group of row-starters were installed, I
shingled across the roof until I reached the far
side. I used a pneumatic roofing nail gun to
fasten the shingles. When each row approached
the end, I had to cut a shingle to reach the
right side.
Then I installed another set of starter
shingles and ran the rows across again, leaving
this stair-step pattern. |
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A view from farther away. Note how the orange
air hose comes from the other side of the
roof. I find it easier to handle the air hose if
it's draped over the peak of the roof
instead of hanging over the edge on the side I'm
working on. |
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| A closer view
of the pictures shown above. As you can see, I
need a narrow sliver of shingle to complete the
the lowest unfinished row. |
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I cut a narrow strip of shingle and nailed it to
the roof. This shingle was about 2 inches wide.
Actually, the shingle manufacturer instructions
warn against doing this, but I did it anyways. I
will apply some tar under each end shingle to
keep the wind from peeling them up. |
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| I installed
another cut shingle on the next row. This
shingle was about 8 inches long. Each final
shingle should be about 6 inches longer than the
previous, but I measured just to be sure.
I let each final shingle overhang the side
about 1/8 inch. |
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OOPS! When I nailed that last shingle
(shown above) I wasn't careful about where I put
the nails, and there was a nail head right in
the notch of the subsequent shingle.
I didn't make that mistake again.
This problem doesn't happen with
architectural shingles because they don't have
notches. |
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| To prevent
this from leaking, I applied a big gob of tar
under both adjacent shingle tabs, and covered
the nail head too. I suppose I could go one
step better and apply some shingle granules
to the wet tar that was exposed, but I didn't
get that extravagant on this garage, especially
since this minor flaw is located on the roof
overhang. If I was doing this job for somebody
else, I would've taken that extra step. |
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After I had finished the ends of the rows
shown earlier, I decided to check the shingle layout to make sure
the rows were straight and parallel to the lower edge.
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I measured from the lower edge of the roof
to the top edge
of the last row of shingles. I did this at
both the left and right sides of the roof. The
measurements were very close, within 1/8". |
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| I snapped a
chalk line where the top edge of the next row of
shingles normally should be. Then I went
across the roof and checked the distance from
the top of the each shingle to this line. The
measurements were not all the same. |
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At each end of the row of shingles, my chalk
line was about 5-1/8" from the top of the
shingles, as it should be. |
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| But in the
middle of the row, the top edge of the
shingle was 5-5/8" from the chalk line, a
half-inch farther than it should be. This meant
that the roof had a slight bulge and my shingle
rows weren't perfectly straight. That made
sense to me, because I could detect a slight
angle between adjacent shingles as I worked
across the roof. |
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So I snapped another chalk line one-half inch
lower than the first line. |
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| I nailed the
next row of shingles with the top edges aligned
with this new line. From that point forward my
rows of shingles were good and straight, and
parallel to the lower edge of the roof.
But that didn't mean the rows were parallel
with the peak of the roof. |
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| After I
installed a dozen more rows of shingles, I
measured down from the peak of the roof to the
top edge of the last row. On this end I
measured 49¼ inches. |
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A Baseline For
Measurements:
The plywood at the top didn't form a good
clean peak, so I couldn't get accurate
measurements by measuring from the edges of the
plywood.
However, the trim boards on the side of
the roof made a nice clean peak. I just
leaned over the edge and located the peak of the
trim, and then I drove a nail through the
drip-edge aligned with that peak.
Then I placed the end of my tape measure
against the nail. |
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| At the other
(left) side of the roof, the top edge of the
shingle was 50 inches from the peak. In other
words, the shingles on the left side were
3/4" lower than the right side. If I
maintained my course, the last row of shingles
will be tapered. |
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It's debatable if 3/4 inch of taper
would be noticeable... that depends on the width of the
final row. If the final row ends up having 5 inches of
exposure, then this taper will be hard to see. But if the
final row has only 2 inches of exposure, 3/4" of difference
will be obvious.
This is not a difficult problem to fix... it
just requires some measurements and chalk lines.
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I snapped a chalk line that had the proper
spacing (5-1/8") on the left side of the roof. |
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| On the right
side of the roof, the chalk line was only 4-3/4"
from the shingles, a difference of 3/8". I
decided to adjust my shingle rows by HALF of the
error. Then I'll do another correction a few
rows later. |
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A Brain Twister:
It's easy to get confused about
which side of the roof needs to have the line closer to
the shingles. The shingles on the left side are
farther from the top. I'd like to simply
start the next row 3/8" higher on the left... but that
would be TOO HIGH and might expose the nail heads in the
shingles below. I can't have MORE
than 5-1/8" of shingle exposed, but I can certainly have
LESS. So my solution is to make
the next row 3/8" too low on the right. When my
new row is done, the previous row should have an
exposure of 4-3/4", at the right side. And a normal
exposure on the left side. Got
that? This gives me a headache... and I like
geometry problems. |
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After I snapped by chalk line (red arrow) for
the adjustment row, I fastened the row of
shingles so the top edges were on the line. |
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Like I said earlier, I only
corrected for half of the error with this adjustment. I did
another correction row after doing a few more rows of
shingles.
| After a full
day's work, the south side was shingled
almost to the peak. I will need two more rows
of shingles on this side before I can install
the ridge cap shingles. I will also be
installing a zinc strip to prevent moss
and mildew from growing on the roof.
But first, I had to replace the shingles on
the north side of the roof. |
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Scenes From The North Side:
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After I tore off the shingles and covered the
roof with with tar paper, I started shingling
from the right-hand side of the roof,
using the row-starters I had cut a few days
earlier. |
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| I
fastened most of the shingles with a roofing
nail gun. I bought this tool a couple of
years ago for about $250. Not everybody
wants to spend that kind of money on a tool
they won't use very often, but nail guns can
be rented by the day or week. |
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Installing shingles was simple... until I
reached the peak of the roof. There are
some special details for installing shingles
at the peak of the roof.
See Part 3:
Installation Details At The Peak |
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More Info:
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- Basic
Carpentry Tools
- Speed Square
- Utility Knife
- Chalk Line
- Pneumatic Roofing Nailer
- Air Compressor
- Ladders
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Materials Used:
- 3-Tab Fiberglass 25 Year Shingles, (23
Bundles)
- Coil Roofing Nails, 1¼",
About 22 Coils (Approx. 2600 nails)
- Roof Cement in Caulk Tubes (4)
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Related Articles:
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Web Links:
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