Asphalt Shingle Roofing - The Facts

Is it any wonder why almost 80% of homes in north america use asphalt shingles as the roofing material of choice. The prevalence of asphalt shingles has created a vast assortment of fittings and fixtures designed to work with them. Items such as a multitude of flashing configurations, edge products, and almost every skylight manufactured has an appropriate base configuration for a weatherproof connection with asphalt shingles. All of the material that you need for a proper installation, such as the shingles, tarpaper, nails, vent boots and chimney flashing are available at any home improvement retailer.

The primary attributes of asphalt tiles are:

• reasonably priced (economical),
• require very little maintenance,
• versatile,
• provide excellent protection on steep sloped roofs,
• are weather and sunlight resistant,
• easy to cut,
• can be nailed by hand or with powered nailers.

There are two different types of asphalt shingle base material construction - composition and fiberglass. Composition shingles use a base material termed organic felt, which is a blend of paper and wood fibers. Fiberglass, on the other hand, uses a base that is comprised of a fiberglass mat. In both cases, once the base material is produced it is soaked in an asphalt compound. In numbers sold, fiberglass leads the market. They are less expensive, weigh less because they are thinner, have a longer wear life and have a better fire rating than the composition base shingles.

average cost of a shingle roof is $50 to $150 per square, installed. Removal of old shingles will cost between $30 and $50 per square.

Both types of asphalt shingles are manufactured with embedded mineral granules. Seeing the granules in your eaves trough (after the initial installation) is a sure sign that you need to repair or replace the shingles.

Where just a few years ago asphalt shingles were only available in simple tab configurations in blacks, grays and browns, the manufacturers have expanded their product lines to include a vast array of colors, profiles and with the use of laminate coatings have created as assortment of eye pleasing textures. Special chemicals are also being blended into the shingles to make them mold and algae resistant. Although these additional features do increase the price per square, asphalt shingles are still the most economical roofing material available.

Drawbacks:

The serviceable life of asphalt shingles is the lowest of all the roofing materials. Although they are available in numerous grades designated by the expected life, from 15 to 50 years they often need repair or replacement long before their supposed life has expired. The hotter the climate, the shorter the life of asphalt shingles. Many of the asphalt shingle problems that are encountered by homeowners are a direct result of two factors:

• poor initial installation
• damage due to sever weather

Poor installation usually occurs in the area of deck preparation, and not providing adequate flashing around items that are protruding through the roof such as vent pipes and chimneys. Other poor installation methods are not using the required amount of nails per shingle and nailing in the wrong area of the shingle. There are many fly-by-night roofing companies that will quote low prices, because they won't be around to stand behind the workmanship. Choose a roofing contractor carefully.

Roof Repairs:

You should inspect your shingled roof and all the flashing at least once a year and after any major storm such as a hurricane. hurricane winds will remove entire shingles and lift others. sun and rain can cause asphalt shingles to crack. You should also go into the attic and look up, any sign of daylight means that there is a hole. When inspecting the roof look for shingles that have lost the granule minerals - bald spots, cracked and/or curled.

If you have to make a roof repair, choose a warm day so that the shingles will be flexible and unlikely to crack when lifted. The roofing cements also spread easier in warmer temperatures.

You will know when you have a roofing problem when you see beige spots appearing on ceilings and walls close to the ceiling. Beige spots are a sign of water damage.

Maintenance:

Roofing cement is the equivalent of duct tape for roofs. It will repair most leaks, cracked or torn shingles, patch flashing around vent pipes and chimneys. You can also use the roofing cement to cover nail heads that have been exposed.

Shingles fade with age so any replacement shingles used will most likely be visually obvious. Shingle over damaged ridge shingles, by nailing down all the corners of the old shingle first - do not remove them.

If you have to replace an entire shingle, lift each of the tabs and pry the nails out of the shingle of the one that needs to be replaced. Remove the top corners of the replacement shingle and very carefully, without damaging the tarpaper, slip it under the existing shingles.

Use roofing nails (large head, galvanized) to fix the new shingle to the roof decking. Use roofing cement to cover the nail heads.

Planning and knowledge are the keys to any successful home improvement, remodel or landscaping project!

For additional information on roofing materials for your home or other renovation projects, including landscaping, visit Renovation Headquarters

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Cars PC Game

The Cars PC game is inspired by the Pixar/Disney film that bears the same name and has been developed and released in several different versions for several different players. You can play the Cars game online or download it to your PC and play it on a microsoft Windows system, an apple mac or an OS X. If you have a game console you can play cars the game on PS 2, PSP, Xbox 360, nintendo DS, Wii Xbox and many more.

Even though it can be played on many different types of players Cars the Pixar game is not the same from one version to another. For example, if you play Cars the movie game on nintendo DS or PSP the game play is different from the game play of the Cars PC game or from the game play of a cars game that you would play online. If you want to play race car games that resemble the Cars PC game all you need to do is start an online search for similar race games.

The characters that you can race as in the cars PC game differ from one version of the game to the next. For instance, in the ps2 and Wii Xbox versions you can play characters like Boost, DJ, Luigi, Wingo, Sally Carrera, Mater, and Sheriff. In the PSP version, in addition to the characters mentioned before, you can play characters like Lightning McQueen, Fillmore, Ramone, Doc Hudson, Flo, Lizzie and Sarge. The race cars that you can drive in the nintendo DS version include Gasprin, Sputter Stop, vinyl Toupee and Leakless. The cars PC game is not only inspired by the Pixar/Disney movie of the same name, but it is developed to be a continuation of the animated motion picture.

The Cars PC game has different levels that are fun to play for kids of all ages and adults as well. In the nintendo DS version of the game the levels include That Blinkin light, Piston Cup, Worlds best Backwards driver, Casa Della Tires, and Gesundheit!

If you want to play race car games on your PC you can start an online search for car games, choose your favorites and download them to your computer.

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