roof shingles (installation)

[carb454]

Hello to all, I am a product off of the TBN and felt the country pangs banging at me for sometime now so I joined this one also!! OK now to my question, On regular 25-30yr. 3-tab shingles there is a cellophane strip on the back of every shingle which I assume is there so while the shingles are in the bundle they don't melt together .SO I think when they are installed you peel this strip off so the shingle can seal against the last row ...Correct or is that optional, Reason I ask is when we contracted our roofing job on our new constuction 7yrs ago I didn't climb up to inspect the job (my mistake thinking a contractor would know his business) but now it's been 7yrs and we live in a very windy region of md. I'm loosing shingles and I DON'T LIKE IT!!! [img]/forums/images/icons/frown.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/confused.gif[/img]
SO I just want to know about the cellophane strip because I'm thinking that the shingles are getting fatigued flapping up and down finally tearing off!! [img]/forums/images/icons/mad.gif[/img] bigtime thanks for your input Mark

[Bird]

Good question, Mark. I'd like to know more about that myself. I don't think most roofers ever remove that cellophane strip, although when neighbors and I did our own roofing, we did.

[egon]

I do beleive that strip should be removed.

Egon

[RobS]

I'm not absolutely sure on this but I believe you'll find the celophane strip lines up on the tar strip when the shingles are stacked in the bundle but when you lay them it will fall away from the tar strip. The strip normally sticks to the back of the shingle. If it sticks to the tar strip you would want to remove it. Take a look and let us know [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[carb454]

All righty then , since I had the opportunity to climb up on the second story of my 7/12 pitched roof with 9or 10 /12 pitch front gable of course that was the location of the missing shingle,I took the time to check out my own question and come up with the answer(while my toes where digging into the soles of my shoes,and going numb)the strip has absolutely nothing to do with sealing, It appears as the strip might be a partial reinforcement to nailing line,and to keep shingles from sticking together in bundles,But I want to thank you all for your input ...Mark [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Weave]

Interesting comments. I recently learned that most roofers now days do not remove the cellophane. However, when my house was re-roofed, the cellophane was removed on most of the shingles. It was all over my yard. Over the years I have lost a few shingles and all those coming off DID NOT have the cellophane removed. Since there is adhesive under the cellophane, I believe it does give you a better installation. I think the professionals say removing it isn't necessary since it is very time consuming. I would like to hear the unbiased opinion of some older retired roofers on this subject.

[beenthere]

Welcome to the forum. I'm older, retired, and not a 'professional' roofer. However;

I just finished re-roofing last week, and did not remove the cellophane from each shingle, as the cellophane has white lettering printed on it that says in English, plus two other languages, "Do Not Remove". It appears to be there to contact the adhesive strip of the adjoining shingle when packaged in the bundle (I just went out and looked at the leftovers of the last bundle).

Now in the past, there may have been a manufacturer of shingles that did put a cellophane strip over the adhesive strip that did need to be removed before installation. Therefore, all can be right in their opinion to remove, or not remove. I suspect this is the case. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[GaryM]

Also not a professional roofer, but the strip keeps the shingles from sticking in the bundles as you said. When they are installed, the adhesive does not line up with the strip. So why would you want to take it off?

[Chillimau]

Like the rest I'm not a pro roofer. If I am remembering correctly the shingles are bundled in opposing directions. Tamko heritage 25 were the last shingles I used. Once you lay the shingles in the same orientation the cellophane is not in the bonding strip. No need to remove.

[mathey]

Is there an easy way to trim the shingles in a straight line where they overhang the eaves? Seems to me I recall that a plywood blade installed backwards in a circular saw works, but i'm not positive. Any help?