How to Repair Loose Roof Shingles

LESLIE: Gerald in Massachusetts with loose roof shingles, you’ve got The Money Pit. How can we help you today?

GERALD: I have a roof that is about seven years old. And I notice on a couple of the eaves, where the shingles go down from the garage onto my breezeway, I get a little bit of leakage. And I was just wondering if, possibly, I could use that Flex Seal. Would that help and not hurt my shingles? I’m sure they’re the standard type of shingles. They’re about, what, 30-year asphalt shingles?

TOM: Yeah. So, when you say this is between your breezeway and your garage, is there a sort of a flashing point there? Is there an intersection of a wall and a roof or two different kinds of roofs? Give me a better picture of what’s going on.

GERALD: There is, there is. Between the breezeway and the garage, there is a different wall. The flashing? No, not really.

TOM: So, you’re just seeing shingles that are just sticking up?

GERALD: I notice that, yes, when I went up the – when I went on the roof and I cleaned off all of my pine needles – I have a lot of pine needles in my property – I noticed that the shingles would stick up.

TOM: I would just use asphalt roof cement. That’s what that stuff is designed for.

GERALD: Is that what that – OK, I was going to ask you if there was any other thing that you would suggest.

TOM: You can get some asphalt roof cement. It comes in a quart-size can. Get one of those disposable putty knives. You can apply a dab of it under the shingle, press the shingle down. Maybe you have to weight it overnight, if you want to put something on it.

GERALD: Yep.

TOM: But that’ll hold those – hide to hold those tabs down. The shingles actually have a cement underneath the tab but sometimes, that breaks down or wears out and that’s why – where asphalt roof cement will come in.

GERALD: I see. So asphalt roof cement. Thank you very much, sir.