How to Remove & Replace Hand-Split Cedar Shakes
- 1). Pull out the old cedar shakes from your roof. Begin at the top-center of your roof and pull off the ridge shingles with a roofing spade, making sure to either take out or hammer in the old nails as you work. Place the old cedar shakes and nails in a trash can.
- 2). Lay the felt paper across the roof horizontally, starting at the bottom, ensuring that the felt overlaps the end of the roof on all sides and sticks evenly to the roof.
- 3). Cut out your shakes with the utility knife. If your felt paper has pre-drawn shingle areas, use these as a guide and place the shakes accordingly before hammering them in. If your felt paper does not have these guides, trace the shakes with an ink marker to guide you before you hammer them in.
- 4). Nail the shakes into the roof with your hammer, placing one nail in each of the four corners roughly three-quarters of an inch from the edge of the shake. Work one row at a time, beginning at the bottom of the roof and working your way up to the top-center of the roof.
- 5). Cut shakes into vertical thirds to fit the remaining area at the top-center of the roof. Combine them in pairs to form snug wedges that conform to the shape of the roof peak. Hammer two nails into the upper portions of the shakes, working toward the middle of the ridge until only a small part of un-lain roof remains.
- 6). Cut the appropriate sizes for your final shakes, dip nails in roofing cement and hammer them in.