What Are Roof Shingles?
Roof shingles are roofing materials used to cover the roof, placed on one another in overlapping patterns. Usually, roof shingles are flat or rectangular pieces of asphalt.
Roof shingles give an aesthetic appearance to the house, as they come in a variety of colors that can match your house. They have different texture availability, color, and different textures such as wood, tile, etc.
Though it may offer an excellent look to your house, sometimes it is likely to get damaged due to heavy wind, storm, or heavy rainfall. So below, we have explained the step-by-step process of how to fix damaged roof shingles.
Tools You Need Repair Or Replace Damaged Roof Shingles
Some common DIY tools are enough to carry out this work. Such as
- Hammer
- Pry bar
- Ladder
- Flat pry bar
- Utility knife
- Brick
- Toolbelt
- Putty knife
- Caulking gun
Roofing Materials Required
To replace the damaged shingles, you need some new materials such as
- Leather gloves
- Shingle nails
- Shingles (should match with other shingles)
- Underlayment
- Asphalt mastic in a caulk tube
- Bungee cords or wire
How To Fix Damaged Roof Shingles
If you are enough experienced in DIY projects, this step-by-step process will help you fix damaged roof shingles.
1. Look For The Damage
The first thing you need to do is look for the damaged area to find out the cause. If any damage to a shingle leads to replacing the whole shingle, you need to have essential tools such as a hammer, a flat pry bar, a utility knife, and a handful of 11/4 inch roofing nails.
You can see each shingle is fixed with nails on four corners before the next shingle is installed above. Here the nails of the next shingle pass over the top edge of shingles in the course below.
2. Break And Remove The Damaged Shingle
After assessing the damaged area, you need to loosen the shingles by generally tapping underneath the damaged shingles with the help of a pry bar.
After loosening the shingles, you need to remove the eight nails holding the shingles, four at the bottom and four at the top. This process must be carried out with caution to prevent damage to other shingles.
3. Replace The Damaged Shingle
After removing damaged shingles, You are now ready to put the new shingles in place. Place the new shingles in the right place and first hammer into the centerline of the nails. You want to hammer nails about half an inch from the original nail holes.
After nailing the middle row of the new shingles, continue and tie the middle row of shingles on it, hammering nails between the tongues over a strip of putty. This process will allow you to prevent a potential leak on your roof.
4. Check Other Shingles
Due to heavy storms or heavy wind, shingles might have loosened, so it is recommended to secure other shingles that are loosened by using some adhesive material or by hammering the loosened nails.
This helps prevent leaks, and there is no need to climb repeatedly on the roof to check each shingle.
Reasons For Shingles Damage
Well, we know heavy winds, storms, and rains can be one of the main reasons for shingles damage, but there are other reasons that contribute to the damages, such as:
1. Faulty Installation
Placing nails very high on the shingles rather than over the nailing bar will allow the shingles to break under adverse conditions.
2. Damaged Roof
If the roof itself is damaged, the shingles cannot attach securely to the roof, causing damage during high winds. And it allows moisture and wind underneath. So it is necessary to check shingles are securely stuck to the roof.
3. Life Span Of Shingles
The average service life of a roof is usually 15 years. As shingles age and years of exposure to the elements suffer, they become vulnerable to material and seals.
4. Cure Time
If adhesive seals are used, they need time to cure to operate with maximum efficiency, say about 4-6 weeks, depending on rain and solar conditions. The newly installed shingles may not have enough time to install.
Conclusion
Though this step-by-step process can help you fix damaged roof shingles by yourself, it is highly recommended to consult with a professional as this process can’t be adopted in several different situations.
It is also not recommended to follow this process if you are new to DIY projects, as it might lead to more damage, and you end up spending a lot of money on materials.
So these were the steps to fix damaged roof singles. I hope you now have enough knowledge about it. If you have any questions let me know in the comments.
Also Read
Types Of Roofing Sheets
Types Of Bituminous Roofing
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