Is it safe to nail things onto your roof? No. Not Santa, lights, solar panels, or even new shingles. You should not nail anything into your roof unless you’re a certified roofer. The idea here is that most people think of home improvement, specifically for their roof, and just pull out the hammer and a set of nails.
When you have nails going through shingles that may already be damaged, it will likely cause much more damage to your roof. Then when you nail down elements for other forms of home improvement, you may be taking a good roof and reducing its life span by decades. Anderson Metal Roofing and Shingles can help you with your next project, contact us today.
Solar Panel DIY Installation
Solar panels are a go-to home improvement project. Various people have claimed that this one home improvement is relatively inexpensive if you can do it yourself. People also believe they will boost your home’s value by tens of thousands of dollars. That’s false.
While solar panels can improve the value of your home, they can also be a deterrent to future homebuyers who don’t want to deal with the maintenance these panels need. Additionally, many people may be able to quickly identify professionally installed solar panels and a DIY job. Finally, if you install solar panels yourself, you may cause substantial damage to your roof from nails and improper installation. The result could cause you to fail to pass a basic roofing inspection.
Many solar panel DIY projects include nailing down the stability elements of the panels, and that often compromises the integrity of the roof.
Awnings and Similar Fixtures
Awnings shouldn’t generally sit on top of your roof, primarily because it cuts off running waters access to the gutter system. Does that stop people from selling roof mounted awning brackets, or from people just nailing an awning down? No, it doesn’t.
Even when you have an awning nailed or drilled into the fascia, you can compromise the integrity of the roof by inviting in pests and moisture into the fascia’s wood. The proper installation technique is complex, and you usually shouldn’t attempt to add a porch cover or awning onto your house without a professional.
What our roofing professionals can do in these situations is to ensure proper water tightness through building materials or flashing. We can use our experience to work with your current roofing situation and install an awning without inflicting any damage to the roof or fascia. But, it’s not common for DIY projects to turn out so well.
DIY Roof and Shingle Repair
How many homeowners climb onto their roof and see curling shingles and then fix it with a nail? It’s pretty common. Many homeowners will see a problem and figure that nailing it down is the solution. Family Roofing often sees homes that have nailed down partially broken, or curled shingles, as well as new shingles improperly nailed in place to replace missing ones.
Unfortunately, when you drive a nail and leave the head exposed you’re creating an environment for mold, damage to the felt layer, and even long-term carpentry damage from leaks. Whenever you nail something into your roof, you’re creating a water-entry point. That water entry point will create leaks, and it will lead to mold development in hot weather. That mold development could even lead to pest infestation over time.
Don’t Roofers Use Nails?
Yes, professional roofing contractors do use nails in almost every roofing project. The difference is that a practiced hand and well-developed technique will ensure that every nail will have full coverage from the shingle above. The result is that there should never be any exposed nail heads, holes, or opportunity for rain or water to get to the felt layer.
The goal of all shingle roofing installations and repairs is that the shingles lay as flat as possible. That means you need the nail to go just the right amount into the shingle to hold it into place and create as flat a surface as possible for the shingles placed over it. But, also the nails must not go so deep as to penetrate the underlying layers.
When you have a roofing improvement project, you should contact Anderson Metal Roofing & Shingles. You may be pleasantly surprised that roofing improvement and repairs are not as expensive as you may believe. Most homeowners expect extraordinarily high fees, but find that it is well-worth the difference in paying a professional to ensure it’s done correctly.
