# Felt shingles? Any opinions?



## John Brown (14 Sep 2020)

I'm still vacillating at the eleventh hour over roofing. WHile I'm almost sold on EPDM, I'm worried that it will not harmonise with waney edged larch cladding and the Cotswolds AONB environs.
I think I prefer the look of felt shingles, even though I reckon they won't be any cheaper, when you add in the cost of the felt underlay, but wonder if there are seriou drawbacks.

Also, despite MikeG saying not to buy the plastic trim for EPDM, I'm having trouble finding any useful info about how to use timber for the edge detail, as most of the stuff I've found is aimed at flat roofs. What I do at the eaves, especially, will dictate the size I cut the OSB to, although I guess I could run a circular saw along afterwards(I'd rather not...).


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## AJB Temple (14 Sep 2020)

Felt shingles do not last. And they always have that fake look. And in windy areas they rip easily.


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## John Brown (14 Sep 2020)

OK. Thanks. I'm worried that EPDM looks a bit fake, but oh well..
So, can anyone help with EPDM eaves and verge detail of a DIY timber nature?


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## HappyHacker (14 Sep 2020)

I have felt shingles (Wickes finest!) on two roofs. I am in a very exposed area, on the top of a west facing hill with nothing higher between me and the Irish sea, and in the past have had the roof of a Wendy house blow off twice, the second time after I had used an excessive number of screws to fit it. The felt shingles have not moved. I did not put them on top of a layer of felt but directly onto OSB. They have been nailed and glued. The oldest is over 12 years old without any problems so far.

Having said that the lot will probably disappear this winter to move me wrong


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## artie (14 Sep 2020)

I have used felt shingles on a few occasions, First thing , you need to put felt below them, I have put them straight onto osb, but unless the pitch is pretty steep you are likely to get some moisture coming through.

They get pretty expensive if you use all the trims recommended by the manufacturer.
I trimmed the gables with wood and it worked ok. 
Not much chance of them lifting if they survive long enough to experience some sunshine, the heat welds them into a solid mass.

I found them too much hassle, a lot of work for little reward, don't offer them anymore.


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## Eshmiel (14 Sep 2020)

A shed of mine in NW England, exposed to plenty of rain and high winds, has never lost a felt shingle in 20 years - although the sheet-felt covering the apex got blown to bits despite being reinforced with a batten.

The trick is to use felt shingles of good quality and weight. Some felt shingles are thin rubbish but there are also very good ones that, frankly, seem more resilient than thin modern "slate" or those concrete tiles that fracture, crumble and even melt away in the face of proper weather.

But no, I don't know where one gets the proper felt shingles. Mine came with the shed, made by Oakenclough Sheds to a very high spec all round.

Eshmiel


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## artie (14 Sep 2020)

Eshmiel said:


> But no, I don't know where one gets the proper felt shingles.
> 
> Eshmiel


These are the ones I used.






Katepal UK | Roofing Products


Roofing products



www.katepaluk.co.uk





I have no affiliation or financial interest in Katepal.


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## Inspector (14 Sep 2020)

For what it is worth most roofs are shingled with them here. If done properly with good products are good for 20 to 30 years plus. Cheap materials and done by a hack taking shortcuts and they won't last but that is true of any roofing material. Make sure you use an underlay to keep the insides dry if a shingle or two blow off until a repair can be made. Underlay here being either a breathable Tyvek type material made for the purpose or a self sticking roll on membrane. Fibreglass has replaced the felt except in the lowest grade shingles. Takes an awful lot of abuse to tear them. 

Pete


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## Woody2Shoes (14 Sep 2020)

Have you considered cedar shingles? Look much nicer than felt or epdm imho and more suitable for an aonb type setting maybe.


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## DBT85 (14 Sep 2020)

I'm guessing Mike said no plastic because he doesn't like plastic?

With regard to roof covering, I was very happy with my fibre cement slates. Lot of work putting them up with all the nails and rivets though, but a long lasting nice looking roof for not actually a terrifying sum.


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## johnnyb (14 Sep 2020)

I reckoned felt shingles were pretty robust tbh.


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## Spectric (14 Sep 2020)

Hi 

I had the same synario five years ago, built a large shed and then needed a roof covering. Initialy looked at that metal sheeting but cost including fittings and covers etc came to £1200 and would have looked industrial. Looked at rubber tiles which looked more like mudflaps and shingles both square and hex but again the final look was rather DIY. Ended up getting a local roofer to take a look and he suggested slates as the roof trusses were 4by2's and more than capable of the weight, infact it was better than most new homes. His price all in was £850, I had already boarded the roof with 18mm ply and bitchumed it, he used a membrane and battened with the trusses before running the horizontal battens on which they laid the slates and some breathable system along the apex and it looks great, certainly outlast myself and would look great in the cotswolds.


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## John Brown (14 Sep 2020)

8


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## John Brown (14 Sep 2020)

Don't know what happened there... Posting from my phone seems to be almost impossible these days, maybe since the forum software changed...
Anyway, I'd love to have slate, or cedar shingles(or Cotswold stone, to match our house, if I was a millionaire), but I have a limited budget, so felt, EPDM, or felt shingles are really the choices. As I've said elsewhere, a fifty year life span sounds great, but I doubt I'll care that much if I make 117 whether the roof on my shed is intact or not. 
Felt is maybe a bit too cheap and short lived, felt shingles sound like a lot of work(and require underlay), so I'll probably stick with EPDM, and just work out my own stupid way to do the edges.
I asked for opinions, and I got them. Thanks to all.


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## Inspector (14 Sep 2020)

The underlay for shingles would be a couple hundred extra at most and will keep the contents below dry while you shingle. It is made with enough traction to walk on if the pitch isn't too steep. Look fully into it before deciding.

