Tearing Off Your Old Roof: Get Ideas on How to Remove an Older Top
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This article assumes you are tearing off a composite (asphalt) shingle roof. The job is not very difficult to do yourself, but I´ve got a few guidelines.
I´d suggest you get a few spades for removing the roof. Most home improvement centers sell shovels that have serrated edges that are helpful for popping nails and digging in between the shingle and the underlayment. It´s best if everyone on your crew has their own. Also, unless you´re used to doing this kind of work, make sure everybody has a good pair of gloves or you´ll have blisters. Drink plenty of water to. Pick a day when rain is not forcast for several days. An experienced crew of roofers can tear a roof off, lay felt and shingle in 2-3 days. If you don´t have an experienced crew, better give yourself a few more days. A crew of 4 should be able to get your old roof off in a single morning. This depends on the size of your roof, of course. Plan to start your job right after sun rise. This way, not only are you kept out of the heat, but the shingles will be cool and will pop apart easier. Hot shingles are soft and tend to tear into smaller pieces easier.
Now let´s Clean off the roof!
- Get about 3 or 4 friends to help you. You don´t want the roof packed with people that aren´t working either, they´re dangerous. Pick people you know will be safe and get the job done.
- For the do-it-yourselfer, give it a second thought if the pitch of your roof is 8 in 12 or greater.
- Consider renting a large trash bin and place it next to the house where the biggest section of roof is. Get it as close as you can.
- Have a helper (not your wife) pick up shingles that miss the trash bin. Give ´em a hard hat. If they do it while you´re tearing off, having them clean up saves cleaning up a hug mess at the end of the day.
I´d suggest you get a few spades for removing the roof. Most home improvement centers sell shovels that have serrated edges that are helpful for popping nails and digging in between the shingle and the underlayment. It´s best if everyone on your crew has their own. Also, unless you´re used to doing this kind of work, make sure everybody has a good pair of gloves or you´ll have blisters. Drink plenty of water to. Pick a day when rain is not forcast for several days. An experienced crew of roofers can tear a roof off, lay felt and shingle in 2-3 days. If you don´t have an experienced crew, better give yourself a few more days. A crew of 4 should be able to get your old roof off in a single morning. This depends on the size of your roof, of course. Plan to start your job right after sun rise. This way, not only are you kept out of the heat, but the shingles will be cool and will pop apart easier. Hot shingles are soft and tend to tear into smaller pieces easier.
Where to Start Removing Your Roof
The best method of attack is, start at the top. It´s best if you can tear off any ridge shingles and line everybody up at the top. Tear off several layers all the way across, or at least far enough that you can all sit about 5 or 6 feet apart. Once you´ve got a few courses of, just sit down and start popping shingles up. If all goes well and you work at the same pace, you can sort of roll the old shingles off. They´ll break off, so don´t expect to roll it all off in one big piece, but you can take several large pieces off at once this way. The shingles tend to stay together with this method.Now let´s Clean off the roof!