How to Shingle a Gazebo Roof

I thought that since it is only a Gazebo I could skip these two steps in the shingle installation process. I really don’t know the value of installing the tar paper on a Gazebo. Any information you can provide in shingling a gazebo would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Answer: N.N., Shingling a gazebo roof is a fairly easy diy project and is done similar to any other shingling / roofing project. To answer your two specific questions up front, the installation of drip edge and tar paper is well worth the cost and effort of protecting your Gazebo roof. The drip edge helps prevent rain water from wicking up back underneath the bottom edge of the shingles and it’s very easy to install.

Simply start nailing it to the gazebo roof edge at the edge of one of the gazebo roof panel seams using ¾ inch roofing nails. As you get to the next gazebo roof panel seam simply bend the drip edge in place and continue to nail it to the gazebo roof. Work in this process around the entire perimeter of the gazebo roof. Tar paper is just another low cost water protection barrier in the event the shingles fail. Installing tar paper is even easier to install. Start at the bottom and work your way up adding courses. Tack it in place with a staple gun.

Before installing the roof drip edge and tar paper, however, caulk the roof section seams with an exterior grade silicone caulk.

Gazebo Roof Shingling

Basically shingling a gazebo roof involves shingling each roof panel separately and then covering the seams between each roof panel with ridge cap shingles. To shingle the gazebo roof, start by applying a starter course of shingles along the bottom edge of each gazebo roof panel.

The starter course shingles are applied upside down on the roof and tacked into place with ¾ inch to 1 inch long roofing nails. After nailing the starter course down, trim the shingles along each roof panel edge using a utility knife. Next install the first course of shingles directly over the starter course. Again, nail them in place along the shingle tabs, using 3 to 4 nails for each shingle, and cut away overlapping shingles as you did with the starter course. Continue to work your way up the gazebo roof panel in this process overlapping shingles appropriately. Repeat this process for all of the gazebo roof panels.

Use this asphalt shingle checklist for ensuring you get a quality shingling job done on your home.

Once all of the gazebo roof panels have been shingled make ridge cap shingles by cutting a standard 3-tab shingle into 6 even pieces and then making two tapering cuts into the tab side edges of each piece.

Make enough ridge cap shingles to cover all of the seams. Then, starting at the base of each seam, begin nailing the ridge cap shingles into place with two roofing nails near the top half of the tapered section. Apply overlapping roofing cap shingles up the length of each seam making sure to cover the nails of the lower nailed roofing cap shingle.

Once all the gazebo seams have been capped, all you need to do is cap the center of the gazebo to complete the process. With most gazebo kits a metal roof cap comes with it. Typically it has screws that come along with it to allow you to fasten it in place to the roof. After attaching the metal roof cap, apply a bead of roofing tar or exterior grade silicone caulk to any exposed roofing nails or screws.