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What Are Asphalt Shingles?

Almost all shingles with a granule surface use asphalt as the waterproofing material. While the surface may be made of asphalt, there are different kinds of materials use for reinforcement. The first types of backing is is a felt reinforcement called “organic” because it is made from paper or wood chip products.

The second type of backing is called inorganic or more commonly known as fiber glass shingles. In the norther ares of the United States organic shingles are the most popular, while south of the snow belt you will find that fiber glass shingles are the most popular. In truth, both organic and fiber glass types of shingles will hold up just as well in either climate.

Difference Between Three-Tab and Laminated Asphalt Shingles

Three-Tab Shingles – The most commonly used type of shingles are the traditional three-tab asphalt shingles. These are the least expensive option of asphalt shingles. 3 tab shingles appear as three separate shingles because of strips with notches that makes up the three tabs. This leave what is know as a water line going up the roof where the notched our areas should be in alignment making a sort of channel. These shingles can also be installed using what is know as a 5 on five patter that staggers the water lines. This works fantastic on hip roofs.

Laminated Shingles – Laminated shingles are heavier, more expensive, and more durable than traditional 3-tab shingle designs. laminated or architectural, uses two distinct layers which are bonded together with asphalt sealant. Instead of a 3-tab strip they have what are called a dragon tooth cut out and a strip applied to the back, hence laminate. This gives the shingle a raised visual effect to the roof surface.

Which is Better, Hand Nailing of Coil Nailing?

Want to learn the best way to install shingles? Keep reading and discover the best methods, practices, and tips for developing the skills to be a pro-roofer!

Back in the day, one of the signs of a quality roofer was how fast he could hand nail shingles. A roofer took pride in the amount of squares he could install in a day. If you could put down 15 squares in a day, you were good. If you could install 20 squares, you were a master.

With the arrival of roofing coil nailers hand nailing became a thing of the past. Many new roofers can’t hand nail at all and have become what I call gun spoiled. While coil nailers can be fast, this does not necessarily mean that you get a quality roof. In fact, poor nailing can lead to leaks and shingles blowing off too easily.

I still hand nail to this day, and often get work specifically because of this. Today there are not many roofers left that will hand nail shingles.

In this video the roofer is going fast, but is probably failing to fasten the shingles properly. One other thing to notice is how this roofer is running the shingles straight up the roof rather than stair stepping.

This not only slows down installation, but causes a channel that could leak years down the road. That’s why this “raking” method voids the warranty on many shingle brands. If you are having a new roof installed, be sure that your roofing contractor stair steps your shingles, and slows down enough to put the nails in correctly.

Fast Roofing

This is a roof in the Chicago suburbs that I repaired a few years back.

This roof was originally installed using a pneumatic nailer.

You can bet the roofer went real fast when installing these shingles, but failed to put the nails in correctly – that’s why they were popping through the shingles.

While you can install shingles with an air gun, the best roof is a hand nailed roof.

The Shivley Method of Installing a Shingle Roof

The fastest roofer in the land – Michael Shively Roofing

Here’s an example of a hand nail installation:

Carbondale, Illinois

Over my twenty-plus years in roofing I say many a roofer come and go. Each roofer has their own method, and each thinks that their method is the best. There was one man that that I worked for that did indeed have the best method that I have ever seen. He had things down to a science, and was the fasted roofer that I have ever seen in all my years of roofing. I adopted his method of hand nailing, and put it to the test against other roofers time and again. I’m going to describe the system used by Michael Shively, the fastest roofer in the land!

Now, Mike has no idea that I coined this system, “the Shivley method,” nor does he know that I have shared these secrets with roofers from New Orleans to Chicago. And now I’ll share them with you. Grab my email updates or bookmark this page, as I will be updating often until I have spelled out the entire method.