Torn Sarking felt : What do I do?

[amandeepm]

Hello,

The original sarking felt on the pitched roof of my 1950 built house is brittle and in a number of places torn right through so that I can see/feel the under-side of the roof tiles.

The roof does not leak at all and there is no signs of there being any moisture coming through but it does trouble me. Can I, or should I, do anything about this ? Would it be advisable to leave this alone or not? Your advise is most welcome

Am

 

[murraysnudge]

No need to panic if there is no rain driving through. You probably have a roof pitch of 45° in a 1950 house, but tell me if I'm wrong. More modern houses with a shallow pitch of 30° or less may suffer from rain or snow penetration by the wind if there is no underfelt.
The increased ventilation can be a good thing as natural ventilation from windows and doors, which removed water vapour, has been reduced by house improvements such as sealed double glazing & draughtproofing.
The incresed water vapour gets into the loft where it condenses & can cause a lot of serious damage from mould and fungal growth.
I once lived in a house that had been re-tiled but the roofer did not fit underfelt at all in one part of the house. There was no rain entering so I never got round to fixing it.
Modern roofing detail does make sure that the loft gets ventilated to remove water vapour.

 

[andemz]

If worse comes to the worse you can always bodge it with a bit of cement.

There is one problem which i have just noted with a house that i'm currently living in and doing up. We are doing a double story extension with conservatory to the rear. The tiles that the builders put on in the 1040's were the wrong tile for the pitch of the roof. We have just had our roof built from trussesnot tradtional to meet with the hipped roof on the original building and they stated this to us. Many builders in theose days did it.

You will probably find that if your roof is around the 30 degree mark it is about 31.5 degrees

 

[legs-akimbo]

If worse comes to the worse you can always bodge it with a bit of cement.

There is one problem which i have just noted with a house that i'm currently living in and doing up. We are doing a double story extension with conservatory to the rear. The tiles that the builders put on in the 1040's were the wrong tile for the pitch of the roof. We have just had our roof built from trussesnot tradtional to meet with the hipped roof on the original building and they stated this to us. Many builders in theose days did it.

You will probably find that if your roof is around the 30 degree mark it is about 31.5 degrees

How can a tile be wrong in relation to the pitch of a roof.? It can be incorrectly laid!
If the pitch is shallow the head lap should be increased .. if steeper the headlap decreased .. torn underfelt is of no real concern if the roof covering is in good order, it is merely a secondary barrier and any problems that may arise should be dealt with promptly .