Removing and Replacing Shingles

Shingles are a vital part of your roof, but they can also wear out somewhat quickly. Since they are your first line of defense against bad weather and water damage, it makes sense that they take the brunt of the damage instead, but that often leaves patches that need urgent placement.

Knowing how to replace shingles is an important part of repairing your roof. Without the skills to remove them yourself, you are often looking at expensive roof work or even a complete re-roofing if the damage has become bad enough. Here is what you will want to know before you start.

We rent dumpsters to all ZIP codes used in Annapolis and area, including the 21405, 21404, 21403, 21412, 21411, 21409, 21401, and 21402 ZIP codes used in Annapolis, MD.

When do you replace shingles?

While you should obviously replace shingles at the first sign of leaking inside your home, the damage is not always easy to spot without the obvious signs. Thankfully, you can still see some clear, distinct hints that your shingles are in need of replacement. Watch out for issues like:

The edges of your roof curling up.
The shingles themselves curling up.
A build-up of algae and moss on the roof.
Granules from the shingles are piling up in your gutters.
The roof is 20 years old and has not received much regular maintenance.

What are the costs?

Replacing all of the shingles on your roof can be a costly venture, but it heavily depends on how many shingles actually need to be replaced – which is influenced by the size of your house and the kind of material that your home uses for roofing.

For example, concrete usually falls between $50 to $70 for each square foot replaced, whereas asphalt can increase to $100. Slate tends to be the highest at around $400 per square foot. Of course, this is all dependent on the contractor and the project in general.

Removing the shingles themselves can cost plenty of money, too. It often takes between $1,000 and $3,000 to remove all of the old shingles from a roof if you hire a professional. However, unlike the shingle replacement, you can remove shingles yourself instead of needing an expert.

Removing the Singles

If you decide to remove the shingles yourself or even just want to get slightly involved in the process, then you need to actually prepare.

Getting Ready

First of all, decide on when you will be removing your shingles. This is to help you schedule contractors in advance and to make sure that you do not leave the damaged shingles up for too long.

Second, you will want to make sure that you can hire any professionals (and/or tools) that you might need. Hiring in advance is important to ensure that the tools or professionals will be available when you need them most. This includes services like our dumpster rentals.

Then, you need to actually put together the ‘team’ that might be helping you. If you are just doing this yourself and not relying on contractors, then it is not as important, but many people choose to enlist family members to help with some of the more time-consuming work.

Finally, be sure that you have all permits acquired and properly arranged beforehand, then make sure that you have disposal plans lined up. There will be a lot of shingles to handle, so one of our dumpster rental options might be the best way to manage them conveniently.

Gathering Tools

Always grab the right tools for the job. This means ladders, hammers, pry bars, roofing nails, tarps, plywood sheets, adjustable jacks, at least two hammer tackers, and staples that can easily work with the roof itself.

The exact equipment you use will depend on the work that you are doing, but be sure that you are not caught unprepared. You will definitely want a trowel, fork, or small shovel that can pry the shingles off easily.

Also, make sure to wear the usual safety equipment. A safety harness is a must-have, but goggles and gloves are equally as important to your own protection when dealing with shingles directly.

Removing Shingles

Taking off the shingles yourself can be tricky, and there is a lot of nuance to it. However, splitting it into smaller sections of roof and tackling them individually helps.

Start at the peak of your roof, the furthest point from your dumpster rental, and stick a trowel or fork underneath the ridge caps to pry them off. It does not matter if the nails are left since you can remove those later.

Slowly work your way down to the jacks, and then toss the shingles into the dumpster yourself. It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you stay safe.

Afterward, you need to check the flashing, the pieces of material that keep water moving away from the home. Any cracks or obvious rust means that you cant’ re-use that part, so you will have to remove that flashing and discard it – but you can keep the parts that still hold up.

If you are keeping any flashing, remove the nails and try to pry out any shingles still underneath. If you are removing it, you do not need to worry about this.

You will have to target the valley and vent flashing, too, the parts that are sealing key parts of your home (such as corners or up against particular walls and surfaces). This is tackled in a similar way, but it might be much more fiddly.

After all of that, it is just a case of removing each section of shingles, taking away the nails, sweeping the roof, and then installing any ice and water barriers you need. If you cap it off with felt, then you can keep the roof relatively protected until an expert arrives to install your new shingles.