Most people have shingle roofs. They are the most common and the least expensive of the kinds of roofs that are around today. They also often need repair. Asphalt shingles don’t last forever, but they don’t usually cost that much, so most people put them on their homes. If you live in a hurricane-prone area or somewhere else that has severe weather you may find that shingles come off your home or get damaged quite often. When they do you can call a roofing contractor or you can make your own repairs. Either way you’ll need to purchase shingles and you might need roofing tar or liquid asphalt and some nails, but if you do it yourself you won’t have to worry about paying the labor.
If you have a very large area of the roof that’s damaged, or if the decking under the shingles needs replacing you might want to call in a professional. If you just have a few broken, damaged, or missing shingles, though, you can do it yourself. Just make sure that you pay attention to things like wearing rubber-soled shoes so you don’t slip and watching out for power lines so that you don’t get injured.
You’ll need to remove the old, damaged shingles, and you’ll want to do that carefully so that you don’t damage any of the other shingles around them. You should make any repairs on a day that’s clear and warm so that you can really see what kind of condition your shingles are in. If they break at the corners instead of bending they should be replaced. You can take the old ones up by prying out the nails that they were attached with. Then you can slide a new shingle into place and nail it back down.
It’s a good idea to put some roofing tar under the new shingle so that any holes from the original nails will be sealed up, and you can also put some roofing tar along the underside of the new shingle where it meets the old one. It will help the shingles seal together so that they don’t cause any more leaks. If you have a problem with some of your roof shingles in a valley or along the ridge or peak of the house these can be more difficult to address because they need to fit together properly. Doing a little research about how to repair or replace these shingles could go a long way toward fixing that roof yourself and stopping any problem leaks.