Magic Ice Guard Mistake

There a lot of talk of ice shield and and its cure all capabilities. It does not matter what brand you use or how much you pay for it, It will not stop water infiltration if all the other components are not perfect. Case in point, I was doing a repair yesterday on a roof that is 8 years old, were it leaked along the outside wall. Clearly an ice dam issue. Upon removing the shingles in the leak area i found it had Grace installed correctly. Up the wall and over the face board. Why the leak you ask????? because the nails rusted away to nothing leaving nice perfect 1/8 holes through the grace for the water to go through into the home. To make a truly effective seal you would need to make a couple of changes to HOW you install the shingles #1 Use hot dipped or stainless steel nails were you install the ice shield so they wont rust when exposed to water back up #2 more importantly reduce the exposed area of the shingles at the eave so water wont get to the fasteners. Example install 8 course's at 4 inch exposer instead of the normal 5 inch thus covering the nail father and it will be less likely to rust.

I just had this conversation with my son. We never depended on roof cenents,or had Ice &water shield. Just old school ability.

All my 30 years of roofing has been in the southeastern states so i lack experience with ice damming problems. Around here no Ice/Water shield is used at the bottoms or rake edges. If used at all its generally along walls, around chimneys, in valleys, around skylights, etc.. To me its like buying insurance at the black jack table just because the dealer has a scary ace showing.

Tinner you And I are old school (pun intended)I grew up in roofing when there was no such thing as ice shield. You had to rely on thinking ability and skill to make a roof water tight with out all the gooey stuff. To this day I still ,even with ice shield ,which I'm required to use , will shorten all eave course's or anywhere else were ice or water flow may be a problem. The next repair I get that shows those rusted out nails I'll post em.

Sacrilege Larry! Every time I mention shortening exposure and increasing headlap, I get boooed! :laugh: Big time too! :laugh:

Truth is, shingles can be installed like slate. Shortened, lapped, and random too if you want to get crazy! Random is hampered though by the height limitation unlike slate where a 24" can be weaved into a field of 12's if you wanted to.

OLE Willie Said: Ice/Water Shield is a good sales tool but not a substitute for a correctly installed roof.

Or a cure for Ice Dams

Ice/Water Shield is a good sales tool but not a substitute for a correctly installed roof.

It is a good idea. My sarcasm runs deep.

Are you using hand nails or gun nails? I heard that the Maze stainless gun nails are heard to find.

Well Twill when I roofed my house this year I used stainless steal nails where ever I used ice shield. I have been trying to get my employer to see the value of doing the same on all jobs.

In my area, maybe 1% of the buying public would care. With the asphalt shingles it is really about price only. OTOH, I am as guilty as anyone using cheap nails.....but the upsell and education potential is long gone here. Really.

Sometimes when it come to making a repair it is not as much about price. But they shop them like crazy now too.

You'd think the college chick manning the phones at Certainteed's Tech center would've put the bulletin out about this by now.....