DIY Roofing Installation Pt. 2
Welcome Back to DIY Asphalt Shingle Roofing by the Australian Asphalt Shingle Roofing Company “Part 2″
CAUTION: “NOTE these instructions are for IKO asphalt roof shingles ONLY. Other asphalt shingle manufacturers will have different guidelines.”
Cutting the starter course off the three tab asphalt roof shingle
Now we have to cut the starter course “first course” off the main three tab asphalt roof shingle pieces. I will explain what a starter course is in a minute. To do this I simply place the bundle of asphalt roof shingles upside down, use the back of a shingle piece as a guide and carefully cut off the tabs of the shingle. The cut line should line up with the top of the cut outs of the tabs. Each piece of starter course will be 1000mm wide so only cut as much as you will need.
TIP “Keep the pieces “tabs” that you have cut off as these can be used as fill in pieces up the hips or along the ridge if you have a ridge.”
Keep the tabs cut off the starter courses
TIP “PLEASE NOTE: It is not necessary to remove the tape of the bottom side of the asphalt shingle. The sole use of this tape is to stop the asphalt shingles sticking together before they are put on the roof’.”
Snap a Chalk Line as a Guide for the Starter Course
Measuring 180mm from the bottom of the felt material on both ends snap a chalk line. This will be used as a guide for the starter course. The Starter course strips are 190mm deep and when lined up with the chalk line the bottom edge will overhang the felt material by 10mm. This creates a secondary “drip edge” for the water.
Cutting 90mm off the First Piece of asphalt shingle starter course
We cut 90mm off the first piece of starter course. This stops the cutouts lining up on the starter and first courses of asphalt roof shingles.
Bring the first piece of starter course just past the edge of the hip line
Now we bring the first piece of starter course just past the hip line of the roof making sure we line it up on the chalk line. Make sure that the adhesive strip is on the bottom edge as this attaches to the first full asphalt roof shingle. Two nails along the very top edge will be enough to hold in place for the time being.
Completed line of asphalt roof shingle starter course
Follow this chalk line nailing down the starter course to the other side. The pieces of starter course should but up close together.
Finding a place to mark your vertical chalk lines
Now find a join in the starter course near the centre “middle” of the roof. Hammer 2 nails 165mm apart on either side of the cut out. This is half a tab apart and is used to align the shingles vertically.
Use a full asphalt shingle to find a 90 degree angle up the roof
Now you can use a full asphalt roof shingle to find a 90° angle up the roof. On a small Gazebo this is adequate, if you are building something bigger it is advisable to find the exact 90° angle as a small mistake will show over a distance. We will use this shingle as a guide for a vertical chalk line up the roof. Climb up the roof and snap the first vertical chalk line. Now measure 165mm and hit another nail at this point. Snap a second chalk line and you now have a great guide to line up your shingles.
TIP “Spend some time making sure your chalk lines are straight as this will affect the look of finished roof.”
Two vertical chalk lines 165mm apart at 90 degrees to the fascia
Now that you have your two vertical chalk lines at 165mm apart you are ready to install the main asphalt roof shingle part of the roof.
First course of asphalt roof shingles lined up with the starter
Finally we are ready to install the main asphalt shingles on the roof. Lining up the bottom edge with the starter course and the right hand side with the vertical chalk line hammer four nails in the shingle, just below the self sealing strip about 10mm above the cutout. Now you can see the reason behind the starter course – two layers of asphalt roof shingles at all times.
TIP “For this roof the owner didn’t want to see the nails protruding through the plywood so I bought a 20mm shank x 10mm head galvanized clout nail.”
Thought I’d put this in for a bit of a laugh. Getting your Dad to video your roof installation blog – perhaps not a good idea!
Ok this video shows how we line up the asphalt roof shingle on the vertical lines. It also shows a little trick with the IKO asphalt roof shingles. for more information visit www.roofing-materials.com.au. If you hold the asphalt roof shingles by the outside and feel with your nthumbs you will notice a small cutout on the side. This measures the exact height of the shingle on the lower course. Push down on the cutout and slide the shingle down until it hits the previous course of asphalt shingles.
