As we all anxiously anticipate Spring, ideas for home improvement and thoughts on home repairs come rolling through our head. A good place to start knowing what and who is available to you is at your local home show.
If your roof showed it’s age this winter with all the ice and snow, a new roof is probably first on your list of home repairs. A new roof is a considerable investment to any home and if installed correctly will improve its value. Many contractors try to cut corners on roofs and will tell you things that what’s skipped is not a necessity. Caleb Gee, Roofing Project Manager of Carlson Exteriors Inc., built a great demo to inform homeowners what is essential to your roof.
When you begin roofing, it’s important to lay down Ice and Water at all valleys and at the rake of the roof (like pictured here). Ice and Water is a thermoplastic, which means as it gets warm it will seal around any nail holes or protrusions; preventing melting ice dams from leaking down to the roof deck. It’s good practice to lay this under the metal Drip Edge on the slant edges of the roof but on top of the Drip Edge at the eaves- in case a strong wind would push rain under the shingles exposing the Drip Edge, the roof deck will still be protected by the Ice and Water. Once the Ice and water has been laid down, roll out the Synthetic Felt over the rest of the exposed roof deck with a 6 inch overlap with the Ice and Water. After the Drip Edge has been nailed in, lay Starter Strip not only on the base of the roof but along the whole perimeter of the roof. Starter Strip has a line of tar to seal with the shingles that are laid on top of it. Using Starter Strip on the sides will seal the shingles down on the edge,the most prevalent spot for wind to pull up the shingle tabs. Now it’s time for the shingles! Work your way up all the way across the bottom and then upwards. When starting the next row of shingles, make sure the shingle edges from the first row are a full tab separate from the next row. This is important to control water flow by preventing it from getting under shingles to the deck.
It’s important not to skip on air shoots in the attic to ensure proper air flow from the intake vents at the soffit up to the exhaust at the ridge vent. Ridge vents are a popular choice when it comes to roof ventilation but make sure enough of it is installed for you net free area within your attic space, or, explore other venting options (read our previous post about proper roof ventilation to learn more)