How to Replace Architectural Shingles

Tear Off

• 1

  Start at the roof ridge and pry the top ridge of shingles off with a shingle rake or a flat bar. A shingle rake resembles a shovel, but it has a flat plate instead of a scoop.

• 2

  Pry the rest of the shingles off from the top down. Once the top shingle ridge is off, you’ll see the tops of the regular shingles. Slip the rake under the top edge of the shingles and pry them off.

• 3

  Pull leftover shingle nails from the roof decking once the shingles are off, and hammer down any raised nails used to hold the decking in place.

Installation

• 4

  Install a layer of 15- or 30-pound roofing felt on the decking, starting at the bottom of the roof and rolling out a strip of felt flush with the gutter apron at the bottom edge of the roof. Use a hammer stapler and insert 1/4-inch crown staples every six inches along the seams and every eight inches in the plane.

• 5

  Cut the felt along the far side of the roof with a utility knife, and overlap the next strip of felt using the lap-lines printed on the first strip. The typical lap-line is two to three inches from the top of the strip. Repeat until you reach the top of the roof and then felt the opposite side in the same manner. Install one final strip of felt along the roof ridge, folding it down the middle so the sides overlap the tops of the felt on the roof slopes.

• 6

  Install a row of starter shingles at the bottom edge of the roof, flush with the gutter apron at the bottom and flush with the roof trim, sometimes called roof rake, at the side of the roof. Starter shingles are different from architectural shingles and the shingle manufacturer will specify the type of starter shingles to use.

• 7

  Install the first row of architectural shingles over the starter shingles. Designate one side of the roof as your starting side. This is often the left side. Use a roofing nailer to insert four nails, evenly spaced, in the top nailing strip on the shingles.

• 8

  Start stair-stepping the shingles on the second course. Unlike standard shingles, architectural shingles install in a specific manner that requires cutting some of the shingles. A row of shingles is called a “course,” starting with the bottom row as the first course, followed by the second course, and so on.

• 9

  Cut approximately one-fifth of the first shingle off to start the second course. The exact cut measurements are listed on each bundle of shingles, but, in general, each starting shingle for the next four courses will be one-fifth of a full shingle less than the starting shingle of the previous course. Install the shorter shingle for the second course and save the cut-off piece.

• 10

  Move to the third course and cut another new shingle, saving the cut-off piece again. This shingle will be approximately two-fifths shorter than a full shingle. You’ll see a stair-step pattern developing, and the starting shingle for each course is getting shorter as you move up.

• 11

  Move to the fourth course and use the larger cut-off shingle from the third course to start the row. On the fifth course, you’ll use the shorter cut-off piece from the second course to start the row.

• 12

  Install the rest of the shingles on the second through fifth courses, laying full shingles to the end of the roof and then saving any cut-off pieces that are 8 inches or longer.

• 13

  Install the sixth course as if you were starting all over again with the first course. The sixth course of shingles is a row of complete shingles all the way across the roof. Every subsequent row will now mimic courses two through five. The pattern continues to repeat until you reach the top of the roof.

• 14

  Install ridge shingles at the top of the roof, along the horizontal ridge. Ridge shingles are square, and you will start at the ends and work your way to the middle of the ridge. Each ridge shingle overlaps the previous one on designated lap-lines. Insert roofing nails, one on each of the two corners that will be covered by the next shingle. The last ridge shingle will overlap both side shingles and you will surface nail it in all four corners.