In December we had a few warm-ish days and were able to get shingles up on the south side of the Dragstone roof… and then we waited. And waited. And waited for a hint of spring and sun so we could start on the north side. (It’s advised to install shingles between 40-85°F. If it’s too cold the shingles could become brittle and more likely to break. We installed the south side shingles in 40° weather and don’t think that was even quite warm enough to get them to stick together. Anyway.)
We finally had warm enough weather this weekend (we have the sunburned faces to prove it, eek). On Friday it got up to 60°F and the shingles actually started to stick together like they are supposed to! Oh em gee! And on Sunday, it was in the high 40s and sunny again – not sticking shingles weather, but good enough to get work done.
All of Friday’s work was completed from the ground. Steven set up two A frame ladders and put a board between them to serve as scaffolding. He got the starter shingles up, and got nine rows done that day. He had predicted the north side of the roof would go a lot faster after learning on the south side, and he was right! We spent about 5-6 hours out there and were pleased with what we got done (my job was helping move the ladders, handing Steven things, picking up things that dropped, throwing away garbage, and providing entertainment).
Friday’s progress
On Sunday Steven was on the roof and got most of the shingling done! Once you have the stair-step started on one side (the shingles are placed in rows that look like a stair-step because increments of 7-8″ are cut off so the vertical seams don’t align) the shingling goes pretty fast, since you’re using full sheets and don’t have to cut any. The biggest hurdle was knowing where to put the stack of shingles and nails, but Steven got the hang of it.
The most work was finishing up the other end, doing the stair-step cuts again. I went up and down the ladder 30+ times getting pieces of shingle from Steven to cut on the ground and bring back up. Oof!
I also got to sit here for a few hours while Steven didn’t need much help
But we got a lot done! Sunday’s work took about 4-5 hours.
Sunday’s progress
The cats are not impressed
Now we just have a few rows left on each side. Next steps are:
- install the final 3 or 4 rows of shingles on each side of the roof, making any final tweaks to get them parallel to the ridge.
- install permanent hooks to strap onto in the future when on the roof
- install a zinc strip on each side of the ridge to prevent mold & fungus from growing (since our property is so shaded and damp)
- install the ridge vent and ridge shingles
Ha, in the email I sent to Steven to review this post and add in the next steps he responded that the next steps should only take ten minutes… ha ha ha. We have at least another day’s work on the roof. I’m excited to see it completed!
Holy guacamole! I can’t believe how much work Steven (and you!) have put into this garage. It is certainly paying off, looks so good!! You guys are amazing, love the dedication!!!
Thank you! It’s all Steven, I just help sometimes. <3 I hope you get to see it in person someday!
P.S. YUM, GUAC!
That looks like so much work! We had our roof redone two years ago and it took a crew of close to 10 a very long day plus half of the next day to do it…Steven is a beast! Also going up and down a ladder is challenging – it’s not like stairs where at least (probably) aren’t going to slip quite as easily. Good job, both of you!
It was a lot of work! I really didn’t believe it was going to go so fast when Steven told me, but he was right!
Oh my gosh, the ladder. And that was on my long run day. I was feeling it at the end!
Thank you!
From your description, I can’t tell if shingling was enjoyable or really tedious. It sounds like both. I could see it being very satisfying to lay them down neatly, but it could also be a big pain to ensure each one is down straight so it doesn’t throw later rows off. Your and Steven’s thoughts?
It’s fine for me since I am just ground support. But I know it was quite tedious for Steven to set up the starter strips. He was planning on using the laser to make sure everything aligned, but for some reason, we couldn’t see it outside (even though we have a green light, and not a red light! grr) so he had to eyeball everything, and that was annoying. But once he got those all set up and the stair steps cut and installed, it was fine. Oh, and once he figured out where to put the extra shingles and nails so they weren’t in the way. I know it bothered his back a lot, and he was sore AF Monday, but it went much better than the south side!
Oh, and the other thing is that there are these ridges from the rolls of underlayment. Sigh. So it comes in a roll and you’d think it would lay out smooth when you unroll it but it didn’t on the north side! So Steven was trying hard to push those ridges down but he feels like you can still kind of see some. Which is okay, it doesn’t look horrible, but will those ridges make leaks more likely?! We hope not! There was a panicky moment on Friday where he said he wanted to do it all over with a metal roof. Eek!
Listen, I may need to start sending Steven all the pages I write about home improvement to make sure I’m saying everything right. HA! I can’t believe he installed shingles the roof!! Way to go!
Also, I totally had a dream that you wrote a post about adding casement windows to your home (?!?!?!) and I had this really silly comment about all the features of casement windows that I’ve learned through my job. I… need more exciting dreams.
Ha ha ha! If you ever need another pair of eyes… 😉
Oh my gosh, I am honored you dreamed of me. I think that IS exciting. That part, not the work part. Ha. And we do have to do some work at the windows on our home sometime in the near future – the wood is rotten a bit around them. So that could happen – the post and your comment.