Damaged felt under slates. replace or forget?

[Glenbirnie]

I have had to strip the slates either side of one of the lead valleys on my house as it has split. I have the plumber coming shortly to do the lead work and then I will be able to get on with the reslating.

The house is 85 years old and has a bitumous felt on top of the sarkin board (Scottish slate roof) which is all dried and split.

Does this need patched? I have only removed about 30 slates so I cant replace sheets of the stuff I am not reslating the whole roof etc. I could cut and feed under the fixed slates small patches of felt or is there no need for this?

Thanks

 

[SurreyRoofingEstimator]

It's the slates that keep the water out not the felt.

If you do a forum search for `no felt' you will find loads of posts regarding this issue and they all say the same thing, don't worry about it.

 

[Glenbirnie]

It's the slates that keep the water out not the felt.

If you do a forum search for `no felt' you will find loads of posts regarding this issue and they all say the same thing, don't worry about it.

Presume it is a temporary barrier then while building work is ongoing? Why bother on new builds then with the extra cost of vapour barriers and the time to fix etc, just get the sarking on and slate or tile asap?

cheers

 

[SurreyRoofingEstimator]

The felt really only stops dust when in place (and wind blown snow) but yes does work as a temporary weathering during construction