How do I repair my tornado damaged Ridge Vents?

[jonesbf]

A tornado hit the neighborhood my house is in last Thursday. I was one of the very fortunate who suffered mostly just downed trees. However, I did have some of my ridge vent come off (3 sections) and a couple of shingles. I still have the pieces of vent that came off. It's really hard to find a roofer right now in this town as there were a great number of damaged roofs that are much worse than mine. Can anyone instruct me on how I would go about putting this vent back up and making sure my repair doesn't cause a leak? How to repair/replace shingles would be a plus as well.

Thanks, BFJ

[Lawrence]

Get a ladder and climb up there. Bring the old vents with you. Make a careful examination of how the present vents are intalled. Install the new ones the same way.

Do the same with the shingles. A flat bar can be used to carefully lift up the shingles above the missing one and slip the replacement underneath.

[Joseph Meehan]

Call your insurance company. If you are covered they will take care of it, if not buy better insurance that will cover you when the big one hits.

If you are comfortable with your coverage and don't mind working on ladders, then follow Lawrence's good advice.

[jonesbf]

Well my insurance certainly would cover it, but is this something that should cost more than my $500 deductible? It doesn't sound like it would, but of course I don't know anything of roofing.

Do I need to use any type of sealant when I put the vent back down either underneath it or over the nail heads etc or just nail it back down and be done?

Thanks, BFJ

[Lawrence]

If you hire a roofer he might be able to charge you $500. I don't see how it could be more than that. Roofing is maybe the most simple part of the house think about it. When laying out the foundation a difference of 1/16" might be too much. By the time you get to the roof they just snap a line and eyeball everything and accuracy is optional. Point: don't be intimidated by roofing. The ladders and the footing are another thing entirely. Don't go up there if yu are uncompfortable with heights.

Both vents and shingles use a system where the next piece covers the nail heads on the previous piece. You should be able to use the same system on the repair.

lift up the existing piece with a flat bar and slip the new piece underneath and nail. Then the old piece drops down over the nails. It is always a good idea to put a few dabs of sealant underneath any shingles you have lifted up.

If for some reason you have to have exposed nails then you use roofing sealant to cover those nails. It is the black stuff called roofing tar and comes in tubes and cans. It is acceptable to use it to cover nail heads but best to restore the roof to it's original condition.

[Just Joshin]

I had one damaged a while back, it was easier(labor costs) to rip it off, and replace it completely.

But that was me,

tom @