Re-felting old garden shed advice!

The shed is used for garden tool and wood storage. It is reasonably sound, 7' x 5' and has a single sloping roof. It has evidently been leaking for a while (new house purchase so not our fault!) so we tarped it over winter.

Today I pulled all the old felt off down to bare wood and I've pulled all the nails I can reach out (dear husband will have to get up there to pull the rest!)- they'd hammered nails through ALL layers of felt which might explain the leaking! The underlying wood is in reasonable condition so I'm letting it air and dry out before tackling the re- felting tomorrow. I will grab the chance to cuprinol the shed later today.

Now, how to re felt? Bearing in mind that though we want a sound result the age and condition of the shed doesn't warrant throwing too much money at it!

What I'm thinking is to nail felt underlay on it, horizontally with 2" overlaps, then lay overlay, sticking it to the underlay with bituminous adhesive? Or just sticking the joins of the overlay together with a 4" overlap? And nailing the overhangs. We can't access the upper edge of the roof well as it abuts the house with only a 3" gap. We will have to drape some felt over that edge and hold it against the shed side with a wood plank nailed to the shed frame at each end, I imagine.

Any tips or advice gratefully received.

Shed felt.

Remove all old felt and nails.
Check timber sheeting is in good order.
Supply and fit new felt starting along the bottom edge with an overhang of approx. 70mm to provide a good rain off. Or this can be nailed back underneath.
Lay next sheet of felt overlapping at least 100mm and nail through both sheets of felt. Keep going until you reach the top and wrap over top edge.

Above is the basic of re-felting a shed roof.
When you buy the felt it, will come with instruction.

As for preserving the inside of the shed. What you can do is make sure it is empty and brushed clean.
Then get a garden sprayer and clear preservative and spray away. Making sure you get into all the corners and edges.
Leave to dry and repeat



Andy

If you nail through felt it will eventually leak.

Wickes sell (or used to) a roofing mastic, spread it all over and stick the felt down. Its a very dirty job but will last forever.

When you nail through the felt, you are nailing through 2 layers of felt which overlap each other. If and when it does leak then the felt will need replacing.

Shed felt normally lasts 10 years, stick on felt which is 3 times the price and very messy only last 12 years.

You decide.

Andy

it wont leak as shed felt is designed to work with clout nails which will seal teh hole, especially once it has warmed up. We normally use marley garage grade felt which is about £5 more a roll but lasts a lot longer and is easier to work with as it doesnt tear so easily.

All I can say is, shed built over 20 years ago, original felt and it has'nt leaked.

Galvanised clout nails through felt is the tried & tested method of fixing, the bitumen in the felt seals the nail shank; it won’t leak.