DIY Shingle Roofing

Cover the exposed roof boards with 30-lb. felt roofing paper. Trim the paper to fit the dimensions of your roof, and layer it so the upper pieces overlap on top of the lower pieces. Fasten them by driving roof staples with a staple gun or hammer in a line across the paper, placing one staple every 6 to 8 inches.

Install the roof edge. Fit the L-shaped bend on this strip of galvanized steel over the bottom edge of the roof, and mark the top line of the strip with a paint pen. Measure 3/8 inch down from this line and mark a horizontal line across the roof by thwacking it with a chalk line. Install the roof edge along this new line --- so it overhangs the edge slightly --- by aligning it with the chalk line and driving roofing nails across it every 6 to 8 inches.

Lay the chalk line vertically down the middle of the roof and hit the felt paper with it, drawing a straight vertical center line.

Fasten the starter course of shingles. Lay this onto the drip edge so the starter course extends 1/4 inch beyond the bottom of the drip edge, and then fasten it by driving roofing nails across it at intervals of 6 to 8 inches, putting the nails through both the starter course and the drip edge.

Lay the first set of shingles so it is straight and extends 1/4 inch lower than the starter course, and mark a line across the top with a paint pen. Set the shingles aside, and then draw a line across the roof with a chalk line over the top of your paint pen mark.

Lay the first set of shingles down so its left side is aligned with the center line and the top is aligned with the horizontal line. Fasten the shingles with four nails driven across the center, right along the dotted line marking where the shingle tabs start. Install a second set of shingles to the right of this first set.

Draw a guide grid for the rest of the roof, using the chalk line. For most asphalt shingles, horizontal lines should be placed at 5-inch increments above your first line of shingles, and vertical lines at 6-inch increments out from the center line.

Continue to install rows of shingles, working out and up from the center. Always place the shingles so the upper row overlaps the lower row. Use the vertical lines to offset shingle placement, moving over by 6 inches whenever you move up a row and thus making sure that the tabs and ends for each row of shingles do not overlap. Cut shingles as necessary with a box cutter to round off shingle placement at the corners.

Prepare the ridge shingles to cover the corners by cutting normal shingles --- with tabs --- into 1-foot by 1-foot squares. Lay these over the roof corners, and secure them with a nail on each side, layering them up the roof on top of each other, just as you did with the ordinary shingles.