Replacing Asphalt Shingles

While hiring a roofing contractor to touch up your roof might be the best option, it is not always the most financially convenient. With the constantly raising prices of groceries, gas, and more it can be hard to set aside money for a roof repair. Although it can be risky to repair your roof on your own with no experience, it might be the only option available at the time, especially considering roofing companies near you might not have any days available for several weeks to do it for you. Even so, it is still recommended that you wait for a properly trained professional to perform the job since any mistakes when repairing shingles can cause more significant damage. If you still wish to perform the action yourself, in order to help you in the process we have listed steps below on how to replace asphalt shingles on your roof.

Step One: Break the Seal on the Target Shingle

Locate which shingles you need replaced. You will need to remove the nails that are holding the shingles down. To do that, slide a flat pry bar carefully between the bottom of the shingle you need replaced and the one underneath it to separate the seal. Do the same for the shingle that is laying on top of the target shingle, and then slide the pry bar underneath the bottom of the shingle until it’s tight by the nail and pry upwards. This should remove the nail from the deck. It is not recommended to lift the nail from direct access from on top of the shingle as that can damage the granules in the shingle. After you have removed all of the nails from the target shingle you will need to repeat the steps for two courses above the target shingle row, as the nails from the row above the target shingle will be holding down the top part of the target shingles.

Step Two: Remove the Shingle Layer

Once all of the nails have been removed from the target shingle layer, it should be loose and ready to remove. Simply pull it away from the roof and set it aside to be discarded.

Step Three: Assembling the New Shingle Layer

After the removal of the old shingles, you can slide the new replacement shingles into the spot where the previous ones were. Make sure the new shingles are the same size as the old ones, and then nail them into place. Don’t forget to put nails into the row above where the target shingles were. If you do then the next time a big wind storm comes all of your hard work will have been for nothing!

Step Four: Reseal the Shingles

After hammering in the shingles, be sure to apply three small spots of asphalt plastic roof cement underneath the new shingles and the ones that you had previously broken the seal too. Once you are done with that, then congratulations! You have successfully completed your roof repair.