You can choose a pneumatic roofing nailer with an air compressor; an electric roofing nailer with an extension cord; or a rechargeable roofing nailer with extra batteries for big projects. Each has its advantages and disadvantages, but whichever one you choose must be strong enough to survive a fall from the roof.

Using Roofing Nailer Saves Arms And Hands

Trying to decide if a roofing nailer will make life easier will depend on the definition of easier and whether or not is vocational or, as a homeowner, needed for replacing the roof or making repairs. If the decision has been made to purchase a roofing nailer it will need to be decided on the type. They are available with pneumatic power, electric and rechargeable, and made by various manufacturers.

Essentially, a roofing nailer will save the arms and hands from pounding with a hammer all day long and most have adjustable power settings so the user doesn’t over drive a nail into the roof, damaging the new roofing material. This can be especially helpful if installing slate or tile roof and too much power can crack one of the expensive tiles. On asphalt shingles they can tear through the shingle if left unnoticed can cause a leak in the future.

The first feature to look at is its durability. It will have to hold up to hours on a hot roof without being damaged by the sun. It should also be able to live through a two-story drop onto the ground or concrete without breaking into a thousand pieces. Typically, no matter careful the worker is, the roofing nailer is going to take a fall.

Choosing Clutter Or Convenience

While most professionals swear by a pneumatic roofing nailer there are some who are not interested in being connected by a long air hose and having to have an air compressor running all day. Although they can usually be adjusted for air power of between 70 and 120 pounds per square inch, they can be tough to maneuver in tight spots such as under second story eaves or around chimneys.

An electric power roofing nailer obviously does not require the air compressor but the user will still be dragging a long extension cord behind them as they work. Also adjustable depth gauges and built-in tools to help keep nail lines straight into the shingles, they can be slightly heavier than a pneumatic roofing nailer as the power is located in the unit.

Most rechargeable roofing nailers have the same power, with a minimum voltage of around 20, and do everything the electric roofing nailer can do. Typically, most companies claim the battery charge lasts long enough to nail down about two square of roofing material. Extra batteries are available for use on large jobs, but the ability of them to survive a 15 of 20-foot fall is questionable.

Aluminum roofs should be inspected for buckling and accumulated water every six months, and have any problems repaired before they seriouly compromise the roofs’ performance. Your aluminum roofing can be professionally inspected either when you are having your gutters cleaned, or by roofing contractors.

The Care And Feeding Of Your Aluminum Roofing

Let’s suppose the house or building you want to buy has aluminum roofing. Should you still buy the house or building? That depends on many factors. Aluminum roofing is great for terrains with aggressive weather such as the deserts of Australia, the coastlines that constantly get hit with sea salt spray or places that get acid rain (which is getting to be everywhere these days). The roof itself should still be in good condition. Aluminum roofing can last on average fifty years. So even if it’s an older roof, chances are it’ll still be sound. Aluminum roofing is better resistant to molds or rusting than other types of roofing.

What’s The Weather Up There?

Roofs, even made of aluminum roofing, can get damaged by the weather, falling trees, passing hurricanes and all that sort of fun stuff. But not only does the roof need at the very least a bi-annual checkup, but the roof’s fastenings, which is the stiff that connects your aluminum roofing to the rest of your house.

You are looking for any buckling, loosening, puddles that won’t go away or just plain broken roofing materials, even if your roof is not leaking. Getting any early damage repaired now when it is only a minor problem can save you money down the road when it becomes an even bigger problem.

If you have gutters and live in a very leafy neighborhood, you need to get your gutters cleaned out at least once a year, or water won’t drain from off of your roof. Many professional gutter cleaners will also give your roof a once-over. Although many homeowners clean their gutters themselves, they often do it from the ground or from a ladder and cannot see the entire roof.

If you’re uneasy at that thought and rather get a specialist in roofs, you certainly can. Roofing contractors don’t just build and repair roofs – they can also inspect them. In order to find a roofing contractor, you can ask trusted friends and family who inspects their roofs, or you can check with your bank and see who they recommend. Why would the bank have a list of recommended contractors? Because they loan homeowner’s substantial amounts of money for the purposes of repairing or remodeling their property, and so they want to know that only reputable companies will get them their money back.

If you have a chimney, get that checked as well, to be sure that it isn’t clogged.

