I live on the Oregon coast, and I am watching the shingles blow off of my roof. This doesn't happen often, but it happens often enough that I want to find a better way than just nailing them back on one at a time.
My roof has "architectural" shingles, which to me just means they don't lie flat, and they make it a lot easier for the wind to get under them. It occurs to me that I could greatly reduce the chance of their blowing off if I nailed them down with furring strips every couple feet or so, i.e. 8' long, very light 1x2s running vertically from the peak to the gutter. I know it wouldn't look great, but the biggest problem is with the part of the roof that faces the back yard, so they wouldn't be visible from the street. And if I painted them dark brown, they might not be visible at all unless someone was looking for them.
I realize that it would hurt the resale, but a) I have no plans to move, and b) it wouldn't take much extra work to pull them up when I get a new roof, which I would have to do if I sold the house anyway.
So, comments? Other than the looks, is there any structural or practical reason why they wouldn't work?
It would be similar to using a collander as a hat in a rain storm. It'll leak like a sieve, and it'll look like crap.
Buy some roof cement in caulking tubes, gently pry up and separate the shingles (sounds like they're not sealed together), and squirt a dab of roof cement under the shingles every 4" to 6". That'll bond one layer to the next and will take care of the blow off problem. Only problem is that it is work that is best done in warmer weather.
Why would it leak? Maybe I didn't make it clear that the strips are going over the shingles just to hold them down; I'm not expecting the strips to provide any rain protection. I won't need many nails per strip, and I'll put tar over the nails.
Once the shingles start flapping in the wind the roof needs to be replaced. Gluing the shingles back down with roofing cement is the correct way to proceed as a temporary repair until summer when the roof can be replaced. However if you prefer to nail them down with boards go ahead. Or simply skip the boards and nail the flaps down. May make the roof a little harder to replace but I can't see any harm. Consider it a temporary repair until you get some dry weather.
No doubt about it, you need to replace the roof. Of course you have been having a rather windy year up there, but that is not the whole problem.
You need to choose shingles that are rated for high winds. In other words, they are heavy and have lots of adhesive on them or you need extra added when installed. You local roofing companies should know what is needed. If not, move on to one that does.
Those asphalt singles may not be the best thing for your location. Ask the local roofers and see what they recommend. What will work best will no doubt be more expensive, but it may be cheaper in the long run. Of course you are also in an area with moss issues. Do you have problems with moss as well? Consider the roofing materials moss characteristics as well.
Thank you for your helpful reply, which I didn't realize would be so hard to come by in this group. Everything you said makes sense, but the roof is only five years old. The people who put it on are pretty much the only roofers in this very small town, so I have no reason to expect they will do it any better than the first time. To be fair to them, my house is on top of a hill, and apparently sits right square at the apex of a funnel formed by the terrain, so I get the strongest winds around here, which is saying something. I had an anemeometer rated for 80mph that broke.
I have a pension lump sum payment coming in a couple of years, and when I get it I'll probably replace the roof with something designed for the high winds, but I can't afford a replacement until then. For now, I've just been nailing the shingles back on (which is what the "pros" did for the first two years, then they said I was on my own).
I've been using very short nails which I don't think are long enough to go all the way through the plywood on the roof. At any rate, I've nailed a lot of shingles up there over the past three years, and I haven't seen any leaks. And like I said, I put tar over the nails. Should that work for a few years if I refresh the tar every summer?
I guess I could go over the whole roof and glue every shingle, but geez that sounds like a lot of work. A lot of them *are* glued, because when I was watching the storm a big section of them, about the size of a car door, was flapping as a unit. That's what made me think that nailing furring strips over them might help. I think the problem is that it rarely gets up to 70 degrees in the summer here, so the glue doesn't melt well. And I could probably get away with just putting the strips on the windward edges, because that's where all the damage was.
One of the comedians here accidentally made a helpful comment about leaking from under the furring strips. If I put some gobs of tar on the shingles, then put the board on top of the tar, and then nailed throught the board, tar, and shingles (before the tar dries), would that make it waterproof? Would using silicone sealant instead of tar make any difference?
Thanks for any help, and sorry to bother the other guys.
I'm not sure what "architectural" shingles are, but I think we have them :o) Elk Prestige Plus, I believe. We have an unusual roof on our condo, with steep mansards on each building. In addition to a poor installation (improper nailing), they were a poor choice for steep roofs (formerly concrete tile). After a couple of major reworks, and still losing shingles, the roofer started applying roof cement under each tab. Our city also changed the regulations for shingles on steep roofs, requiring cement under each tab of the shingle. Then came the hurricanes, in 2005?, and we had a "stuck fast" roof! Max. winds here were 70 mph, and we lost a skylight but not one shingle. Many of the buildings in the neighborhood lost many shingles and even concrete tiles, but ours stayed on. Don't recall whether these shingles are rated for Dade, but the extra adhesive seems to have made a great difference.
In regard to your furring strips, any uncovered nail hole is likely to cause leaking. I suppose you could fashion some way of putting cement under the strips as you nail, but it sounds really hideous. In addition, bare wood is likely to deteriorate rather quickly on a roof .. it's creative, but does not sound like a good idea.
In such a high wind area you should have used shingles with a higher wind rating and used an increased nailing pattern (six nails instead of four per 3' shingle). Basically all information necessary is right on the shingle package wrapper.
The kiss of death for any roof. The nails _must_ penetrate the roof sheathing.
