How to Use a Roofing Bracket

Removing Shingles

• 1

  Lean an extension ladder against the roof's eave. Climb to roof, carrying tools and supplies in a tool belt. Slip the pry bar's straight side beneath a shingle; choose a shingle at the desired level of the roof bracket. Slide the pry bar to one side of the shingle and slip the bar beneath the shingle until the bar's notched end grabs the shingle's nail; remove and reinsert the pry bar until you locate a nail.

• 2

  Wiggle the pry bar from side to side to lift the nail's head from the shingle. Remove the bar from beneath the shingle and position the bar approximately one-third inward from the shingle's side to locate a center nail. Slide the bar beneath the shingle, grasp the nail with the bar's notched end and wiggle bar from side to side to lift the nail's head. For three-tab shingles that follow a six-nail pattern, you will find two nails, approximately one inch apart, at this location.

• 3

  Slide the bar beneath the shingle approximately one-third from the shingle's opposite edge, locate the nails and loosen the nails' heads. Locate and loosen the nail at the shingle's remaining edge. Return the bar to the first loosened nail and slide the bar between the loosened shingle and overlaying shingle. Locate the nail, grasp the nail's head with the bar's end and pry the nail from the roof's sheathing.

• 4

  Locate and pry the remaining nails from the shingle's center and opposite edge; remember to pry the nails from the area between the two shingles. Remove the loosened shingle from the roof. Remove adjacent shingles as necessary to accommodate the opposite roofing bracket.

Attaching Brackets

• 5

  Search the roof's sheathing for the framing nails or screws that secure the sheathing to the roof's framing; these nails or screws are fastened vertically across the sheathing's surface.

• 6

  Tap the area between sheathing fasteners with a hammer; a dull thud indicates an underlying framing member. Drive a test nail into the sheathing to determine the location of the framing member; if the nail bites into wood, rafters, joists or trusses lie beneath this point.

• 7

  Align a roofing bracket with the framing member, using the sheathing fasteners as a guide. Drive a nail into each of the bracket's nail holes, through the roof sheathing and into the roof framing. Search for framing fasteners at the desired installation location of the second roofing bracket.

• 8

  Align the second bracket with roof framing, using the sheathing fasteners as a guide. Align the second bracket's vertical position level with the first bracket's vertical position. Drive nails through the bracket to fasten the bracket to the roof's framing.

• 9

  Lay a plank across the brackets' protruding sides. Lift the plank flush with the lip of one of the brackets. Drive a nail through the lip's nail hole and into the plank. Move to the opposite bracket, lift the plank flush with the bracket's lip and drive a nail through the lip's nail hole and into the plank.