The second important factor in determining the cost of metal roofing is your roof’s slope, which requires you to get information on its rise and run. You can get these figures yourself with the help of ladder, level, and measuring tape, if you are willing to climb the ladder to the height of your roof’s lowest edge. Roofing companies with websites have roofing calculators to turn your data into estimates of the cost of metal roofing.

How To Calculate The Cost Of Metal Roofing

Congratulations! You’ve decided on a metal roof to either go overtop or replace your current roof. Perhaps you live in a state where there are tax cuts for large home repairs like a new roof. Perhaps you have a great credit rating and are sure to get a homeowner’s loan from your bank. But before you can approach a bank for a loan, you need an estimate. A competent roofer will give you an estimate, but you can determine the cost of metal roofing yourself.

The Roof Calculator

Many roofing businesses have websites that include roofing calculators. You feed them the data they ask for and they automatically figure out an estimate for you as to what the cost of metal roofing for you will be. But determining what you need to tell them takes a little work.

First, what kind of metal roofing material are you looking at? Aluminum and tin cost far less than copper or even corrugated iron, for instance. All of the materials have their advantages and disadvantages, depending on the area you live and how steep your roof is.

Then, you need to determine your roof’s rise and run. If you have a flat roof, you don’t have to worry about this, but if your roof is at any kind of angle, then you need to get a ladder, a marker, a three foot level, measuring tape and your brain.

About a foot up your roof’s lowest edge, stick one little side of the level onto your roof’s side so that your leveling tool is the same angle as the ground. Get your measuring tape and figure out how long it is from your level’s middle to the roof. Divide it by three if you’re using a three foot level or two if you’re using a two foot level. Write this down. You have now figured out your roof’s rise.

Now get off the ladder and go up to the attic with the level and the measuring tape. Place the little edge of the level against an angled beam or gable. Your level should be sticking at an angle to the floor. Measure the distance from the middle of your level to the roof. Divide by two or three, depending on how long your level is. Write this down. You have the roof’s run.

Rise and run help you figure out your slope. So you’ll get answers like a pitch of 4 inches in a flat 12 inches, or 4 in 12. This is vital information to determine the cost of metal roofing. The website should tell what formula they use to determine your slope and thus how many square feet of roofing you need. This will give you a good idea of the cost of metal roofing.

Before beginning a do it yourself roofing project, you should make arrangements either for a dumpster to be placed where you can easily get your old shingles into it, or for someone cart them away at the end of each day. After the old shingles and roofing nails are gone, you will lay down 30-pound roofing felt and your asphalt shingles, and your do it yourself roofing project will be done!

Look Forward To Do It Yourself Roofing Jobs

When the roof of the house needs replaced due to age or damage, there are a couple of options. The first is to contract the job to a professional, which may be a good idea if the roof is steep and difficult to walk on or if it is high and the homeowner is afraid of heights. Secondly, do it yourself roofing is possible, depending on the type of roofing material you choose to use and how handy you are with tools.

Replacing the roof of a house is not an easy job, but certainly one that can be done by the home handyman, depending on their fear of heights and having enough strength and stamina to carry bundles of shingles onto the roof. However, it must first be determined if the old roof needs to be torn off before the new one is installed. Typically, if there is currently one layer of asphalt shingles on the roof, a second layer can be put on. With do it yourself roofing jobs, it is not advised to add a third layer, mainly due to the weight on the roof structure.

Tearing off the old shingles can be done with a pitch fork or a flat shovel and will leave a mess in the yard around the house. It’s a good idea to contract for a dumpster in which to place all the old roofing materials or arrange for someone to clean up the mess when you are done.

Keeping It Straight On Do It Yourself Roofing Projects

Once the old roof is off, insure there are no old roofing nails sticking up and take any errant ones out with a claw hammer or nail puller. Once the roof is cleaned off, including swept with a broom, you will need to lay down a layer of 30-pound roofing felt. Most felt is printed with lines for lining up the new shingles for a do it yourself roofing, provided it is applied straight with the roof edge.

There should also be metal roof edging installed around the perimeter of the roof to give the roof a finished appearance as well as to help prevent leaks from water wrapping around the edge and working its way under the first row of shingles. The first row of shingles on the do it yourself roofing, should be placed inverted, meaning the solid edge should line up against the edge of the metal strip. Subsequent layers are put down with the cut side in the right direction.

