Re-Felt Your Shed Roof

During a recent period of very windy weather I noticed chunks of roofing felt blowing down the street. Some poor soul had lost the felt from their shed roof.

That poor soul turned out to be me.

In the wind, a temporary fix with a tarpaulin took three people and a lot of duct tape.

This is how I did a longer-term fix for only £25.00 (under $40.00) in materials.

I needed

• budget-grade shed-roofing felt
• felting ("clout") nails
• ladder
• hammer
• screwdriver
• Stanley knife
• an occasional extra pair of hands

I documented this project with my GoPro - being small and tough, I could keep it in my pocket in easy reach wherever I was clambering, and take shots without the need to fuss, focus or use a tripod, or even spend much time on framing.

(Before I get a lot of comments about things I should have done differently, please note that this fix is only intended to last around 12-18 months, as the shed itself is nearing the end of its useful life, and its replacement is high on the list of jobs for next Summer.)

Shed roofs are not normally designed to support a fully-grown man, especially when in such a poor state as mine turned out to be.

Stay off the roof as much as you can, working from a stable ladder. If you do end up on the roof, stay low and spread out - keep your weight on at least three points, and stay as close to the edges of the roof as possible.

Make sure somebody knows you are up on the roof, and that will occasionally pop out and check you are not dead in a pile of splinters.

First, you need to strip off the old felt.

It sounds obvious, but I have come across folk who just layer new felt onto old - that's just ugly, and can hide problems you didn't know you had.

Use the hammer's claw and the Stanley knife to rip away the bulk of the felt, then the screwdriver and the claw to pull out the old clout nails.

Sweep the roof clear of grit and dirt, to avoid poking holes in the new felt.

My shed is old enough to have been built in feet and inches - the roof is exactly eight feet long, and the drop required over the ends was 2.5 inches, so I measured out and cut the felt into lengths 8'6" long.

The felt, being new, was made in metric units, so I had to cut three pieces and have a huge over-lap between them.

Oh, and the frog: we have a pond which, though only small, has a huge population of frogs. That makes it rather nerve-racking to cut the grass, because young frogs pop up from almost every clump...

When you are felting a sloped roof, you start at the bottom and work your way up, so that rain pours over the top of the laps, and not under them.

Once measured and cut, line the first piece of felt up so that it over-hangs the edge of the roof on three sides by enough to cover the side-pieces of the roof.

Tack the felt in place with just a few widely-spaced clouts. If you're happy with the positioning, nail it down tidily - remember to fold the corners around neatly.

The second piece is easy - place it with a suitable over-lap, then nail each end in place.

A hint for putting the pieces in place: roll them up before you lift them onto the roof, then unroll them in place.

The final piece, like the first, needs to be lined up with an over-hang on three sides.

Because this is the piece that will be seen most often from ground-level, you might find it a good idea to measure the overlap, rather than relying on doing it by eye.

As before, tack it in place, then add more clouts between the tacking.

Now, back onto the rood of the shed, and nail down the overlapping edges of the felt. You can't have too many nails holding your felt down - a loose edge will eventually rip if it's caught by a strong wind.

Well, that's it, really. £25 in felt and clouts, and a pleasant afternoon spent in honest toil, and I have extended the life of my shed by at least a year.

However...

If you are planning for your roof to last as long as the packing of the felt claims (this budget brand claims five years), you can also use any of a wide range of bitumen-based adhesives and sealants to prevent leaks between the layers or under the edges.

To prevent water penetrating through the nail-holes, there are also tapes that can be laid over them as a seal.