I replaced a 2 pitch roof with shingles and a 10 pitch with the same after sandy. All work was done in December. A few weeks later the half the low pitch tore off and now some of the shingles on the 10 are as well. The house is 2 houses off the beach on the open Atlantic. I have tapped the house and plan on waiting until the weather is 65+. I'm not sure if the reason for the shingles blowing off was because my guys buried the nails or because it wasn't hot enough for a good seal. My question is: what material should I use for the 2 pitch?? This is killing me. Please help!!
thanks
mike. Newbie

 

Welcome to the forums! 2:12 is border line with shingles. I would not shingle a low pitch like that. Metal roofing would be my choice on it all, but $$$, I know. How many nails were they putting in the shingles? Are they 3 tab or architectural? If architectural, the nail line is the red line where the nails will penetrate through two layers of the top shingle and the shingle under it. Some call for 5 nails per shingle. Just some things to think about.

 

Hi Mike and welcome to the forum.
Sometimes it takes some good sun to seal the tabs. If weather has been on the cold side since the install, which I think it has, they may have not sealed well. BUT, any roofer down there should have known that and said something. If the insurance co paid for it, they will want to talk to the contractor. You probably aren't the only one.

Bud

 

Its not warm enough for shingles to seal down, so that's probably why they are blowing off. Were the shingles nailed or stapled? And if they were nailed, are you sure the nails did not tear the shingle when they were shot in (over driven). A cold shingle is brittle and the nail head will sometimes tear a bit of the shingle as it is nailed, and then when the wind blows it will flutter loose. It only takes one shingle to flutter in a high wind and come loose and the rest will soon follow.

Best practice is to only shingle in warm weather, or else this sort of thing is bound to happen. If you must shingle in cold weather, you have to be sure nails are not overdriven, and it's best to use the high wind nailing pattern that is suggested on most package instructions. How many nails did you put in each shingle? It's also possible that on some of the shingles, you nailed too high. That's also bad.

Low slope is considered by most mfg's to be anything less than 4:12 and they recommend that on low slope roofs down to 2:12 that continuous ice and water shield be used under the shingles because of the increased likelihood of leaks.

Also, traditional 3 tab shingles provide less coverage than most architectural shingles. Shingles used to have a standard 5" lap when they were based on a shingle that was 12" x 36", but metric shingles are larger, have a longer lap and thus provide a little better coverage which can make a big difference on lower slopes. You didn't mention what kind/size your shingles are.

 

I used architects and I'm not sure about their nailing pattern as I wasn't there. I just put my guys on it. Can I use a cold applied singly ply for the 2 pitch and just reshuffle the 10? I'm trying to do this inside a budget as this will be the 2nd time I do it. Metal is out of the question.