MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
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My sheds sprung a slow leak. Shed is 2m deep pent roof & previous owner butted the rolls of felt together with no overlap then covered seam with some sort of gunk.
Seems like redoing the roof has three principle options as I see it; Re-do in felt with overlap, one big sheet of epdm rubber or bitumen paint.
The epdm is the most expensive option, but lack of seam is appealing. Is this overkill for a shed?
As a wild card option, it seems I could paint over the existing stuff with bitumen paint to re-seal - any knowledge around the efficacy of the paint?
overlapping felt on a warm day with frame sealant under the overlap edges to stop water creeping up.
I did both my smaller sheds with overlapping felt and and some sealant under the overlap. Very easy to do, very cheap and does the job. The join is totally water tight. No need for anything more than that unless you are in a particularly exposed area. Only thing is that is not especially tough so won't take big plants rubbing against it.
https://www.diy.com/departments/b-q-green-shed-felt-l-10m-w-1m/42450_BQ.prd
stick a roll or two of this on depending on size of shed or dick about with gunk and refelt later on once it fails
Oh, and nail through the line of sealant before it dries so the nail holes are sealed too.
No need to overcomplicate a simple thing. I just bought a roll of shed roofing felt form one of the big DIY stores, three strips off it, for the two roof panes and one for the apex, a good 20 cm or so of over lap, so no need to seal or glue, tacked in with those galvanised tacks. Only used a small amount of the roll of felt, so sold it on ebay and recovered about 75% of the cost of it.
Thanks - worth ripping the old stuff off or can I lay the new over the old and save a mucky trip to the tip?
I'd rip it off and start afresh
take it off - you'll need to take the wooden bits on the end of the shed off to fit the new stuff and you'll get a flatter, neater finish laying the new straight onto the ply roof. You can assess the wood too where it's been leaking - if it's gone soft or delaminated then think about replacing that too.
How much to you value your time?
EPDM is amazing ... shed's are not that much to replace but I find I'd rather not replace them all the time.
If the bottom is sorted then I've always found keep replacing felt a pain... and if you don't you end up replacing the shed.
I invested in EPDM on a pent roof... and chucked the felt came with the shed....
My logic is getting a new shed, getting it delivered... assembling and repainting is time I'd rather be riding or if not felling with bikes...
I also invested in tongue and groove for the same reasons... we get Ivy and other stuff (some horrid weed) that gets through the overlap and eventually pulls it apart...
Since the shed is lined etc. this means keeping a constant eye on encroaching vegetation... whereas with the tongue and groove its harder for it to find any gap it can work through....
The Ronseal 5yr ducksback also seems like it will live up to the claims...
Rip old stuff off first.
Then new felt and clout nails.
Don’t piss about with lap cement. It’s messy and it leads to you spending more time ‘on’ your new felt (doing several months’ worth of degradation damage for no benefit). The felt itself will start to degrade long before any fancy joining techniques you use.
Thanks all - will get the felt bought in preparation for the next dry evening / weekend we have.
GRP roofing lasts longer than people. Did my garage roof 2 years ago and the only maintenance I’ve done is sweeping it and a jetwash. I don’t hesitate to walk on it because it’s GRP and has slate chippings moulded in for grip. No worries of it leaking while I’m alive and I plan to do the shed with it next. Rubber and felt roofing are not designed for the consumer they are designed for roofers and suppliers.
Rubber and felt roofing are not designed for the consumer they are designed for roofers and suppliers.
TBH I found the EPDM roofing incredibly simple.
Obviously measure twice/cut once applies but I did a "dry" run before applying adhesive then basically just unrolled and used a roller. Once fitted it's the same philosophy, it will outlast me ... no worries about walking on it or jet washing.
Unlike felt there is no difference to a professional job (with heated bitumen) and a DIY job... no messing about with underlay or cleats, nails etc. but for me most importantly I don't need to do this every so many years.
We had a similar small leak in shed problem and couldn't work out where it was coming in from, though there was an overlap on the felt. Replaced with those felt roof shingle tiles that come in strips, easy to do, looks much smarter and no leaks now for 5 years.