Metal roofing, however, is somewhat expensive, and will be much noisier than other roofs unless installed with sound insulation. It is also susceptible to dents and scratches from hail a d falling branches, and to having its paint peel. Metal roofing is usually guaranteed for between twenty and fifty years.

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Metal Roofing

When it comes time to install a new roof on a person’s home, it is easy to become overwhelmed by the choices. This is mainly because of the fact that a person does not have to replace a roof often so he or she may not be familiar with all the options. When it comes to choosing a new roof for your home, there are many different choices. One alternative that has grown in popularity over the last 20 years is metal roofing. There are many advantages to buying metal roofing for your home; there are also a few disadvantages as well.

The Advantages of Metal Roofing

There are many benefits to using metal roofing on your home. For example, the expected life on metal roofs is a very long time if they are properly installed. Metal roofing can survive large amounts of snow, resist fire, and they are immune to insects and rotting. Many companies will warranty to their metal roofing products for 20 to 50 years.

Metal roofs also offer fast installation options and are actually easier to install than many other types of roofing. Metal roofing has a class A fire rating; this is the most resistant fire rating available and is given to this type of roof, because it is noncombustible. Part of this classification will depend on the material that is underneath the metal.

The Disadvantages of Metal Roofing

Perhaps the greatest disadvantage of metal roofing is the cost of metal roofing materials. This cost however, can be treated as an investment if a homeowner plans to live in the house for a long period of time. This is because of the fact that they need less maintenance than many other types of roofing and last a very long time. However, for a homeowner that does not plan to stay in their home for a long time, the investment may not be worth it.

Another disadvantage of a metal roof is the noise it may cause in the house. While some people may not mind the added noise, others may find it irritating. This can be prevented by using certain materials during the installation, although this may increase the cost of the roof.

One disadvantage that is unavoidable with a metal roof is the denting and scratches that can occur. If a large hailstone falls on your roof, it is likely to dent. However, there are certain metal roofs that are guaranteed not to dent by the manufacturer. Scratches and peeling in the paint on metal roofs cannot easily be avoided in the long term. However, generally speaking, by avoiding walking on your roof as much as possible, this damage will be minimized.

The reputation of the residential metal roofing industry has suffered because of shoddy work done by hundreds of independent, or “cowboy” roofing contractors, and The Metal Roofing Alliance was founded in an attempt to salvage the industry’s good name. You can find a great deal of very useful information at the Metal Roofing Alliance website.

Choosing A Residential Metal Roofing Contractor

If you live in it, then the building you live in is called a “residence”. When you are looking for a goods roofing contractor, you will want one who has experience with residential roofing, as opposed to commercial roofing. Often, commercial roofing is flat and has many issues that your home won’t have. A good choice for roofs on any home is residential metal roofing.

You can choose from tin, copper, metal or aluminum roofing. Choosing which type of residential roofing material can often be easier than finding a roofer. You can’t control the weather or how close your home is to the sea, or factories or rainfall amounts. Where you live and what weather you get will help you choose the residential metal roofing material for you. But what about the contractor?

Metal Roofing Alliance

Good roofers hate shoddy or “cowboy” contractors more than you do. One cowboy contractor makes all roofers and builders look bad, unfortunately. So, proper roofers follow local and state laws and police themselves. One place you can turn for a recommendation for a good local residential metal roofing contractor is the Metal Roofing Alliance (http://www.metalroofing.com/).

They are made up of roofers, roofing material manufacturers, suppliers, distributors and contractors to help the customer find the best roofing materials and roofers for them. They started in 1998 as a few individuals in the roofing industry trying to help clear the reputation of the entire roofing industry. They now have a user-friendly website that will help teach everything you never wanted to know about residential metal roofing.

Others To Ask

If you have a trusted friend or family member who lives in your area and recently hired a roofer, ask which one they used and if they were happy with them. You can also ask your bank for a list of roofers they trust.

When you schedule a meeting with your prospective residential metal roofing contractor, ask him or her all the questions you can. If you are not happy with their answers or if they talk over your head, then drop them. A good contractor will be happy to explain the reasoning behind why he or she is spending your money. Good residential metal roofing contractors will also put detailed estimates in writing. They are also easy to get a hold of by phone or with an office. You don’t have to go with the first roofer you come across. Do comparison shopping and you’ll find the best roofer and roof for you.

