One of the sheds I inherited when I moved into the new house had a bit of a dodgy roof, with the felt rather ragged and exposing the wood around the edges. In the recent strong winds half of the felt actually peeled back and flopped to one side like a bad combover, so with lots of rain forecast for this week I figured I had to act swiftly to keep things dry.
According to their website Homebase don't actually sell roof felt (though they do sell the nails) so it was Wickes that sorted me out: £11 for an 8 metre roll of felt and a couple of quid more for a ridiculous quantity of 'galvanised 13mm extra large head clout nails'. A bargain surely.
It turned out to be surprisingly straightforward to get the old felt off and the new stuff on, even with no access to the side and rear aspects. I was done within just a couple of hours. I had to do most of the work from perching on the roof itself, which was only just robust enough to support me. The special nails are a joy to work with: push them into the felt with a thumb and they stand up on their own, then two whacks with a hammer and they're in. Very satisfying.
The only thing that went wrong was a misdirected hammer blow when leant over the rear, fighting amongst tree branches, which ripped a hole in the felt. I was nearly done at this point so wasn't keen to rip it all off and start again, but luckily the tarry felt could be pudged back together with a thumb in such a way that it's probably sufficiently waterproof. I'll have to keep an eye on that. It was also tough not to damage the felt when climbing all over it, which explains the scuff marks in the photo below.
So what happened after you corrected the misdirected hammer blow? Good thing you didn’t hammer your hands. 🙂 You should’ve thought of asking help from the experts. Every roofing company has ways of correcting those problems.
I haven’t noticed any leaks, but I haven’t explicitly checked that bit.
I think it doesn’t have any leaks, Mrs C. I can tell from how you installed the tarry felt firmly, covering the whole roof. But I think we won’t be able to prove it until “favorable” weather conditions prevail (read: heavy rains accompanied by strong winds). It’s been 3 years since then. Has there been any heavy rainfall in your community within those years?
Roslyn, we have had biblical rain on many occasions, and the shed remains dry.
@ Sam Carr. It’s a good thing that your shed remains dry after every rainfall. It only shows that Mrs C’s effort in making the shed is definitely worth it. It’s nice to know that there weren’t any problems on your shed after all these years. But still make sure to check on it, okay?
Roslyn, Rodney. If I didn’t know any better I’d think you were just trying to get links to your roofing companies spread around the web 🙂 I am Mr C, and Mrs C did not make the shed!
Great job with the roof! The shed certainly looks better now with its new roof. When it comes to materials, there are many options when building a shed roof. Finding the best one for your shed may take up some time. But doing this is definitely worth it, once you’re done building the best shed to keep your possessions.
I think the nails used were not that big to produce leaks, but I have to agree that it has to pass the favorable weather conditions. I hope the shed is still OK as of this moment. It looks very cute at the pictures. I think it’s not that bothering to have the scuff marks, it just look like a cat has scratched her paws on the roof. 🙂