Beginning the Roof. (Roof Part 1 of 5)

After I completed the soffit, it was time to start tackling the roof.  I didn't want to be unprepared, so my roof dimension sketches were extremely useful for calculating how many tarps I needed, and how they should be placed.

I'm a terrible artist.

Since I was doing the roof myself, I would work in sections.  I would tear off the shingles, tar paper, and drip edge (where applicable).  I would tear off the old 1x8 sheathing, and cut and attach the new plywood.  I would put down the drip edge, ice & water barrier, and synthetic underlayment.  And finally, I would nail down the shingles.   I would complete one section before moving on to the next, and I would start with the west section.  It was the largest, and simplest, in terms of dealing with where it would end and butt up to the next section.  From there, I went counter-clockwise, with the exception of the last 2 sections. I did the south triangle section, the small diagonal section, and then the south section of the roof.  From there, rather than do the north section of the roof, and finally the north-eastern section with the vents, I swapped those two; north-eastern section, then north section of the roof.  The reasoning will be explained later.

Don't do this.  This is way too much overhang.

The above picture is from before the gutters were even off.  Proper shingle overhang is 1/2" if drip edge is used, 3/4" if drip edge isn't used.  For some reason, I can't find a later picture I took that showed the measurement of how far it was overhanging.  It was somewhere around 2-3", because there was no drip edge.  No drip edge leads to just the kind of peeling I was having on the fascia.

First thing I did before I ever tore off a single shingle (say that 5 times fast) was to make sure the roof was properly tarped.  Last thing I wanted to do at the end of a long day of tearing off the roof was to find out that the tarp I was planning to use, wouldn't properly cover the roof.

June 28th is when the first section of shingles was finally torn off.  Moment of no return.

You can see the handle of my shingle shovel there.  It looks like this:

Get this kind.

They make other, less expensive styles of shingle shovels (they look similar to regular shovels), but this looked to be better suited, and for a few dollars more, was worth it.  You can't see the back side of the shovel, but it has a welded fulcrum piece that allows you to get the shovel up under the shingles and pry up the nails.

Of all the individual tasks involved in replacing the roof, using the shingle shovel was by far my favorite.  It was hard work, but I was able to move pretty quickly.

The tar paper underneath, if not caught by the shovel, tears off easily.

With the shingles and tar paper removed, I could finally see the condition of the existing 1x8 sheathing.

From underneath, during the soffit replacement.

Lots of gaps, lots of knot holes, and even some cracked boards.  Those were just a few areas, and pretty much the whole roof looked like this.  As difficult as it would be, I believe this justified my decision to replace the sheathing.