# Shingle question



## FerrisHI (Oct 20, 2010)

I've been shingling for 16 years and have had my own business for 7 and have never pulled a plastic strip off of a shingle before i installed it...but in just the past month i have had a homeowner ask why i didn't take them off and a gc tell me he always takes them off...he doesn't do much roofing though...But if i'm not mistaken its only there to keep shingles from sticking to each other in the package and then when the shingle is installed the tar strip will heat up and melt through the plastic...

am I right on this???


----------



## mikec (Jan 2, 2007)

They are to prevent sticking, but some brands (forget which) use them to help reinforce the nailing strip.

Some shingles say "do not remove" right on the plastic strip.


----------



## A. Spruce (Aug 6, 2010)

I've seen guys pulling them too. If it's the standard, run of the mill, plastic strip, then the only purpose it serves is to keep the shingles from sticking to each other in the package. I've never seen a manufacturer recommend pulling the strips, but I don't do much roofing, and certainly not with any strange/specialty roof products that I'm unfamiliar with.


----------



## Tinstaafl (Jan 6, 2008)

Just look at where that plastic strip lands when the shingle is installed. It's where your nails go, right? The actual sticky strip lies underneath the lower edge of the next shingle up, where of course there is no plastic strip. 

That plastic will neither help nor hinder the nails, and pulling it off is a total waste of time.


----------



## Young_Buck (Jul 19, 2009)

I had someone say to me once 'You wouldn't want to demo a roof that I put together. I use the optional 5-nail pattern, and I peel all the cellophane'. He wouldn't believe me that it was a HUGE waste of time. We ended up calling IKO. :laughing:


----------



## A. Spruce (Aug 6, 2010)

Young_Buck said:


> I had someone say to me once 'You wouldn't want to demo a roof that I put together. I use the optional 5-nail pattern, and I peel all the cellophane'. He wouldn't believe me that it was a HUGE waste of time. We ended up calling IKO. :laughing:


There you go, he should have been using staples. :w00t:


----------



## MikeGC (Dec 6, 2008)

It doesnt take long in contractng to run into an ego know it all with his head up in the depths of darkness.


----------



## FerrisHI (Oct 20, 2010)

Yea thats what i thought...Just wanted to see if anybody had anything else...thanks fellas


----------



## FlatlRoofGuy (Oct 24, 2010)

Strip identifies the shingle if needed later ..... DO NOT REMOVE!


----------



## RooferJim (Mar 6, 2006)

:laughing: what an idiot. tell him to read a bundle wrapper.


----------



## tcleve4911 (Mar 26, 2006)

....and where does the plastic thingy go when you tear it off on a windy day????

I had a boss tell us to do this on a project in the city on the top of the hill.
Those frikkin plastic strips blew all over the neighborhood.......:sad:


----------



## ecenur (Oct 25, 2010)

FerrisHI said:


> I've been shingling for 16 years and have had my own business for 7 and have never pulled a plastic strip off of a shingle before i installed it...but in just the past month i have had a homeowner ask why i didn't take them off and a gc tell me he always takes them off...he doesn't do much roofing though...But if i'm not mistaken its only there to keep shingles from sticking to each other in the package and then when the shingle is installed the tar strip will heat up and melt through the plastic...
> 
> am I right on this???


Your not supposed to remove the plastic strip anyway, they are there for enforcement, their not necessarily meant to keep the, from sticking to each other but, that's a good way to look at it.


----------



## Tinstaafl (Jan 6, 2008)

Scotch tape would provide better reinforcement than those plastic strips.


----------



## A. Spruce (Aug 6, 2010)

Tinstaafl said:


> Scotch tape would provide better reinforcement than those plastic strips.


I prefer duct tape. :thumbsup:


----------



## seeyou (Dec 12, 2008)

ecenur said:


> Your not supposed to remove the plastic strip anyway, *they are there for enforcement,* their not necessarily meant to keep the, from sticking to each other but, that's a good way to look at it.



"It's OK, Ma'am. I'm from the Internet Shingle Enforcement Bureau." :whistling 

I suppose it's just a coinky-dink that those "enforcement" strips line up with the adhesive strip on the next shingle they're bundled with. Another one of nature's mysteries that will never be solved.


----------



## MJW (Jan 27, 2006)

seeyou said:


> "It's OK, Ma'am. I'm from the Internet Shingle Enforcement Bureau." :whistling
> 
> I suppose it's just a coinky-dink that those "enforcement" strips line up with the adhesive strip on the next shingle they're bundled with. Another one of nature's mysteries that will never be solved.


This may be a simple confusion of facts. Certainteed Landmark re-enforced (sp) the face of their Landmark widetrack shingles years ago. This was for the higher nailing line. About 6 months after they came out, they realized they needed another plastic strip to prevent them from sticking together in the bag. 
This could have been rolled into one fact by accident, but the only reason for the plastic strips is to prevent them from sticking together in the bundle.


----------



## seeyou (Dec 12, 2008)

MJW said:


> This may be a simple confusion of facts. Certainteed Landmark re-enforced (sp) the face of their Landmark widetrack shingles years ago. This was for the higher nailing line. About 6 months after they came out, they realized they needed another plastic strip to prevent them from sticking together in the bag.
> This could have been rolled into one fact by accident, but the only reason for the plastic strips is to prevent them from sticking together in the bundle.


Well, I went out and looked at the two open bundles I had laying around. The Landmark has the strip to keep them from sticking together. There is also another strip that must be the reinforcing strip of which you speak. Never noticed it before. The Tamko Heritage just had the "no-stick" strip.


