If you have decided to roof your own house, perhaps to save money, you might not realize how difficult this process is. There are many steps involved, and several different types of material that are used, in order to complete this process. It is recommended that you start this process during a time of the year when the weather is relatively mild. Although you could cover your exposed roof if a rainstorm comes through, it’s better to keep everything perfectly dry. Here is a brief overview of how you can do this on your own. It will require a couple weeks, especially if you have a large home. Here are a few tips on how to roof a house if you would like to attempt to do this on your own.
Roof A House
The first thing that you will need to do is take measurements of your roof. This will allow you to determine how much material you will actually need. By measuring the length and width of the roof, along with the pitch or angle of the roof, you can calculate the square footage for the entire project. There are roof calculators online that will allow you to enter this information in. This can give you a rough estimate of how much roofing material you will need. In this example, we are going to focus on using asphalt shingles, one of the most inexpensive and easiest materials to use.
Tools And Materials You Will Need
The tools that you will need will include a shingle remover, hammer tracker, roofing hammer or nailer, and a ladder to get you up and down. The materials that you will need will include the asphalt shingle bundles, roles of felt paper, underlayment roles, flashing, and nails. The estimate that you receive from the calculation online will tell you how many bundles of asphalt shingles you will likely need to purchase. Workers out the home improvement store will likely recommend how much of the other materials you will need in order to complete the project.
Where To Begin
It is always recommended that you remove your existing roof first. Although you could put another roof over your existing one, it is not recommended if that particular roof is decades old. By removing the existing roof, you will also be able to see if there are any problems such as dry rot on the particleboard or MDF material. If so, that can be replaced, and then you will begin to roll out the underlayment that can prevent moisture from getting through.
This will be followed by a layer of tar paper, which is the felt paper that you also purchased. Before you put on the shingles, you need to install flashing in any valleys that you may have if the roof is not completely level. You will then begin with the starter shingles on the bottom edge, half an inch over the drip edge. Next, you will begin to place the shingles horizontally in rows, going all the way to the top. Once you are at the top, you will complete the process with ridge cap shingles that will go from one end of the roof to the other. This will complete the process of doing your own roof, a project that can take anywhere from several days to a couple of weeks.
Now that you know how to roof a house, this might be a project that you may want to consider doing. The most difficult part of the process is preparing everything before you start to nail down the asphalt shingles. Once you get going, you will be able to complete row after row, until you are at the top. As long as you have done your measurements properly, you should only have a small amount of material left over. It is a project that most people will be able to complete as long as they have a standard roof with a pitch that is not too steep.