Home Repair Tips How To Fix a Hole In Your Roof

Fixing a hole in your roof is one of the most common roof repair projects that you can choose to undertake. It’s not terribly difficult, but it does require that you adequately reinforce the patch you’ll be adding to your roof. If you have a large hole in your roof, you’ll need a 2×4 roughly three times the length of the whole. For irregularly-shaped holes in your roof, you’ll need to have a reciprocating saw so that you can cut the hole into a more regular shape, preferably a rectangle or a square.

If your roof repair requires that you patch a larger hole, reinforce the area under the patch by screwing in the 2×4. You can use any type of long wood screw for this part of the roof repair. The main part of any roof repair, whether it’s a large or small hole, will be the installation of the plywood onto which you’ll nail the shingles. Make sure that the edges of the plywood extend well beyond the roof repair area so that there is adequate reinforcement for the patch. Using a nail gun for this repair will result in the wood being more tightly tacked to the roof.

Your roof repair will finish with the installation of shingles over the top of the plywood patch. Start the row of shingles that will cover the roof repair on the bottommost portion of the patch and work your way up. Remember to waterproof your roof repair with tar. This goes over the nails and prevents any cracks where the nails and shingles join from turning into leaks. You should be able to complete this roof repair in about an hour, provided that the hole is regular. Larger holes will require longer repairs.