How to Make an Asphalt Ridge Cap With Shingles

When you reach the peak of a roof while covering it with asphalt shingles, you need to change your technique. You can use the same shingles you used on the sides of the roof, but you will need to apply them differently to create a waterproof ridge on the top of the roof. Begin on the side of the house that is away from the prevailing wind; you will be laying each successive shingle over the previous one, and working in this direction will decrease the chances of water being driven between them.

Ladder
Asphalt shingles
Tin snips
Roofing nails
Hammer
Roofing tar
Caulking gun

Instructions

- 1
  Cut a three-tab shingle into three pieces by continuing the two gaps that are between the three tabs, using a set of tin snips. These work just fine for cutting shingles. Trim a wedge-shaped piece off of the top half of each shingle, so that its edges won't show underneath the next shingle.
- 2
  Place a shingle over the peak of the roof at one end of the peak, with the bottom half of the shingle (the part that shows) facing the edge. Press it down over the peak. Its edges should cover the top half of the shingles that you put on the faces of the roof. Nail it down with one roofing nail driven into the top half of the shingle on each side of the peak.
- 3
  Place another shingle in the same position, covering the top half of the first shingle and leaving the bottom half of the first shingle exposed. Nail down the second shingle in the same way you nailed down the first shingle.
- 4
  Continue all the way down the peak in this manner, cutting three-tab shingles into single shingles as you need them.
- 5
  When you reach the end of the peak, cut a single shingle in half so that you separate the bottom half from the top half. Nail the bottom half over the top half of the previous shingle.
- 6
  Cover the heads of the two nails that you used to secure the final shingle with roofing tar.

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