How to Repair Roof Shingles

If you own a home and live in it for a while chances are that you will likely be faced with a shingle roof repair at some point during your home ownership. That's because replacing roof shingles is just a part of home ownership that is just inevitable. At some point during the lifetime of your home's shingle roof there will be the need to repair roof shingles in order to maintain the longevity of the roof. Follow these steps to properly repair roof shingles and keep your roof safe and leak free for many years to come.

How to Repair Roof Shingles: Materials

Shingles
Tar Paper
Roofing Nails (copper if you live in salt water regions close to the ocean)
Bull

How to Repair Roof Shingles Step 1: Replacing roof shingles that have been damaged due to storms or other destruction begins with removing old shingles and preparing the roof to for the repair. Begin by removing all of the damaged shingles as well as a few shingles around the damaged area. You should also remove the tar paper if it has any signs of wear, rips or damage to it.

How to Repair Roof Shingles Step 2: After you have removed the damaged shingles on the roof, prepare the roof by laying new tar paper on the roof. Layer the tar paper so that it overlaps by 1/3 in each row and use bull to glue the paper together and seal any openings. Using the roofing nails, nail down the tar paper into place every 2 feet or so. Cover these nails with bull as well to prevent leaking.

How to Repair Roof Shingles Step 3: Using a utility knife, trim the corners of the new shingle so that you can easily slide it up into place next to the existing shingles on the roof.

How to Repair Roof Shingles Step 4: To complete the shingle roof repair, slide the new shingles into place underneath the existing shingles and use roofing nails to nail each corner of the shingle into place. Once you have nailed the shingles into place you should apply bull to the top of the nails to prevent leaking in those areas.

How to Repair Roof Shingles Step 5: Replacing roof shingles along the ridge cap is also fairly simple. All you have to do is remove the old ridge shingles and then use the roofing nails to nail new ridge shingles into place along the ridge or peak of the roof. Using the bull or roofing cement, cover the nail heads so that there is a water tight seal to protect the roof from leaks.