Shed/workshop torch felt and insulation advice please

[pjo123]

Hi all.

I built a workshop for myself around 2008, when it finished, the roof looked like this

It was fine for a couple of years, but since then I have had nothing but problems with it and have had to make numerous bodges concluding in me having to rip part of it off and replace with cheap roofing felt to see me over to the dry weather.

Also it's only ever leaked on the long side (side at the bottom 3/4 of the pic) which is 8 ft from top of roof to bottom, is the side that's least exposed to weather, but only has an angle of about 8 degrees.

Surprisingly, the one area it has never leaked is around my home made skylight.

When it leaked there was no obvious reason why. I could see a slight drip during heavy rain, go into the roof, and the shingles looked perfect.

What I was getting was a LOT of moss growing, all I can think of is that as the moss worked it's way under the shingle, it was sucking up water? There was never the need for a bucket, more damp patches with the odd drip. Or else due to the small angle of the roof, winds blowing rain under them (live by east coast).

Doesn't matter how often I got up and cleaned the moss, it returned. Also suffer from everything going generally green here (by the sea if that makes a difference) all the neighbours suffer from the same. Even after using Jeyes fluid on the path every few months, the splash up from the rain still makes the bottom of my shed look like

So I am about to replace the roof with torch on felt.

From what I've read, undercoat and top coat felt shroud do me fine?

All the info I see about felting a shed, say to lay the felt left to right, and that makes perfect sense so that the second sheet overlaps the first stopping any rain getting thorough.

However, when I type "torch on felt" into google and click google, they are all going from top to bottom, for example

or

And when I look at any roofs around here (lean toos mainly) that have obviously been torch felted, they also go from top to bottom.

So I presume when torching, it should go top to bottom?

Other question I have is about insulating it.

Inside looks like this

or a clearer pic when I was building it

Any suggestions as to the best way of going around insulating the roof please?

Many thanks

 

[Deleted member 174758]

I obviously live in a wetter part of the world than you do because round here roofers tend to felt side to side working t]from the lowest point to the highest point and with a sizeable overlap. On a roof like yours that would v=certainly make for less chance of joint failure (orhave I got that wrong?)

 

[JohnD]

round here roofers tend to felt side to side

yes, I was about to say that's normal, houses are always done like that, then it struck me that some prefab sheds do have the felt running up and over the ridge, even when not torched. Maybe to save ridge and eaves detailing? But pent roof sheds as well.

 

[big-all]

gutter will cure the moss as thats splashback
a leak can be anywhere upstream right up to the ridge it will run down the bottom off a surface until it hits somthing like a nail wire insulation what ever to disturb its path

 

[datarebal]

you are talking torch on felt, no reason not to run vertically, in fact its easier .. just make sure you have a bead..

 

[geraldthehamster]

I would do it in EPDM. Easier to install, easier to get right, far less maintenance, if any, and a longer life. The days of.

Felt only still exists as a roof covering because there are trades who learned to do it that way