Keeping a SOUND ROOF

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A handy homeowner with good balance, a one-story building and a lowpitch, gritty (good footing) asphalt shingle roof (which 80% of homes have) can do the most common roof repairs working from a ladder, a pickup thick bed or rented scaffolding. Go ahead and fix those leaks from treefalls or simple wind damage. Common areas that need repair are roof edges, flashing around chimneys or vent pipes, holes from fallen tree limbs.

When setting up a ladder, follow the firefighters' rule: Stand with the ladder's feet at your toes, extend the ladder out to arm's length, and that's the angle at which it should rest against the roof. Steady an uneven ladder by digging out soil from under the long leg, not propping the short leg up with a stone or length of wood that can slip or work itself out too easily. Sink a pair of nails in the house side and lash the ladder to the building, lest it blow down and strand you on the roof or slip out from underfoot as you step on or off.

You'd need a pair of tight-lacing rubber or crepe rubber-soled sneakers or roofer's crepe-soled, steel-toe boots, along with hip pads to keep the shingle grit from wearing through your jeans. You'll also want a roofer's hatchet to drive and pull nails and cut shingles, a flat-edged shovel and pry bar to remove shingles and a disposable-blade utility knife. The most important materials are a gallon can of asphalt roofing cement and a disposable mason's trowel to lave it on with, plus a roll of 1'-wide aluminum flashing (preferably painted black on one side so it won't show) and tin snips with which to cut it. Get big, flat-headed galvanized roofing nails in 1" length for a new roof, 1 1/4" if the roof has two or three layers of shingles (no roof is engineered to carry more than three layers of shingles - no matter what any roofer tells you). As for the shingles, match your color as best you can, choosing a fiberglass-base asphalt type with a class A fire rating. For best hurricane protection, fasten conventional 3-tab shingles with six nails rather then the standard four: one at each end and two on either side of tab slots - just above where colored mineral stops on the shingle. (see illustration).

Easiest repair is to nail and cement on shingle patches cut from flashing. Cut underneath mineral-grain-covered exposed tabs of existing shingles to free them from where they sun-cemented themselves to underlying shingles, then slip the aluminum up under.

Where a leak traces to a chimney or plumbing vent, reshape any bent-up flashing and replace any that is torn or gouged out. Use roofing cement to attach patches. If the leak is severe, you may have to remove the old flashing and replace surrounding shingles and felt. You'll find instructions in the books listed in Sources, but this is a job for a pro.

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