What Not to Do When Shingling Your Roof

Before you shingle the roof on your home, please starting by reading our article below on “How to Shingle a Roof”  the right way and search our blog on tips for re-roofing your home.

We see countless homeowners every year have to re- shingle their home only years or months after having shingled their home themselves.

When homeowners get the idea to shingle their own roof, on one hand we stand back with admiration (because it takes hard work!) and on the other hand we get concerned because the shingle packaging (which gives specifications to the experienced shingle installer), the Home Depot or Lowes clerk that sold you the shingles, and the relevant YouTube videos don’t always tell you everything you need to know to successfully shingle your roof. The important words here…. “successfully shingle your roof”.

Because we see the story of “how to shingle a roof properly” unfold in front of our eyes every year, and because the errors cost homeowners real money, stress, embarrassment, etc, we’ve decided to write a bit on What Not to Do When You Decide to Shingle Your Own Roof. This will follow up on articles about how to Re Roof Shingles.

Here’s what we see this time of year: it’s summer time and the kids are out of school and dad says “it’s cheaper for me to shingle my roof than it is to hire a roofing company to do it”.

TRUE … If the roof on the home you shingled yourself lasts. FALSE, if it lasts less than 10 years.

Here’s suggestion Number 1. Ask a reputable roof shingle company to come and consult you on site. It will cost you a nominal amount of money to have an expert consult you on shingle choice, roof specifications, and installation of the shingles correctly. Heck, a lot of shingle experts will even come by when you are working on your home and correct what’s a little “off” and you will be so glad you took our advice and did this one small inexpensive step.

DO NOT re roof your home with shingles without an expert shingler on your roof or consulting you.

What we see every year is folks that want to save money on the re-roof of their home – which we totally get. Instead of asking for help with HOW TO SHINGLE YOUR ROOF PROPERLY, they go out, buy their shingles at the local hardware store, and then shingle their home without prior guidance.

Here’s what happens, and it happens a lot. We could tell you story after story after story where homeowners re-roofed their own home and this occurred…

1. The shingles, the shingle underlay, the shingle flashings, etc….. are improperly installed and the shingle manufacturers warranty is now void.
2. Because the shingles are engineered to be installed a certain way to shed the water and the homeowner didn’t install the shingles the correct way, THE ROOF IS NOW LEAKING.
3. The homeowner then attempts to repair the shingles to save face, hoping to save hundreds/thousands of dollars that could be used otherwise
4. It rains again, and the SHINGLES ARE LEAKING AGAIN. You see what’s coming?
5. You fix the shingles again. Only this time, things are getting tense because you are now reminded of the $2,000 repair to the interior of your home (and you are not even going to believe that there is more damage in the attic space itself).
6. It rains again, and you are praying like mad the shingles won’t leak … and here we go, THE SHINGLES ARE LEAKING AGAIN.
7. I won’t scare you so much that you now click out of your internet browser… so you can conjure up what occurs at stage 7 in the “how to shingle your roof with success drama”.
8. You finally give in……. and you call the ROOFING EXPERTS TO FIX YOUR SHINGLES while YOUR ROOF LEAKS AGAIN.
9. The roofer voices their opinion on the previous installer’s ineptitude, (but you don’t let it hurt your feelings … much).
10. After having incurred the cost of the shingles that you didn’t install properly, you now have to buy the shingles all over again.

The lesson…. have a professional roofer install your shingles OR hire a professional to at least consult you on how to shingle a roof properly.

I will guarantee that you will be happy you did.

So if you want to shingle your own roof – all the power to you, just call and get a hand with doing it right.

Don’t risk costly mistakes! Learn what to avoid when shingling your roof and ensure a durable, leak-free installation. Read our expert guide now!