Roofing with Asphalt Shingles
There's more to laying three-tab shingles than just nailing them on as fast as possible.
Synopsis: Three-tab asphalt shingles are probably the most basic roofing material on the market. The author of this article, a roofer who learned the trade from his father, describes tools and techniques for proper application. He covers valleys, roof penetrations and other leak-prone areas and includes a sidebar on estimating the amount of shingles you’ll need.
I guess I was destined to work for my father’s 63-year-old roofing company. I spent a lot of time on the roof learning the trade from several old craftsmen. I learned slate roofing, tile roofing, copper roofing and, of course, asphalt-shingle roofing. The most important lesson I learned was that there’s more to installing shingles than just nailing them on fast. As a roofer, I am also charged with preventing leaks, making a house more attractive and remembering that everything a person has worked hard for is under my roof. In this article I’ll describe the basics of installing a tight, durable three-tab asphalt-shingle roof.
Tools
You don’t need many tools to install a shingle roof. A hammer, tin snips, utility knife, tape measure and chalkline will do it. I use a drywall hammer to nail shingles. Its light weight doesn’t tire my arm, and the larger head makes nails an easy target. To carry nails and tools, I wear a leather carpenter’s apron, with suspenders to support the weight. Cloth aprons seem to wear out too easily. Besides, I like the extra pockets in my leather apron for different nails.
I prefer the snips when I have to cut shingles that butt into flashing or siding because I can make more accurate and intricate cuts with them. Otherwise, I use a hook blade in my utility knife because it’s less likely than a straight blade to cut whatever is underneath the shingle. When cutting a shingle on the roof, I use the back of another shingle as a straightedge, which saves me from having to carry a square.
Our company’s air-powered nailers speed up production, but they have their drawbacks. Nailers are heavy, and dragging 100 ft. of hose is cumbersome. Our nailers hold only enough nails to install one bundle of shingles, which means we have to keep coils of nails on the roof, and they get in the way. Also, in areas that require lots of cutting and fitting of shingles, power nailers are clumsy and impractical.
To make the nailers easier to handle on the roof, I made some portable utility hooks that attach to our scaffold brackets. This gives me a place to hang my nailer when I’m not using it, as well as a place to hang buckets of nails and coils of air hose. The hooks are made with loops of chain, spring latches and some utility hooks, all of which I got at a hardware store.
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