Applying Shingles

Some helpful recommendations you may find useful.

Preparation

The following procedure assumes the first row of shingles (bottom edge of the roof) do not overhang the roof edge.

1. Begin at the bottom edge of the roof.

2. Place a single, whole shingle on one of the bottom corners of the roof and make a pencil mark on the roof at the top edge of the shingle.

3. Repeat step 2 at the opposite bottom roof corner.

4. Connect the pencil marks with a straight edge.

5. Determine how much overlap is desired by placing a shingle on top of the first shingle, or line. Typically, shingles overlap each other by 1/4".”

6. Once your overlap is decided, mark each side of the roof at the top of the overlapping (second row) shingle, and connect the marks with a straight edge.

7. Measure the distance between the first and second lines, and continue to draw additional guide lines up the roof to its top (don’t worry about the distance between the last guide line and the top of the roof at this time.

8. Repeat all steps on each roof section. Note: lines drawn on dormer roofs should match up with lines on main roof.

Shingling the roof:

1. Start at the bottom, left edge of the roof.

2. Following the guide lines drawn, run a bead of Tacky Glue across the roof and just under the first line.

3. Place the shingles with the top edge along the guide line. If desired, leave a small gap between the shingles.

4. Place a bead of Tacky Glue across the second line up.

5. Start the second row with a half shingle (cut lengthwise). This row is offset to cover the gaps, or seams, of the first row of shingles. Continue placing shingles across the roof.

6. The third row will start with a full shingle, like the first row.

7. Continue shingling to the top, alternating rows. Stop after 2 or 3 rows and let the shingles set for 15 minutes or so. Otherwise, the weight of the shingles can cause them to slide down.

Hints:

A) Glue all of the flat roof pieces before adding shingles to dormers.

B) Sometimes, due to differing angles (pitch) of the roof sections, it is not possible to match up rows connecting dormer roof sections with the main roof section. When this occurs, it is best to line the valley between roof sections with copper sheeting, and cut the shingles in the valley short by ¼” from the valley seam to create a clean finished look to the roof. Otherwise, match the shingles in the valley as best as possible. Or add a piece of angle molding to the valley after completing the shingling process.

C) Finishing the roof peaks may be accomplished using roof ridge molding, or by gluing shingles lengthwise (horizontally) to both sides of the roof peaks. Beginning at the outside corners of the roof peaks, and working in to the middle; glue individual shingles to both sides of the roof peak, overlapping each other by ¼”, until they meet at the middle of the roof peak. At this spot, glue full shingles to complete the peak of the roof.

Another method for finishing the peaks of your roof is to shorten (cut) the shingles the necessary length to overlap the top row of shingles by ¼”. This method can look nice, however, gluing the shortened shingles so that the very top of the roof (where the shortened shingles meet) is not easy to achieve a good fit.

A third method for finishing off the top of the roof is to glue an appropriate sized piece of Stripwood on each side of the roof peak.