Basic steps to re-roofing a house

Roofs are the most important part of your house. It protects your family from the elements and provides shelter. Whether you decide to do your own roof or you are having a Spokane roofing expert do it for you, it is good to know the basics of what is going to happen. Here are the basic re-roofing steps.

1. Tear out the old

If you are replacing a roof, the first step is to remove all the old stuff. To protect your landscaping from the parts of the roof that will inevitably fall to the ground, make sure you put a large tarp over them. If you can, get a large trash bin nearby that you can throw things into to make cleanup later a little easier.

2. Drip edge and underlayment

Get the underlayment put down. You may not have been able to remove the underlayment completely when removing the old stuff, but that’s okay. The next step is to install the metal drip edge intended to give a nice, finished look to your home over the underlayment.

3. Lay down felt paper

Felt paper is intended to protect the wood part of your roof from water that drips through the shingles. It will also increase the roof’s fire rating and protect the shingles from the resins in the wood. Laying this down on the roof is your next step.

4. Extra protection for valleys

If you have valleys in your roof where two parts of roofing come together, add extra protection with extra self-stick underlayment.

5. Starter shingles

Starter shingles should be used at the bottom of your roof before you start working your way upwards with the rest of the shingles. They will give you a base to start from and help protect your roof from water.

6. Lay your shingles

Start at the starter shingles and do a row of shingles. Nail them in place and glue underneath them to keep them in place. Then, do another row above the last resting slightly over the first row. Make sure you lay them in a way that each shingle is laid halfway past the bottom row to keep the cracks as far away from each other as possible.

7. Seal it up

The last thing to do after you’ve wiped away all the debris is seal everything where there are exposed nails or anywhere that water might drip.

Home improvement news brought to you by bartonroof.com

Source: familyhandyman.com/roof/how-to-roof-a-house/view-all