Roofing Felt Or Roofing Sheets?

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If you are thinking of taking on a roofing job of, say, your garage or your garden shed, you are always faced with the choice of what roofing materials to use. If the roof is currently pitched, and you have no intention of converting it to a flat roof, then you can use a lot of different materials. On the other hand, if the roof is flat, the field narrows down a bit.

Most people choose either roofing felt or roofing sheets for flat roofing jobs, as these are usually suitable for the very shallow angles that flat roofs are built with. So which should you choose? This depends on a number of things, like the design of the roof and your roofing skills. A very common design that you see where roofing felt is used, is to have the entire surface of the roof (which is sloping slightly) surrounded by a low parapet, which has an angle of zero degrees. This makes the roof look completely flat, although in reality it is pitched at a few degrees. If this is the sort of roof you already have - or want to have - then it makes sense to use roofing felt. The reason being, that you probably could not do the same with roofing sheets and still get a completely closed membrane. If, however, you don't mind that tiny bit of angle to be visible, then roofing sheets, like those made of corrugated plastic or metal, are an excellent choice. Not least because they are somewhat easier to install - and the installation is easier to troubleshoot afterwards. Roofing felt is basically easy to install too, but when you have to do things like the parapets, details around vents, corners, etc, then you suddenly have to very aware of what you are doing, and what the proper techniques are. Otherwise, it is very easy to accidentally build serious problems into the roof, making it prone to leaks later on.

Each of these materials have their advantages and their challenges, and knowing what these are is the first step towards making an informed decision. Roofing felt is by no means impossible to work with; it just requires you do to study the methods involved a little beyond what you might do, if you were putting up roofing sheets. The choice is ultimately yours, so make sure you know enough before commencing the work.