----------



## 2ndGen (Apr 6, 2006)

Yes, they are to keep the shingles from sticking before being installed.
Once installed and exposed to extreme heat (sun, interior, etc...),
they melt and actually contribute to making the shingles stick better actually.

Think about it, if they were to keep shingles from sticking permanently,
then they'd be working "against" the tar strip who's job it is to make them stick.

ROOFERS do not remove the plastic strip.


----------



## oldfrt (Oct 10, 2007)

2ndGen said:


> Yes, they are to keep the shingles from sticking before being installed.
> Once installed and exposed to extreme heat (sun, interior, etc...),
> *they melt and actually contribute to making the shingles stick better actually.*
> 
> ...


 Maybe I'm seeing something different,but I swear 
I've had them things flying all over the neighborhood
while stripping old roofs.


----------



## MJW (Jan 27, 2006)

seeyou said:


> Well, I went out and looked at the two open bundles I had laying around. The Landmark has the strip to keep them from sticking together. There is also another strip that must be the reinforcing strip of which you speak. Never noticed it before. The Tamko Heritage just had the "no-stick" strip.


The second strip is also to prevent them from sticking. They had a problem with the first bunches of them, then the second strip was added. It has nothing to do with reinforcing the shingle. I was just saying, maybe that's what people may have thought.

The strip doesn't melt either. This is a funny thread.


----------



## 2ndGen (Apr 6, 2006)

oldfrt said:


> Maybe I'm seeing something different,but I swear
> I've had them things flying all over the neighborhood
> while stripping old roofs.


Won't doubt it. 

How old were the shingles you were tearing off?


----------



## 2ndGen (Apr 6, 2006)

MJW said:


> The strip doesn't melt either. This is a funny thread.


Does to!

They make it with a "special" glue that is chemically designed to fuse to 
the shingles once they hit 37 days of temperatures of 80 degrees +!

But you'd only know that if you had one of these to read the instructions with: 










[And you only get one of these babies after selling over 10,000 squares in one season!]


----------



## MJW (Jan 27, 2006)

:whistling:whistling:whistling


----------



## bcdemon (Jul 11, 2010)

I'm installing some GAF timberline and those strips are coming off EVERY shingle on their own and flying all over the place. Pull two shingles apart, the strip comes off, cut a shingle, the strip comes off.

Certainteed puts valuable information on that cellophane strip, good thing IT DOESN'T MELT!


----------



## 2ndGen (Apr 6, 2006)

bcdemon said:


> I'm installing some GAF timberline and those strips are coming off EVERY shingle on their own and flying all over the place. Pull two shingles apart, the strip comes off, cut a shingle, the strip comes off.
> 
> Certainteed puts valuable information on that cellophane strip, good thing IT DOESN'T MELT!


Yeah, because as everybody knows, 
if it melts AFTER it's installed, 
we won't be able to read it. 


:laughing:

What's wrong with you people!

Haven't you ever ripped off a roof where the 
plastic striped was fused to the shingles?

Oy!


----------



## MJW (Jan 27, 2006)

2ndGen said:


> Yeah, because as everybody knows,
> if it melts AFTER it's installed,
> we won't be able to read it.
> 
> ...


No. As a matter of fact, older shingles used paper strips instead of plastic. You sure you're a roofer?


----------



## dougger222 (Jan 29, 2004)

MJW said:


> No. As a matter of fact, older shingles used paper strips instead of plastic. You sure you're a roofer?


In 1991 Certainteed starting installing the plasic strip on the back side of the shingle. Before that they used a paper based product. Who knows perhaps they knew when they finally bumped the warranty to 25 years they would need the information for the class action settlement?

Have had a few home owners over the years ask about removing the plastic strips. One thought we were going to use hammer tack staples for the shingles

My favorite though was on new construction when the home owners wifes would pull look up the roof and say how nice it looked. I'd say, ya wait until we put the shingles on then it will look really nice.:thumbup:


----------



## 2ndGen (Apr 6, 2006)

MJW said:


> No. As a matter of fact, older shingles used paper strips instead of plastic. You sure you're a roofer?


What? 

You mean, plastic was not "always" used for shingles? 

I guess now you're going to try to convince us that all shingles were organic at some point too next? 

And yes. 

I am a roofer. 

I _don't _do siding. 
I _don't _do windows. 
I _don't _do kitchens.
I _don't _do bathrooms.
I _don't _do decks. 
I _don't _do painting.
I _don't _do anything "generally".
Just one thing. 
Roofing. 

Don't get me wrong...I _can _do those things; I just choose "not" to.


----------



## 2ndGen (Apr 6, 2006)

dougger222 said:


> In 1991 Certainteed starting installing the plasic strip on the back side of the shingle. Before that they used a paper based product. Who knows perhaps they knew when they finally bumped the warranty to 25 years they would need the information for the class action settlement?
> 
> Have had a few home owners over the years ask about removing the plastic strips. One thought we were going to use hammer tack staples for the shingles
> 
> My favorite though was on new construction when the home owners wifes would pull look up the roof and say how nice it looked. I'd say, ya wait until we put the shingles on then it will look really nice.:thumbup:


I had a lady once ask me if I'm supposed to remove the strips. I told her no. 
They are there just for for transit to keep them from sticking. 
Laid them out for her and showed her how once the shingles 
are laid up, the tar line is exposed & staggered. 

Another one called me frantically, "Please come quick! 
There are nails showing through the roof all over the roof! 
When I got there, it was the sun reflecting on 
the tar strip that showed between the cutouts. 

Unbelievable.


----------

