Repairs to house roof felt/sarking

[otherclive]

Did my first inspection of the loft space, as pre-requisite to fetching the Cadac down. There were some areas where the felt/sarking had been damaged probably by birds. I was going to apply patch of roof bitumastic self adhesive flashing. But it looks to be too heavy and given that the slope of the roof applies gravity against the adhesive I doubt that it would stay up.

So I am considering a sealing tape such as Sylglass, Rooflock or Eternaband. But I think that I would still need to prime the surface as the loft space is dusty which would go against good adhesion. I did think about applying underseal to the areas to prepare the surface prior to bonding the tape. An alternative would be to use lightweight roofing felt and brush applied adhesive. Any suggestions welcome. I know that the sarking isn't deemed essential or required under our areas building regs, but I want it to look reasonable as we may be moving house, and want to give a surveyor as little opportunity to write it down as possible.The present sarking is a felt based material reinforced with a fibre web spaced at 5mm squares.

 

[Dustydog]

Clive
It’s only a small area. Tiles or slates?
A good roofer , with scaffold, should be able to remove enough tiles for new felt to be laid.
Patching will probably look obvious and may lead to other problems with a surveyor.

 

[VicMallows]

If the underslating felt is anything like that in my house (1969) then as soon as you try to do anything to it it will break up even more. As you say, it is not really vital and serves to keep drafts out, and channel any minor drips down towards the gutter ..... where it invariably pools and rots the batten supporting the tile overhang :woohoo:

Yes, a roofer could repair it, but scaffold will probably cost around £1000, plus say another £500-£1000 for the roofer ..... and you never know what other 'problems' may come to light. I think I would sell the house 'as seen'.

 

[otherclive]

Thanks. We had our daughters house fitted with new felt which is the latest breathable type. The house is an extended semi and the total cost was £3000 for both sides to be refelted and new ridge tiles. What was amazing was the speed that the tiles were removed prior to removing the old felt and replacing it with new felt. I take the point about older felt being brittle. Although in the loft today the heat gave it some flexibility.