Benders are common shelters for the homeless in Great Britain, and the roofing products seen on them include blankest, plastic or canvas tarps, towels, and even discarded silk parachutes. Surplus Army tents like the one Mitch and I used, because they are waterproof, are also highly desirable roofing products among England’s homeless.

Roofing Products When Building Your Bender

A bender, in this case, has nothing to do with getting drunk. A bender is also the name of a home you can make in a couple of days from a combination of natural and man-made materials. A bender looks like a short longhouse of the Native Americans. There are a variety of reasons for building a bender, whether you have crash landed in the woods and need shelter; whether you are in the army and on training in wilderness survival, or are homeless and wanted a place to call your own. The last instance is what happened to me and my lunatic of a partner, Mitch when I lived in England. One of the big concerns in making a home is what roofing products to use.

Use What You’ve Got

With a little imagination, many things can be easily converted to roofing products for your bender. You can also start with one of the roofing products and upgrade as you go along. If you were in the situation Mitch and I were in. We were living in a tent and were facing an English winter, which is just as harsh as winters on the Atlantic Coast of America, my home country.

First, you need a flat piece of ground. Pound it flat is you have to. If you can get a sledgehammer or even a usual hammer, you can drive stakes into the ground to make holes for your frame. Get some small pieces of rocks as well.

Now you get to know why a bender is called a bender. You find young, green, bendable wood like hazel and bend them. Two hazel trunks bent into an arch and tied together can make a sturdy frame. This is even sturdier if you weave other green trunks in between the arches.

Once the frame is set, which took Mitch and I one day, you can think about putting in a stove (if you have one) or roofing products. Here are some of the roofing products I’ve seen on English homemade benders:

Old army surplus tents
Plastic tarpaulin
Real tarpaulin that costs a fortune
Silk parachutes
Huge old blankets and towels
Cloth bags that used to carry coal, rice or flour

It Works

You are best mixing and matching your roofing products, depending on your situation. My bender had plastic sheeting and then was topped by an old army surplus tent. The bender lasted for over three years, longer than my relationship with Mitch.

But the pneumatic roof nailers now favored by most professional roofers often fail to drive roofing nails in as evenly and straight as they should, and poorly installed roofing nails will eventually loosen, allowing the shingles they secured to flap and the roofs beneath them to develop holes and leaks. If you have protruding roofing nails on your roof, you should immediately repair the holes beneath them or you could be facing some serious and expensive repairs.

Why Use Roofing Nails?

Something as trivial as the type of nails you use for attaching shingles to a roof, that doesn’t matter, right? Wrong. It’s called the roofing nail, and it’s called that for a reason. The most common form of nail, usually called the wire nail, has too small of a head to provide enough surface pressure to hold down shingles through a storm. That’s why the roofing nail, while short, has a large flat head, to maximize its holding capacity.

Air Or Hand Pressure?

These days, it’s hard to find a roofing company that still hammers their nails by hand. It’s almost always comprised of workers using air compressor cables to shoot the roofing nails in. This method, even though it gets the job done faster than a hammer, can provide uneven results. Each roofing nail doesn’t receive the same amount of air pressure, and so sometimes they do not fully grasp the wood. You also get less guarantee of the roofing nail entering the wood straight, which can cause ripping and tearing of the shingle and leaks. Hammering the nails in by hand is always preferred, even if it does take longer.

Peeking Out At Me

Improper nail installation can cause problems later. A nail that didn’t get a good grip on the wood when it was installed will pull itself out over time, and not only will you have a hole in your roof that could potentially leak but you also have a flapping shingle. Roofing nails that you see coming out should be fully removed and replaced with a new nail. This can also be caused by the wood warping under the nails.

Fixing A Hole

If rising roofing nails have caused a hole in your roof that you have found to be leaking, there’s an easy way to fix it. First you must remove the raised roofing nail and then lift up the shingle carefully. If you bend it too far, it could break. Fill the hole with asphalt cement and add some of the loose rocks to it, then lay the shingle back down. Add a small bit of asphalt cement to the hole, and place another roofing nail in a close spot.

