Minor roofing problem

I have a small section of my roof, maybe 2 feet by 2 1/2 feet, where for reasons unknown to me the roofing nails have popped up about an inch, causing the shingles on top of them to buckle. Of course you can't just hammer them back down without punching a hole in the shingle on top of them. So I just reached under and pulled the offending nails up. The shingles where I did this are now lying flat and don't seem to be going anywhere so I was wondering what I should look for in the hardware store to fill in the small holes where the nails used to be, and hopefully without spending an arm and a leg. I don't think silicone would be a good solution because the roof can get so hot.

Reply to
Dennis M
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snipped-for-privacy@dennism3.invalid (Dennis M) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@news.datemas.de:

You often can slip a flat prybar (the end on the right in the pic)

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the shingle and on top of the nail head and hammer the exposed bar which will push the nail down

but...

the nail may have popped because the wood was not solid enough to hold it. It will eventually pop again.

Since the nails are out already, just use black roofing cement on the holes. Where you popped the shingle up, lay down some roofing cement to reseal and hold the shingle down. $2-$6 depending on what you get.

Reply to
Red Green

Well, you solved one symptom, but you have potentially created a bigger problem. The nails are the only things holding the shingles in place. If you remove them, what's to prevent a strong wind from lifting the shingles off of the roof? If you use any sort of adhesive - roofing cement would be the first choice to glue the shingles together and fill the holes - it won't fasten the shingles to the roof sheathing.

The first thing to do is to investigate why the nails were popping up. Can you get into the attic under the area where you are having the problem and locate the missing nails? How thick is the roof sheathing and what material is it? Age of the structure and shingles?

R
Reply to
RicodJour

Probably available in convenient caulk tubes, too. Start at the top of the roof, and work down. If you go from bottom up, you'll be kneeling in the earlier work. Knee pads, sneakers, good ideas.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

I really don't think the affected shingles are in danger of "flying off" from a strong wind, I tugged at the ones without the nails pretty hard and they didn't move at all (I presume there are other nails that didn't pop up still holding them in place). Maybe if it was a really big area but like I said this is a pretty small area and (hopefully) an isolated problem. I guess I need to look for some "black roofing cement" like Red suggests just to make them more secure and plug up any potential leaks (and hopefully I won't have to buy a gallon of it just to get some at all).

Reply to
Dennis M

After you apply the roof cement, I would put a brick or something heavy on top of the shingle(s) to hold them down for a couple of days until things set up. If you are in the northern USA, the days are short and cool and the cement will take a couple of days for the adhesive to evaporate and the shigles to be firmly adhered to each other. Be sure to put cement everywhere you removed a nail so there are no leaks.

Reply to
hrhofmann

A strong wind can take off shingles that are nailed with the full complement. Why would you believe that removing nails from a 2' x

2.5' area wouldn't compromise the shingle attachment? The wind doesn't tug the shingles in plane with the roof, it pulls them up a bit, the wind gets under the lifted edge and you now have a shingle free area. Removing a single nail increases the odds of that happening. If you are in an area that doesn't experience winds greater than, say, 50 mph, you might be okay. Any greater than that and you are asking to have a roofer come out during a storm. But it's not my roof, and I'm not the one taking the risk. Your house, your call. R
Reply to
RicodJour

Roofing cement is available in tubes that fit a standard caulking gun.

Reply to
salty

You can generally buy quarts as well as caulking tubes of "plastic roofing cement".

Reply to
clare

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