There is a definite correlation between amount of time spent on a roof by amateurs and decreased life expectancy. You're asking people to guess on your skill, roof and climactic conditions and predict an outcome it's still a guess. Should it work? For a while, maybe. Will it work? Not for any appreciable amount of time.
It is. Doing things right the first time is a helluva lot easier. And easy repairs often equate to shoddy repairs.
You're roof is doomed and was from the day it was put on. If you have sections of shingles flapping in the wind and there's not a hurricane directly on you, the problem is with the installation. My guess is that either you reroofed and the roofer used too short nails or skipped nails because they're negligent/incompetent.
Furring strips will cause far more problems. There are better solutions for borderline emergency repairs. As someone else posted, just nail right through the shingles and forget about the furring strips, then use a elastomeric roof coating over the whole shebang.
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I'll be appearing here all week. Tell your friends.
You're not a bother. But asking why a roof would leak after you Rube Goldberg it up and punch holes all over it is rather funny. From where I'm sitting, you're the comedian.
If the roofing company did screw up your roof you could and should go after them for a replacement - even at this late date. You need to determine exactly how the roof was installed, nailing pattern, size of nails, underlayment, etc., document it and work up how the roof company was negligent. Then send them the package of materials with photographs and explain how their errors and omissions damaged you and that you expect them to remedy the situation. If they're dragging their heels, have a lawyer draft up a strongly worded letter and send it to them. The objective is to pressure them into replacing the roof without getting the lawyers too heavily involved. If lawyers do get involved, well then you'll be hiring a roofing company from outside your area to replace the roof. It will cost much more than the original roofing company cost and the original company would be looking at possibly laying out approximately three or four times the amount of cash than it would take them to put on a new roof for their cost. It's all about risk.
Please be aware that your amateur repairs are damaging the roof and will hamper any efforts to have the roof corrected at little or not cost.
R
BTW, I really am hilarious - and not just looking.
OK, thanks. Please bear with me for some more dumb questions. I'm not trying to argue about anything, I'm just trying to understand. I guess I need to get a book on roofing from the library.
As far as I can tell, there were no nails used to put the shingles on originally, just staples. The neighbors, who are apparently rich because they only live here in the summer, had the same local outfit roof their new house, and they lost a bunch of shingles in the first storm, too. Since they're rich, they had an outside company come in and put a new roof on their two-month old house, and from what I could see they just used staples too (driven by compressed air), but they haven't had any problems. Are staples and nails interchangeable?
My nails go into the sheathing, but not all the way through. They seem to be holding. Why is it important that they penetrate completely?
No, I'm just stupid. So let me see if I understand what you're saying --- The shingles should be nailed, but only where they are covered by the shingle above them, and the lower flaps should be glued down?
The local politics here make your sensible legal suggestions impractical for me.
Note the section where it says if you live in a hurricane prone area to use 6 nails and not staples. Personally, I'd insist on that on my own roof anywhere, as it's far more secure. I saw the same thing happen to shingles at brand new condos 20 years ago during a northeaster. The complex where I was living had nailed shingles with sustained minimal damage. The new place across the street, where they were nailed, had very substantial damage, with whole big sections blown off as you describe.
I also agree with the post that you may have a legal case against the company that installed them, provided the statute of limitations hasn't run out. The obvious negative for you is the amount of time that has expired. However, the fact that you had them back immediately over the 2 years following the work shows that something has been wrong all along. They are the roofing experts, are local, and should know that for a house at the top of a wind blown hill, staples should not be used.
To prevail, you;d need statements from some experts. A certified home inspector would be one good one as he's independent with no axe to grind. A couple of reports from other roofers that said the work was done wrong together with estimates to correct would be good too. Take pictures of everything. You could sue them in small claims where you don't need a lawyer and the limit is usually $2K to $10K depending on state. You probably have a 50-50 shot at winning, but being able to sue at minimal cost could make it worth while.
Rico is right (except about the colendar as a hat thing -- I think it would look okay). The purpose of roofs being made the way there are is that it is almost impossible to plug a hole and keep it plugged. If it worked, then roofers would just nail through the shingles. No amount of tar is going to seal the holes -- not all of them all of the time.
You might want to look at alternative roofing systems like metal roofs or the imitation slate (that is quite heavy). You could also rip off the roof and go with a rolled roofing (like that is used on semi-flat roofs that goes down with virtually no nails but lots and lots of tar
Don't know about summer ........ cold weather is not a good time to work, especially for a new roof. For a new roof installation, hot sun helps melt the adhesive built into the shingles so that they lay flat and adhere to each other. If you go about putting adhesive under the tabs, warmth will help make them flex and not crack, but don't kill yourself :o)
There are some roofing material websites which give good instructions about installing shingles. Just the instructions on the package of shingles are pretty much of a "basic education" in roofing. Our Elk shingles are laminated - two layers of stuff stuck together - with the bottom layer only half the size of the shingle. The nailing line, marked on the shingle, is critical as is measuring the overlap, laying a chalk line to get them straight, etc. It isn't rocket science, but sure can give you grief if not done right. I'm not familiar with other brands of roofing, and there is a lot of variety in quality, style and suitability for a particular roof and climate. I looked at Elk's website, just for a random example. I don't know this particular shingle, but the instruction sheet will give you a very good idea of what is involved and why:
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I would talk to neighbors with similar style roofs that look good and get good references for contractors. Attic ventillation is an important factor, as well. Something to learn about in regard to keeping your roof in good shape.
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