Roofing felt in Steading (barn) conversion

[old leslie]

Hi there, this is my first post and i'm hoping I can get some advice from you all.

I've got a large steading in Aberdeenshire which is in very good condition and we have planning permission to convert it into a 4 bedroom house of approximately 300m2. The roof is structurally in very good condition, only needing some minor slating repairs.

However, it does not have roofing felt and the building standards office have raised this as a point before they will grant the warrant. My architect (a mate who is doing a homer) doesn't think it's necessary. The roof hasn't leaked all through the winter (and we've had a LOT of wind and rain!). My builder agrees.

Is roofing felt really necessary? Can I be forced to include it in my building? Stripping a roof in good condition just to add felt that might not be really necessary seems a very expensive (>£50k!) exercise!!

Thanks in advance for any advice, I appreciate it.

 

[old leslie]

I should have added - it does have sarking between the rafters and the slates. And the architect has specified dozens (and dozens!) oif slate vents to avoid excess condensation building up. In fact, the builder thinks there are too many slate vents!
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[Tiso]

There is no need for the roof to have felt. |Roofing felts only purpose is to keep the roof dry while the roofer is tiling/slating it. If your roof is felted and is missing tile/slate it will still leak is the felt is perforated with hundred of clout tacks. So the only thing stopping rainwater is the roof covering

 

[masona]

As mentioned, the whole idea of the roofing felt is if a roof tiles cracks the rain drip onto the roofing felt and straight out via the gutter

 

[noseall]

........it also keeps the loft space comparatively dust free too.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

As mentioned, the whole idea of the roofing felt is if a roof tiles cracks the rain drip onto the roofing felt and straight out via the gutter

I believe Scottish Building Standards clearly state that you need felt under a tiled or slated roof, when it was a barn it didn't need to comply with the standards but you've changed its use from keeping cows dry to keeping the building construction and occupants under it dry. Why didn't your 'architect' chap or builder point this out? I think they're the ones you should be berating! Presumably the work was carried out on a notice and not following full plans approval or whatever the Scottish equivalent is? If a slate cracked when you were on holiday for two weeks and the inside of the house was drenched would you attempt to claim on your house insurance? They're hardly likely to pay out I would think. Why should they? If you sold the barn (whether or not you are is irrelevant to building control) the new owners should be able to rest in the knowledge that their roof wont leak in a storm should a slate slip, which as you know, they do, as you've had to do some minor repairs yourself. Is it huge? 50k sounds a bit excessive!

 

[noseall]

scots require sarking,http://www.buildstore.co.uk/materials/tilingroof.html

 

[old leslie]

Thanks for the replies guys. Fred, yep it's a big old roof, like I say the footprint is 300m2 so the roof area is maybe 4-500m2. I've spoken to a couple of builders/slaters and their quick estimates for stripping/felting/retiling with existing slates have been anywhere from 50 to 80 thousand.