How to reattach shingles so that nails don't show

Posted by on July 21, 2005, 8:54 am

In order to attach a ledger and apply flashing for an addition
to the side of my house, I had to cut out several rows of cedar
shingle siding. I am now refinishing the roof and reattaching the
cedar shingles along the roofline over the flashing. Because I cut
out rows of shingles, there is no way I can reattach with the proper
overlap from the bottom up, without removing all the shingles above.
I can cut the shingles to the right length and nail them in to the
missing row, but then the nail heads will be showing. Is there
any other way to reattach cedar shingles? Can I for example use
construction adhesive? Thanks,

--
Jeff

Posted by Ken on July 21, 2005, 9:16 am

dynamorph@hotmail.com wrote:

> In order to attach a ledger and apply flashing for an addition
> to the side of my house, I had to cut out several rows of cedar
> shingle siding. I am now refinishing the roof and reattaching the
> cedar shingles along the roofline over the flashing. Because I cut
> out rows of shingles, there is no way I can reattach with the proper
> overlap from the bottom up, without removing all the shingles above.
> I can cut the shingles to the right length and nail them in to the
> missing row, but then the nail heads will be showing. Is there
> any other way to reattach cedar shingles? Can I for example use
> construction adhesive? Thanks,
> --
> Jeff

Perhaps its too late for this, but what I do is for the shingle that is
cut off, make sure you leave a couple inches showing from below the row
above. Pry away slightly the bottom of the shingles on the row above,
and then whack away at the old lower shingle that you want to remove.
This will get the shingle to split vertically, and if you split in the
right place, you will split it at the point where the hidden nails are
holding it. At that point you can usually get out the entire shingle
out from underneath the one above. If the nails are just a little bit
above the butt line, you can work a prybar up underneath the upper
shingle and get the old nails out.

Once you do that, you should be able to stick a new shingle up under
row of shingles above, and then just nail it as far up as you can. It
won't be blind nailed anymore, but at least you have a continuous
shingle in place that should help prevent water intrusion under the
shingles. Doing it this way is better than just cutting a new shingle
in half horizontally and butting up against the bottom of the row
above.

Ken

Posted by Wayne Whitney on July 21, 2005, 11:42 am

> I can cut the shingles to the right length and nail them in to the
> missing row, but then the nail heads will be showing. Is there
> any other way to reattach cedar shingles?

I'm not clear on why you have to cut the shingles in length--did you
completely remove each shingle that you took out? There's a tool made
for slipping under a row of shingles and pulling out the hidden nails
from the row underneath, I believe it's a long flat bar with a hook on
the side. Maybe it is necessary to trim the shingles slightly to
avoid the nails from the row above.

Anyway, to answer your question, I believe it is done like this,
although I haven't yet tried it myself: you insert the last row of
shingles and hold them back an inch, so their bottom edge is an inch
lower than you want it to ultimately be. You nail them right below
the row above, at an upward diagonal. Then you knock the shingle and
nail up the remaining inch by taking a block of wood against the
bottom edge of the shingle.

Cheers, Wayne

Posted by No on July 21, 2005, 3:07 pm

Yep

>> I can cut the shingles to the right length and nail them in to the
>> missing row, but then the nail heads will be showing. Is there
>> any other way to reattach cedar shingles?

> I'm not clear on why you have to cut the shingles in length--did you
> completely remove each shingle that you took out? There's a tool made
> for slipping under a row of shingles and pulling out the hidden nails
> from the row underneath, I believe it's a long flat bar with a hook on
> the side. Maybe it is necessary to trim the shingles slightly to
> avoid the nails from the row above.
> Anyway, to answer your question, I believe it is done like this,
> although I haven't yet tried it myself: you insert the last row of
> shingles and hold them back an inch, so their bottom edge is an inch
> lower than you want it to ultimately be. You nail them right below
> the row above, at an upward diagonal. Then you knock the shingle and
> nail up the remaining inch by taking a block of wood against the
> bottom edge of the shingle.
> Cheers, Wayne

Posted by Cliff Hartle on July 22, 2005, 1:51 pm

I saw Norm do it this way on this old house a few years back.

>> I can cut the shingles to the right length and nail them in to the
>> missing row, but then the nail heads will be showing. Is there
>> any other way to reattach cedar shingles?

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