Roofing with Asphalt Shingles (For Pros by Pros) (Paperback)

by Mike Guertin (Author) "ASPHALT ROOFING has been around for more than a century..." (more)
Key Phrases: horizontal control lines, waterproof shingle underlayment, control chalkline, Fine Homebuilding, Andy Engel, The Taunton Press (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Asphalt is the most common roofing material in North America. With 65 drawings and over 200 color photographs, this book is an in-depth guide to working with it -- whether the reader is a professional installing a brand-new roof or a do-it-yourselfer simply making necessary repairs.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Taunton; illustrated edition edition (November 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1561585319
• ISBN-13: 978-1561585311
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #52,021 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Helps but not comprehensive: Combine with other books., October 15, 2007

By	Rusty (Kentucky USA) - See all my reviews

If you have a hip roof, get some other text: This one will cause you real problems with a hip roof. If you have a simple gable roof, this book can be helpful. For all roofing tasks, this book seems geared mostly towards helping pros speed up production. It lacks the theory and specific "tricks of the trade" that a "do it yourselfer" needs.

This text offers very little that pertains to hip roofs--basically, there's only a few paragraphs mentioning hip roofs and there are no diagrams nor photographs that tell you how to manage the juncture of the "hip ridges" and the "main roof ridge." Those few portions that do mention hip roofs are riddled with errors.

In addition, the information pertaining to the juncture at a hip ridge of two flat roof planes will cause you severe problems--especially if you are applying "laminated" (sometimes called "architectural" or "dimensional") shingles.

The author states that you should overlap shingles where two flat roof planes meet at a hip ridge in order to avoid leaks should the hip ridge caps fly off in a storm. He mentions that this can cause a severe "lump" so he then says you could overlap only one side on the other as a tradeoff which would reduce the size of the "lump" but still provide protection.

Well, maybe if you use the lowest priced thinnest shingles available then an overlap of some sort might be a viable solution. However, as the quality of your chosen single improves, so does its thickness. The 3-dimensional laminated shingles are the thickest.

I tried the single overlap of 4 inches as he recommended. Even that created a huge lump that the ridge caps would never accomodate properly without sagging into the recesses of the created lump. Also, the higher that lump is, the less coverage the caps can provide for the hip ridge junctures.

The shingles I chose were Owens Corning. Seeing the huge lump that even a single overlap caused at a hip ridge, I phoned Owens Corning. They absolutely recommend that the shingles of a flat plane be cut off even and flush with the hip ridge. They provide the warranty and they still recommend cutting flush with the ridge because of the high lump that would otherwise be created. I phoned a friend who owns a roofing company and he recommended the same treatment.

You will notice when scanning through this text, nearly all photographs depict thin 3-tabbed shingles on a gabled roof. So, if you're installing the cheapest, thinnest, 3-tab shingles on a gable style roof with maybe a valley and maybe a dormer, this book can help you discover some short cuts to speed up the job.

If you have a hip roof, get some other text. If you are installing laminated "dimensional" shingles, get some other text.

In any case, if you are an intelligent DIY'er, you'll do as I did and get, at least, 3 or 4 texts to combine theories.

The only text I found that actually shows photographs and describes some sort of detailed information regarding the hip ridge/roof ridge juncture is: "Roof Construction and Estimating" by Daniel Benn Atcheson (yes, there are 2-n's in Benn). However, even that text only depicts plain 3-tabbed shingles.

If you plan to install dimensional laminated shingles, you will be off in a world apart. I haven't found a text that gives a detailed approach to the differences between 3-tab shingle application and dimensional shingle applications.

The text I'm reviewing doesn't tell you much at all about laminated dimensional shingles. You will do well by reading the package wrapper of your purchased shingles thoroughly for instructions pertaining to nailing patterns, offset requirements, and allowable distances between gaps and fasteners of adjacent courses. Owens Corning has downloadable PDF's for their products and I'd surely recommend that you read those as well if you choose OC products.

So, the title of this text says it's for pros by pros. Believe it! No matter how smart you are, if you are an inexperienced do it yourselfer, don't head into a roofing project with only this text in hand. If you're a pro roofer looking to speed up the work performed by your crew on the roof--this book can help you some.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good book, covers almost everything, October 24, 2005

By	Scott C. Rush (Davison, MI) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I hadn't done a roof in over a year so I purchased this book as a refresher to make sure I hadn't forgotten anything.
I thought the book was a very good book that took me step by step.
I'd highly recommend this book for people looking to get a good understanding of roofing.

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Roofing, August 2, 2005

By	Randy D. Jarvis "review" (review) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Good general instructions and background. I would have liked it to focus more on popular laminate (architectual) shingles, but it still provides adequate instruction to do both.