Felt Paper On Roof Leaking Before Shingels

What are the rake edges of the roof.

Felt paper on roof leaking before shingels.

The rake edge of a roof is the outer edge that extends from the eaves or the bottom edges of the roof to the top of the ridge. That s when synthetic products started gaining in popularity. Roofing felt is a layer of tar paper. It improves look and uniformity because your roof deck might not lie perfectly straight or flat a layer of roof paper gives an even uniform surface upon which you can install your shingles.

This moisture can lead to mold and mildew forming underneath the shingles. This shortens the effective life of the shingles and can adversely affect the roof sheathing. Two rake edges form a gable or a triangular point on the roof. Our opinion is that on new asphalt shingle tile fiber cement slate and many wood roofs most roofing contractors apply an underlayment membrane of roofing felt tar paper or fiber reinforced roofing felt.

If not installed properly you risk damaging the wood decking. Roofing felt applied over a wet roof deck or shingles applied over wet roofing felt traps a layer of moisture within the roof. Roofing felt also known as tar paper serves as both an extra layer of protection between the shingles and the plywood and as a temporary moisture barrier until all the shingles are in place. Commonly referred to as felt paper or tar paper common roofing felt is made of varying blends of cellulose natural plant fibers polyester bitumen or asphalt.

What is roofing felt. Roof replacement is expensive. Asphalt saturated felt was the go to roofing underlayment until about 15 years ago. In time this may lead to rotting wood and roof leaks.

Of course it is a bit more technical than that but this is the basic idea behind how felt works. Roofing felt prevents the deck from being exposed to the elements before or while the shingles are being applied. Felt is commonly sold in either 15 or 30 rolls measuring 36 inches wide.