Roofing tar/Peeps with some product knowledge

Anybody here in the business and have experience enough to have an opinion as to what you feel is the best product or brand? Thanks.

 

when I was getting out of construction ( I've done a lot of hot tar roofs) everyone was going toward sealed rubber around here and that was 25 yrs ago. b bill

 

I think you mean for an entire roof right?
I'm just looking for a good quart/gallon of patching type stuff.

 

lowe's or home depot and get a gallon of roofing cement . you may need some 30# felt or a piece of half lap roofing material to make a proper patch and some roofing nails. length depends on how many layers are on it. I'm thinking you have a flat or low slope roof?

 

What you are looking for isn't tar. What are you trying to repair?

 

Flex Seal!!!

 

I'm just looking for the best product/brand to smudge onto something like an exposed nail head. My ridge vent on my garage is letting water in somehow. It's a metal type that would possibly be fastened with nails or screws.....I don't know yet. Once I get up there this a-noon I will get some clue hopefully as to what is the problem. If the issue can be repaired using some type of roofing tar/cement, or whatever the hell it is, are there any peeps with an opinion as to what product or brand or whatever, that one with experience would recommend?

 

Black Jack at Lowes will work fine. There are obviously different products for different applications. You might have loose or missing shingles or a damaged cap. Ridge is a somewhat unusual place for a leak unless other roof areas are dropping water onto it.

 

Nail heads? Silicone.

 

black jack holds up to FL hurricane conditions.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Black-Jack-3-6-qt-Roof-and-Foundation-Coating-6190-9-34/202527492

 

I recently had to do some minor repairs after some storm damage and I used some black roofing cement in a caulk gun. Put a dab of that stuff over ever nail and then a line or two of it on each shingle. Seemed to work ok.

I used it LIBERALLY as the biggest issue I have is that I can't really tell if water is getting in anywhere on my roof as I don't have an attic or a way to look up between the ceiling drywall and the bottom of the roof.

 

I’ve used some elastometric stuff called duck coat on the metal roof on a my commercial building. It works but the surface has to be really clean. Black jack is more forgiving.

 

seriously though, does that stuff work? seems to have a lot of positive reviews

 

LOL I have no clue. although a friend of mine in FL said he used a piece of the tape to seal a seam in a gutter and it has not leaked.

 

NPC SolarSeal #900, ~$40 a tube, Lowe's, Home Depot, etc.

Get your money's worth by finding and preparing all your exposed nailheads.

I used to be a shingle monkey. Ridge vents suck for exactly this reason. They are nailed on with roofing nails and the roofer is supposed to caulk the nailhead. The caulk won't last a lifetime, you have to redo it occasionally. When redoing it, give the nail a tap - don't hammer it, clean the surrounding area to promote good adhesion and caulk away...just use some contact cleaner/rag. With a grape-sized dab on the nail, spread it out over the edge of the nail for a good 1/4"-3/8" around without thinning/flattening it too much. A makeshift spatula would work well enough. Spot repairs with caulk can be spread with a fingertip wet with spit.
What you're likely to find is that storm debris hitting the roof has bent areas of the flanged edge on the vent creating troughs for water to collect, as well as debris itself water-locking a nail head. Old and/or poorly installed caulk allows the nail to present a leak and the leak subsequently loosens up the nail giving you an even bigger leak as the nail backs out.
A more involved solution would be to replace your loosened roofing nails with slightly thicker ones. You're still gonna be caulkin' 'em.
I fucking hate ridge vents...so many opportunities to develop leaks. Whoever's bright idea these were should be shot.
There should be only four exposed nailheads on a ridged roof and they hold down the final ridge cap of ridge shingles.

For the money, a number of static vents are a thousand times better than ridge vents and require zero maintenance. They'll last at least as long as the shingles and can even be re-used if re-roofing.



While you're up there, inspect the gaskets on your vent stack pipes, if so equipped. Short of replacing it (the whole assembly), you could try something like Flex-Seal tape. These are otherwise installed exactly like static vents, with the exception of fitting it over the pipe.

 

Thanks. And everybody else too. I bought a tube of the Black Jack rubberized stuff that was mentioned. I pulled all the nails (they were all raised) and replaced them with screws and Black Jacked all the heads and anywhere it looked like a good idea.