Felt Paper On Roof Leaking Before Shingels

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.

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. What are the rake edges of the roof. Two rake edges form a gable or a triangular point on the roof. This moisture can lead to mold and mildew forming underneath the shingles.

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. Felt is commonly sold in either 15 or 30 rolls measuring 36 inches wide. This shortens the effective life of the shingles and can adversely affect the roof sheathing. Of course it is a bit more technical than that but this is the basic idea behind how felt works.

The seller says these water stains occurred before the new roof was installed but the inspector believes the lack of felt is a serious roof defect. A special underlayment may be recommended by the manufacturers of specific roofing product and hybrid products. Asphalt saturated felt was the go to roofing underlayment until about 15 years ago. 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.

If not installed properly you risk damaging the wood decking. In time this may lead to rotting wood and roof leaks. Roofing felt prevents the deck from being exposed to the elements before or while the shingles are being applied. Roofing felt applied over a wet roof deck or shingles applied over wet roofing felt traps a layer of moisture within the roof.

Generally speaking roofing felt is a felt paper that is soaked in asphalt and other water resistant compounds to produce a membrane. That s when synthetic products started gaining in popularity. 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.