How to Lay Dimensional Shingles
Dimensional shingles are affordable, durable and easily installed. Also called laminate or architectural shingles, dimensional shingles are a good choice for your roof because they are more wind resistant than other asphalt shingles and have a lifespan of 30 years or longer. You can hire professional roofers to install shingles on your home but laying dimensional shingles on your roof is a job you can accomplish yourself with enough time and some good instructions. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Shingles
- Ridge shingles
- Asphalt roofing cement
- Hammer
- Flashing material
- Chalk line
- Tin snips
- Level
- Ladder
- Work gloves
- Roofing nails
- #15 Felt roofing
- Heavy duty staple gun
- Staples
- #90 Mineral surface roofing
- Pry bar
Instructions
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Assemble everything you'll need. Get a ladder, hammer, flashing, roofing cement and other supplies. Measure the width of your roof and multiply it by the length. Divide that number by 100. Now add 10 percent to get a final number of shingles to buy. They are sold in a square which is enough shingles to cover 100 square feet. Buy 2 ½ pounds of nails for each square of shingles.
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Get to work. Before laying dimensional shingles you have to make sure the roof is ready. Is there damage to the roof structure? Are there loose nails or shingles on the roof? Thoroughly examine the roof and make necessary repairs. Use a pry bar to get loose nails and shingles up. You will have to get rid of all existing shingles if there are more than 3 layers of them already on the roof.
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Lay shingles. If you have valleys where uneven sections of roof meet at an angle, shingle them first. Use mineral surface roofing and cover with a strip of flashing that is 18 inches in width. Secure flashing with cement and nails. Lay a 36 inch piece of felt over the valley and flashing and staple. Measure, cut and apply shingles with cement and nails. Next, start at the eaves and put felt over the entire roof, laying it in rows going across. Staple the felt to the roof and make sure each row overlaps by 2 inches. Now find the roof center, mark it with a chalk line and begin a starter row that will have over eaves by 5/8 inches. If you don't have starter shingles just break or cut off the tabs on the bottom of regular shingles to make some. After laying the starter row being laying shingles. Make another chalk line to use as a guide. Use 4 nails across the center and hammer them straight into the roof. Continue laying shingles across the roof toward its edge and then start a new row. Continue laying shingles until you have covered the whole roof. If you have pipes, chimneys or other protrusions on your roof you will need to cut out a section of flashing that has a hole in the center big enough to fit over the protrusion. It should also be 6 inches wide on all sides of the protrusion. Attach the flashing with cement and nails then lay down shingles over the flashing. Also use cement and nails to attach shingles.
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Tips & Warnings
Prevent falling by wearing shoes with a rubber sole and picking up loose shingles and nails. Avoid working in cold and wet weather.
Be careful if power lines or antennas are close to where you're working.