TIP “IKO asphalt roof shingles have a factory made cut out on the side and one on the top of each fibreglass three tab asphalt shingle. These can be used to place the roof tile in the correct place on the roof. Don’t use these cutouts as the only guide, be sure to use the chalk line every 3 -4 courses.”
OK just a continuation of the previous video. Four nails per asphalt roof shingle 10mm up from the cutouts and but the shingles close together.
TIP “In standard installations nwe use 4 clout nails per asphalt shingle. In high wind areas you can use 6 nails per asphalt shingle. Two nails on either side of the cutout approx. 10mm and 1 nail on either end. “
Every 3 – 4 courses you should make yourself a horizontal chalk line to make sure your asphalt roof shingles are straight. With the IKO asphalt Roof Shingles we measure 140mm up from the previous course on both ends and create a chalk line. This becomes the line we follow to keep the horizontal lines straight.
TIP “This becomes more of an issue on a larger roof where your lines can go astray if you are not carefull.”
Cutting the capping pieces off the standard three tab asphalt roof shingle. Here on this video I am cutting the capping pieces for the hips and ridge if there was one. Each three tab asphalt shingle creates three capping pieces. You will notice I cut the capping pieces with a hook blade and backwards on a slight angle. This gives the hip line a much neater line and also folds the hip caps over nicely.
TIP “Each bundle of 21 pieces of IKO Marathon Asphalt roof shingles can be cut into 63 pieces of hip and ridge capping. 63 pieces of hip and ridge capping covers 8.8 lineal metres of hip or ridge.”
And thats all you need to do! Not yet. I just wanted to show you how to cut straight down the hips with a special hook blade knife. This tool is essentual as it enables you to cut the asphalt roof shingles straight through the top.
TIP “One of the most important tools for building a DIY roof is the hook blade knife. – Rush out and get one today.”
Here we cut our capping pieces off our main three tab fibreglass asphalt shingle. After cutting the pieces we snap a chalk line on one side of the hip 160mm from the centre line. This gives us a nice straight line to run our capping pieces against. The first capping piece will overlap over the bottom of the hip – this will be cut later. From here we hammer the capping pieces up the roof being sure to allign in the same way as we did on the standard shingle. At the base of the hip you can use your hook blade knife and carefully cut a neat 45
The same principal applies when you are installing the ridge capping pieces.
TIP “You may need to use a longer clout nail here as you are nailing through three layers of shingles.”
The courses of asphalt roof shingles are installed up the roof – easy to place shingles on the hip
Here we follow the same formula and install the asphalt roof shingles courses up the roof. On or close to the hip line it is often a good idea to hammer a couple of nails in these pieces to hold them in place. The IKO Dual Tab Marathon asphalt roofing shingle gives the roof some definition and depth where as flatter colour shingles lack depth. For more info www.roofing-materials.com.au.
TIP “When walking over an asphalt shingle roof it is a good idea not to ware your pair of heavy working boots as you may leave marks in the asphalt shingles. Many roofers use tennis shoes to grip to the roof surface.”
The easiest way to run the asphalt shingles to the hip is to lay over and cut at the end, down a string line. If you have large pieces over be sure to cut these off and use them somewhere else.
Running a chalk line down the hip makes cutting easier
Run a chalk line down the hip to make cutting straight easier.
Clean cut down the hip line with a hook blade knife
Cut straight down the hip. Easy stuff… Are we there yet… Nearly.
Re use the diagonal cut on the felt on the other side of the roof
Here you can see that you can use the felt roofing material on the other side of the hip with the same cut.
Finishing the last hip running up the asphalt shingle roof
Great feeling. Finishing the roof. Without all of the photos and videos this roof took 2 days to complete. The owner finished the roof off with a small fascia board which gave the roof a little more bulky feeling. It was also painted on the underside of the plywood and electricity and lighting was installed so it could be used on the warm summer nights.
Light coloured paint finish underneath with lighting installed
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DIY Gazebo roof installation: Asphalt roof shingles finished product
DIY Roof Installation – Asphalt Roof Shingles Roofing Materials DIY Gazebo
Here is the finished product. What do you think? Not a bad result. The asphalt roof shingles really give the structure some class and strength.
TIP “The owner built the structure with decent sized pieces of wood which helped to create a a solid structure and the carefull selection of Woodland Grey for the posts and a Marino colour for the rafters finished the project.”