Do you have a pitched roof that you want to waterproof? Shingles are a quick and easy way to achieve an excellent result. This material is suitable for all roofs with a pitch of 15° or more. Shingles are very lightweight, making them ideal for roofs with a less substantial roof structure. This is often the case with garden sheds, carports, garages and similar buildings.

What are shingles?

Shingles are a popular roof covering. Easy installation is certainly one of their biggest advantages. Shingles give roofs the appearance of slate, but are actually bitumen sheets with a slate pattern. With one sheet, you can cover around 2 m² in one go, making installation much faster and easier for DIYers. Here are some of the main advantages of shingles:

• Shingles are light, making them ideal for lightweight roof structures
• Shingles are easy to install
• Strong and rot-proof thanks to glass fleece reinforcement
• Shingles are an affordable roof covering that looks great

Shingles are ideal for roofs with an unusual shape

For roofs with a traditional structure, there are many types of roof coverings to choose from. Traditional roof structures include saddle roofs and lean-to roofs. But if your roof has an unusual shape, bitumen shingles are ideal. You can bend this material to create curves around ‘difficult’ corners, making this roof covering particularly versatile and easy to work with.

Different colours and shapes

Roof shingles look great on almost any building. They are available in black, vintage green and red. There are also two shapes to choose from: 'standard' with straight corners and ‘special’ with rounded corners. Whichever you choose, shingles give your roof an attractive finish and are easy to install.

Anyone can install shingles

You don't need to be an experienced DIYer to install shingles. You don't need any special tools either. You can cut the shingles with a box cutter, glue them to the roof and then nail them down with an ordinary hammer.

Here's how to proceed

1. Shingles must be installed on an even, dry and sound nailable substrate. This can be an OSB board or 18 mm plywood.
2. It is advisable to install an underlay first, such as Aquaplan Glass Fleece 3TT. Always nail this underlay to the substrate with Aquaplan's corrosion-resistant Roof nails.
3. Now you can install the bitumen shingles. Simply glue the shingles using Aquaplan's Easy Roof Glue Shingles or Roof Repair Regular. Then nail the shingles in place using the corresponding 20 mm Roof Nails.
4. Finish the roof edges with wooden moulding or, for a more durable finish, Aquaplan’s preformed Aluminium Edge Trim with integrated sealant channel. Fill the edge trim with Roof Repair Regular, position it on the roof edge and screw it in place.