How To felt Your Shed Roof – A Simple Step By Step Guide
We all like to have an area of our garden to store all our garden tools. Having everything inside, even when you own a garage is not a convenient way of storing tools like lawn mowers, rakes and garden spades.The problem with garden sheds is that they are not ever lasting, so at some point the roof is likely to start leaking. These felt roofs are quite straight forward to fix.
Follow the simple instructions below and get that roof repaired!
It’s all down to your measurements and how accurately you do them.
So take your time and make sure you get them right and you shouldn’t go wrong. (ha-ha big disclaimer right here!)
- When measuring the felt we are looking for 50mm overhang on the eaves and a 75 mm overhang on the gable ends. We use this overhang to wrap round and tuck in all the edges, leaving a neat and tidy finish
- Identify how wide your roofing felt rolls are, then decide how many strips you will need to cut out. Most shed roofs will require three. One for each side and one to go over the ridge in the middle.
- Using a pencil and a long straight edge, like a piece of timber, mark across the shed roof where about each strip of felt is going to be placed
- Using your tape measure and allowing for your overhang measure out your length (strips) of felt. I recommend measuring it twice – then you will only cut once! Without error. A high grade Stanley knife should do the trick.
- Then lay the felt over the roof in position making sure the overhang is even on both ends. Then nail it on using some 150mm galvanised clout nails. These nails are for house roofs normally so depending on the shed and thickness of wood you are nailing into you may need slightly shorter.
- Because each piece of felt needs to overlap by at least 180mm you will now need to mark onto the felt already in place exactly where you want to put the second sheet. This overlap ensures water run off goes over the top of the next felt sheet and not under it. Again using your timber edge and a thick marker pen draw a line to show where the next sheet will be nailed into.
- You can use some adhesive to stick the felt sheets together before nailing down but is not absolutely vital as long as you nailing is good! We usually allow 100mm gaps between each nail to give it a strong secure hold
- Now to sort out the overhang. Simply cut in the centre at the ridge of the overhanging felt using your Stanley knife. Put some adhesive onto the woodwork you are attaching the felt to. Then fold over the felt and stick into place. Using your clout nails, again with a 100mm gap between each one – nail down the felt to the wood
- You are now ready to put the fascia board over the top, this can be nailed into place using 40mm wood nails. There can still be some felt sticking out underneath your fascia board. If this is the case simply cut off the excess to give a nice neat finish.
- Around the sides the same process needs to be applied fixing the overhanging felt to your shed using your adhesive/nail combination. Some shed models will have a wood piece to go over the top acting as a kind of soffit boarding – again use the same process as above with the fascia’s
Once all this has been completed on both gable ends and sides you now have a brand new watertight roof felting. This could extend the life of your wooden shede for a good few more years and keep all your garden tools nice and dry.
Tools AND Material Required
STEP LADDER
BLACK MARKER
TAPE MEASURE
CRAFT (STANLEY) KNIFE
HAMMER
100-150MM CLOUT NAILS
40MM WOOD NAILS
ADHESIVE
This article was brought ot you by Birmingham Roofers : They are the number one roofing contractor in the city and have extensive knowledge of how to perform all aspects of roofing. Please call for advice by visiting their homepage for all details.
A shed roof can be a simple process for a DIY enthusiast – However if the job is too big for you, its not too small for them – so give them a call
