Most of the older houses where I live have asphalt shingles laid right on top of the original wooden shingles. When it’s time to tear them all off in preparation for a new roof, most roofers use a flat shovel to pry off all of the old layers of shingles. This is hard, slow work because the shovel keeps ramming into the thousands of nails securing the shingles.
Instead of a shovel, I use a short-handled, four-pronged spading fork with heavy, flat tines. The tines slide around the nails instead of ramming into them. After I remove the old ridge caps, I start at the top of the roof and work across it horizontally. The constant levering action puts a fair amount of strain on the tines, so I check them occasionally to make sure they stay parallel with one another. If one gets bent out of alignment, shingles tend to get wedged between the tines. To bend the tines back in line, I use a length of 3/4-in. water pipe.
Steve Funcell, Jamestown, NY
Edited and Illustrated by Charles Miller
From Fine Homebuilding #33
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