Roofing shingles keep popping off my roof which is aging faster than expected. I have a man doing odd jobs for me, and he’s replaced some individual shingles for me. But, he says they really need warmer weather to meld and set. Could he use an acetylene torch (like a plumber might use) to heat the shingles to promote melding? I assume shingles are fire-retardant, amd he’s not the most knowledgeable…is there a chance he could set the roof on fire if he tries my suggestion???
In general, what techniques do they use to repair roofs in colder weather? Or, am I doomed to wait until Spring 2004? - Jinx
Will it work? No, not really. The torch will locally heat the shingles and damage them. My guess is you’d be doing the job again in a few years if you try this.
Catch on fire? Sure. Shingle aren’t real flammable but there are usually things behind them that are. You may not even know the house is on fire until it’s too late.
The shingles will work fine as long as you don’t get high winds. The “seal down” feature isn’t required to make the roof waterproof. It just keeps them from lifting in high winds. I’ve put a number of roofs on in cold weather. You just trust your luck that you won’t get wind damage until you get a few sunny days. (They will actually start to seal down on sunny winter days, but won’t fully bond until spring.) I’ve never lost a shingle putting them on in winter.
Could he set the roof on fire: Yes.
The recommended way to “set” shingles if the roof is too cold to activate the sealing strips is to use roofing cement. Put a bit on the shingle before nailing it down.
By the way, I agree with KrnGr that the sealing is only to prevent wind damage. If the whole roof is going to be replaced soon anyway (it sounds like this is on the way) it’s fine to just replace the missing ones with no sealant for now, with the whole roof replacement done in the spring.
The high winds are killing me. I never hear the weathermen mention it, but I’d wager 2003 has been one of the windiest years on records for the Mid-Atlantic. We’ve had some whopper wind storms throughout the course of the year - seeming excessively windy for any one year to me! We’ve had several surprise wind storms, too! For example, a week before Isabel and then a few days after, there were “wind squals”, if there could ever be such a thing…which hit the Philly area by surprise causing crossing guards to hug telephone poles! My home has been hit by such surprise wind storms, and I live at the crest of a hill. Adding insult to injury, the highest peak of my roof faces N-NW which tends to be windward in the winter, IIRC. This is exactly where the shingles keep coming from.
Isn’t there something like liquid nails, perhaps, he could apply to the shingle before slipping it into place? - Jinx