Shingles for Dummies

nailing a roof vent

If the staff of the Antisocial network were the type of people to be driven nuts; freelancers who do little more than copy, reword, and paste someone else's work would rank tight at the top of the nuts-drivers. They're easy enough to spot, of course, if you're already familiar (even a little bit) with the topic they've cribbed. One of our staffers has done a little roofing, which is why he was pretty sure that LoveToKnow.com's Beth Asaff hadn't – at least based on the article she posted, "How to Shingle a Roof."

Why Asaff, who claims to be a "kitchen and bathroom designer," thought she could lend her expertise to wannabe roofers is beyond us, but it's pretty clear she merely reworded something she found online. The reason we think so is that she changed a little too much in the process. Take, for instance, her instructions for estimating roofing supplies:

"To evaluate how many shingles you will need, manufacturers will often provide charts, but the following formula will give you a general idea: Roof Length x Width Divided by 100 + 10%. Shingle sizes vary, so this is just a rough estimate."

That's at best half right, Beth: you've just calculated the number of squares – assuming, of course, you measured the roof planes instead of the roof footprint – but you then need to convert that to bundles, which is how shingles are sold. Three-tab shingles, the most common composition type, generally require three bundles per square. The number of bundles is what a roofer orders, not the number of shingles.

After that misinformation, Asaff veers off into repairing individual shingles. Besides being off-topic, this step is a bit on the ambiguous side:

"...remove the damaged shingle and its accompanying nails. Treat the shingle with roofing cement and position it in place."

Whaddya mean by, "treat the shingle," Beth? And don't you mean the replacement shingle? Then say so! Perhaps the best evidence that Asaff is unfamiliar with roofing is this instruction, cunningly located under "How to Shingle a Roof Over Existing Shingles":

"Start by installing the roofing felt."

Wait a minute, Beth: that's for shingling over a wooden deck; you don't lay felt over an existing shingle roof! You do install a new drip edge and remove the old cap shingles first, but felt? No... And finally, Asaff "informs" us that,

"Although some roofers make their own roof caps out of shingles, for the amateur it is best to purchase a pre-made roof ridge. The roof ridge should match the existing shingles, and can be put into place using roofing cement."

First, we aren't certain what she's talking about – possibly a premade ridge vent, which must be nailed in place (winds, you know) and then shingles are nailed on top of it. Idiot.

No, we're pretty sure that Asaff just found a how-to guide somewhere (based on how she blathers about a nail gun being a good investment, probably this one) and then attempted to reword it. She might have done a better job if she had some familiarity with the task at hand... but she didn't. What she does have, however, is a Dumbass of the Day award.

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DDIY - ROOFS