If you do not want to be bothered to fix a hole in the roof yourself, or if it is a job that is just simply too big for one person to take on, there is a temporary method for covering the hole while waiting on a contractor. Make a frame out of pressure-treated wood around the hole, and under the frame place a sheet of plastic. Attach the frame and the plastic to the roof using roofing nails. This method is only temporary, and will not stand up to harsh weather conditions.

The use of rechargeable, electrically powered, or pneumatic roofing screw guns is preferable to driving roofing screws by hand, but each of these roofing screw guns has sits drawbacks. Both electrical and pneumatic screw guns are inconvenient because they require either a long extension cord or an air hose, and rechargeable guns need frequent battery changes.

Keeping Metal System Secure With Roofing Screws

When installing metal roofing, it will be held down with roofing screws, and in some cases flashing installed for asphalt roofing materials will also be secured using roofing screws. The length and style of screw being used will depend on the type of roof it is being used to secure as well as where on the roof it is being used.

For general metal use, self-tapping roofing screws can be used, usually three-inches long, however when securing the first edge of a metal roof section, a one-inch screw may do the job. If laying a metal roof over an existing single layer of asphalt, a three-inch screw will be needed on the first section as well. Unless each panel of a metal roof has been pre-drilled at the factory, or least weakened with dimples, a self-tapping screw will make the job easier and faster with less risk of injury due to snapping roofing screws.

Unlike nails driven through an asphalt shingle, there is nothing in the metal that will seal the hole as the roofing screws are installed. There are two basic types of roofing screws with sealer caps made of either metal, which sit on top of the metal roof and are held down tight by the screw, or rubber/plastic washers that are made as part of the screw that seal the hole as the screw is run in.

Different Gun Needed For Driving Screws

Installing a metal roof by hand is not recommended as the installation calls for a minimum of a screw every two feet. Doing this by hand would quickly wear thin on the installers hand and arm muscles. While rechargeable screw guns are available to drive roofing screws, due to the power requirements for the job, it would become necessary to change batteries at least once an hour. Considering charging times, a person would need at least four batteries to get through an eight-hour day.

An electric screw gun will supply the power needed throughout the day and most screw guns will have adjustments to insure the screw is not driven into the roof too far. In some cases the heads of roofing screws could be drawn in too far damaging the new roof or the heap can be snapped off the screw.

A pneumatic screw gun can also be used but like an air-powered hammer, a compressor will be needed as well as a long rubber air hose will need to be dragged along with it while installing roofing screws into the new roof.

Another of the roofing tips is that if a watermark in the attic reveals a roof leak, the leak can be located by searching the roof two to three feet above the watermark, because water flows downward. The third of these roofing tips is that you can easily determine the number of shingles you need to repair your damaged roof with a simple mathematical formula

Roofing Tips For Your Leaky Roof

If you would like to save some money while fixing your leaking roof, then you may want to do the repairs yourself. This can be done if you are fairly handy, especially if it is just a small job that needs to be done and there is not more than a 6 inch slope to your roof.

Roofing Tips For Fixing Your Roof

One of the first roofing tips that you should know about is going into your attic with a flashlight to look for watermarks. These will show you where your roof needs to be repaired. Another of the important roofing tips is that the areas that need to be repaired will be two to three feet ABOVE the watermark. This is because water travels downwards. Important roofing tips will also tell you that if there is damage to the wood that covers your roof and where the shingles are nailed on top of, then you should have a professional roofing company do this work for you.

Roofing Tips About Materials

Of course, no good roofing tips will stop before sharing with you what materials you will need to have in to be able to fix your own roof. First of all, you will need to find some shingles that actually match the ones that are currently on the rest of your roof. In order to figure out just how many shingles you are going to need you will have to multiply the length of the area that needs the shingles by the width of this area. You should then divide this by 100. This will give you the number of roofing squares that you need in order to do the repair work. A roofing square is actually equal to 3 bundles of shingles. In other words, 1 bundle of shingles will only cover about 33.3 square feet of your roof.

Before going to the store, you should make sure that the tar paper, or roofing felt, is not damaged. This is actually really easy to fix if you get the correct materials, which is something that your local hardware store can help you with.

Conclusion

With these roofing tips, you will be able to fix a minor roofing problem and replace damaged shingles. However, if your roof has any major damage, you will need to call a professional roofer to do the work for you. Otherwise, these roofing tips will help you to save you money by repairing your own roof.