Hello: I just bought a pack of comp shingles to repair the roof on my shed. There is a cellophane membrane over the shiny black adhesive on each shingle. It is very difficult to remove this membrane and I can't imagine doing an entire roof and removing this strip on each shingle. Is this membrane designed to remain on the shingle or is it designed to enhance the self-adhesion?
Thanks for any help, Wayne.

 

I just found out the answer to my own question. The shingles are laid with the membrane intact and when they heat up on a sunny day, it will melt away and the self stick will be activated. The plastic membrane just keeps them from sticking together in the packaging.

 

It always pay to read the paper work that comes with something.

 

Unless you've got some new fangled shingle that I've never heard of, the cellophane does not "melt away". As you mentioned, it is only there so that the shingles do not stick together in the package. When the shingles are laid out, the cellophane is nowhere near the tar strip and does not affect whether the shingles seal down or not.

The only time the cellophane would need to be removed is if it actually sticks to the tar strip as you take the shingles out of the bundle. It's supposed to stay stuck to the back of the shingle.

Many companies print "do not remove" on the cellophane. Sadly, I've had this argument before with customers who swear the cellophane needs to be removed.

 

You're right, the cellophane does not "melt" away. It's only purpose is to sit directly opposite the tar blob inside the packaging so the shingles wont stick together. That blob will eventually stick the shingle ends down so they don't blow up, and the blob is more or less heat activated once applied.

When I first pulled the shingles out of the package, it appeared that there was a strip of sticky tar under the cellophane. I searched the packaging for any direction on whether or not to remove it because it was so difficult to peel and appeared to be designed not to be removed. I couldn't find any info, so I was able to contact the company rep who kindly educated me.

It seems like in the past I used some shingles that actually had a peel-strip and I made a mess with all the wax paper strips lying around in the yard.

 

I was wondering the same thing. I've got Corning's Surenail composite shingles with plastic over tar strips on both sides. I felt as though the plastic on top should be peeled off, so it would adhere to an explosed narrow strip at the edge of the shingle above it. Now I'm not sure, and I guess I'll scan the packaging once again to see if its a "new-fangled" shingle that needs to shed the plastic before being installed. The underside strip clearly states "DO NOT REMOVE" but the topside strip only has advertising printed across it.

J