Roofing Materials

Just because it's the middle of a hot Summer doesn't mean that you can avoid the maintenance on your home, and now is the best time to be looking at the condition of your roof to ensure that it is leak-free and able to withstand any damage that a storm can throw at it. You, for certain, don't want to be installing a new roof while trying to get ahead of the Autumn rains. That said, let's take a look at some helpful roofing materials.

First off, out with the old roofing; you can rip it off with a flat shovel -- good luck with that -- or you can use a purpose-built tool like this Pro Shingle Roofing Remover. It's a rugged, contractor grade of tool with a 9" wide replaceable steel blade, sitting in a reinforced holder. The D-handle shovel is solid fiberglass, powder-coated for weather protection.



Then, roofing membrane; this, from TPO, is 45 mil in thickness, white in color for some installer comfort in the hot Summer sun, comes in a 6' x 100' reinforced single ply material, and is highly suited for use in commercial or industrial initial or reroofing situations.



You can apply the membrane with these Plastic Cap Roofing Nails -- 1" long with a high-rupture-strength round cap atop a high-carbon steel ring shank shaft (for holding strength). This roofing nail may be used for membrane, other types of underlayment, roofing felt, or house wrap. Good stuff.



If your intent is to install a metal roof -- and they are increasingly popular, given the ease of installation and very long life -- you might use a driver similar to this one. The Quikdrive Metal Roofing Driver is used on steel to wood roofs with exposed fasteners, and allows for exact depth adjustment to ensure the fasteners properly seat. The driver comes with a limited lifetime warranty.



For asphalt shingle installation, this Milwaukee Coil Roofing Nailer is ideal. Running on compressed air, it sports a light-weight magnesium housing to allow for operator comfort, is compactly sized to get into confined spaces around chimneys, roof valleys, and such, and will drive your choice of coil nails ranging in length from 3/4" to 1 3/4". It has a drive depth adjustment -- of course -- and you can adjust the air exhaust deflector (and muffler) so the air doesn't keep blasting you in the face. With a choice of sequential or contact nail driving, you can move your roofing job along nicely.

Roofing materials -- now's the time to be thinking about the condition of your roof; don't let the Fall storms catch you off guard.