A Beginner’s Guide on How to Shingle a Roof

Do you want to literally build the roof over your head? It’s possible with this beginner’s guide on how to shingle a roof.

Installing a new roof or replacing shingles can actually help improve the insulation in your home by 10-15%.

This is just one of the benefits of laying down new shingles on your roof, but it can be expensive.

If you want to save a little bit of money, you can figure out how to shingle a roof on your own! We’ll break down some of the most important steps.

Remove Old Shingles

According to Prr247.com, replacing the roof shingles can actually help improve the value of your home as well! This alone is a great reason to start removing all your old shingles off your roof.

You can use a garden fork or a shovel to get them up and take the old shingles off. While you’re throwing them onto the ground, make sure you try not to break any windows of your home because they can be heavy.

As you’re removing them, you might miss a few nails here and there but just focus on getting the shingles off first.

Lay Down New Flashing

Before you start putting down new shingles, you’ll have to lay some new flashing. This is the part that goes underneath the shingles to help protect your roof from the weather. It will also help with keeping your cold and hot air in your home rather than escaping outside.

If you live somewhere with extreme weather conditions, you might want to buy a special kind of flashing.

You can use a staple gun for this to attach some felt to the roof. Overlap these pieces of fabric by about three to four inches, just to make sure there are no gaps left behind.

Use Chalk Lines

Once you’ve done that, you can take a piece of chalk and start making lines to help guide you.

This can help to ensure that you don’t lay your shingles crooked once you start gluing them together.

Install Your Roof Shingles

Lastly, now you’re ready to install your roof shingles.

Start laying them down in rows so that you don’t make it look odd with weird patterns. To nail a shingle to the roof, just hammer a nail into the corners of each shingle. They shouldn’t be directly on the edge, but maybe about two inches away.

As you lay them, it’ll get easier. Just remember to follow the chalk and keep them in a straight pattern.

Once you’ve gotten to the end of the row and reached the ridge of the roof, you should bend the shingle over to cover a little side of the ridge.

Learn More About How to Shingle a Roof

These are only a few tips to learn how to shingle a roof, but there are many more out there.

If you are planning on making other improvements to your home, it can feel overwhelming and you may not be sure where to start.

Thankfully, we have you covered. If you enjoyed this article, make sure that you explore our website to find more just like this one!