Installing Roof Shingles

It's tool time! If you are in the mood to whip out the construction belt or maybe father-time has been partying on your roof too much lately; now is the perfect opportunity to replace the shingles on your roof. Defending against bad elements like water, ice, and snow is precisely what the roof shingle is for, and therefore it's of tremendous importance to maintain your safety by installing new shingles whenever needed. Sounds tough; but have no fear because it's actually quite an easy task if you know what you're doing. Continue reading this step by step instruction to make sure the process runs as smooth as possible.

Before you begin hammering away, remember that working on a roof is a dangerous activity and every precaution should be taken to avoid getting hurt. I would suggest bringing a helper along with you to better facilitate your task. Make sure the ladder you use is sturdy enough; you wouldn't want something as silly as a ladder not being fastened correctly to be the catalyst for a major accident. Make sure not to begin the job in bad weather conditions like rain or sleet; better to start a job late and well than early and fail. One last thing before you get moving on the instillation; wear gloves and boots -- heavy ones.

Now that you are ready to begin replacing your roof shingles -- get up there and follow these instructions:

Pry out the nails of the old shingle using a bar. If the nails are being stubborn and you cant get them out you can use a sharp linoleum knife to cut away the damaged shingle bit by bit. Remember you want to replace the damaged shingles with one exactly like it (i.e. weight, color, size). Now before you actually put the new shingle into the place of the old shingle, remember to apply asphalt to the back. Whip out the hammer and start nailing down the new shingles with 1-3/4" roofing nails. Almost finished.. the final step is to position the roofing nails so they are covered by the shingle above. A neat trick to avoid leaks is to attach some roofing cement to the back of the nail.

That is it! If you followed each step carefully along the way you should have successfully installed new roof shingles on your home. Congratulations on a job well done and enjoy the new roof!