Pete


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## John Brown (14 Sep 2020)

Inspector said:


> The underlay for shingles would be a couple hundred extra at most and will keep the contents below dry while you shingle. It is made with enough traction to walk on if the pitch isn't too steep. Look fully into it before deciding.
> 
> Pete


I take it you're talking about bitumous felt shingles here..
Not sure I want to be walking on a 34 degree roof, but thanks for the info.


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## Inspector (15 Sep 2020)

Yes but like I said ours do not have "felt" in them anymore. Ours were made with fibre, I think wood based, That has now been replaced by glass fibre materials so they last longer, are more tear resistant and without the organic component don't rot. When the roof gets to be that pitch roofers resort to roof jacks, hook ladders over the peak or some kind of boom lift, well the smart ones do.  

Pete


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## Endy (15 Sep 2020)

John Brown said:


> I'm still vacillating at the eleventh hour over roofing. WHile I'm almost sold on EPDM, I'm worried that it will not harmonise with waney edged larch cladding and the Cotswolds AONB environs.
> I think I prefer the look of felt shingles, even though I reckon they won't be any cheaper, when you add in the cost of the felt underlay, but wonder if there are seriou drawbacks.
> 
> Also, despite MikeG saying not to buy the plastic trim for EPDM, I'm having trouble finding any useful info about how to use timber for the edge detail, as most of the stuff I've found is aimed at flat roofs. What I do at the eaves, especially, will dictate the size I cut the OSB to, although I guess I could run a circular saw along afterwards(I'd rather not...).


I have used both shingles and EPDM, the shingles were on a cabin roof (16m square) which have stayed in place for 10 years, they are time consuming to fit and I did add a gun glue bead just under each edge and out of view. The shingles themselves have a glue line that melts to the course below and are nailed along the top edge with the ridge being finished by cutting the tile strips into 3 parts and each part laid one over the other to form the ridge and of course nailed, glued etc. I fitted a breather membrane below, in all 3 days work for two men.
In contrast I fitted EPDM to a large L shaped kitchen and also to a smaller cabin, its a case of roller-ing glue to the wood then rolling out the EPDM and rubbing down with a sweeping brush as you roll it out, fit The plastic edge trims and remove the excess rubber, both jobs half a day one man and both have remained perfect.
Both cabins are below


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## Endy (15 Sep 2020)

John Brown said:


> I'm still vacillating at the eleventh hour over roofing. WHile I'm almost sold on EPDM, I'm worried that it will not harmonise with waney edged larch cladding and the Cotswolds AONB environs.
> I think I prefer the look of felt shingles, even though I reckon they won't be any cheaper, when you add in the cost of the felt underlay, but wonder if there are seriou drawbacks.
> 
> Also, despite MikeG saying not to buy the plastic trim for EPDM, I'm having trouble finding any useful info about how to use timber for the edge detail, as most of the stuff I've found is aimed at flat roofs. What I do at the eaves, especially, will dictate the size I cut the OSB to, although I guess I could run a circular saw along afterwards(I'd rather not...).


I have used both shingles and EPDM, the shingles were on a cabin roof (16m square) which have stayed in place for 10 years, they are time consuming to fit and I did add a gun glue bead just under each edge and out of view. The shingles themselves have a glue line that melts to the course below and are nailed along the top edge with the ridge being finished by cutting the tile strips into 3 parts and each part laid one over the other to form the ridge and of course nailed, glued etc. I fitted a breather membrane below, in all 3 days work for two men.
In contrast I fitted EPDM to a large L shaped kitchen and also to a smaller cabin, its a case of roller-ing glue to the wood then rolling out the EPDM and rubbing down with a sweeping brush as you roll it out, fit The plastic edge trims and remove the excess rubber, both jobs half a day one man and both have remained perfect.


Endy said:


> I have used both shingles and EPDM, the shingles were on a cabin roof (16m square) which have stayed in place for 10 years, they are time consuming to fit and I did add a gun glue bead just under each edge and out of view. The shingles themselves have a glue line that melts to the course below and are nailed along the top edge with the ridge being finished by cutting the tile strips into 3 parts and each part laid one over the other to form the ridge and of course nailed, glued etc. I fitted a breather membrane below, in all 3 days work for two men.
> In contrast I fitted EPDM to a large L shaped kitchen and also to a smaller cabin, its a case of roller-ing glue to the wood then rolling out the EPDM and rubbing down with a sweeping brush as you roll it out, fit The plastic edge trims and remove the excess rubber, both jobs half a day one man and both have remained perfect.
> Both cabins are below


If I were to use EPDM on a sloping roof made from OSB I would add a narrow strip of OSB under the edge of the roof to make it 36mm along the edge then wrap the EPDM round the bottom edge, the glue grips almost instantly and fit a drip strip out of alloy, lead, thick felt or oak strip which ever takes your fancy, see my very rough finger sketch on phone below.


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## Yorkieguy (15 Sep 2020)

I live on the outskirts of Hull on the NE coast in quite an exposed position. 

I have a garden workshop I built in 2001 on which I used Wicks shingles with a felt underlay. Though a little of the red colour has toned down over the years, the roof is as good as the day I built it. The shingles have an adhesive strip on the underside, but as an added precaution, I put a blob of mastic adhesive on each bottom corner. In 2013, which I got fed up with re-felting my pent roofed garden shed with good quality mineral felt which only lasted about five years, I converted the shed to a ridged roof and again used Wickes shingles. The first pic was taken in Oct 2017. The second pic is of the roof trusses I made in 2013, (self-selected B&Q CLS timber), temporarily assembled in my garage (to make sure they'd fit!). The third pic was when I'd converted the shed roof. At that time, the workshop to the right of the pic was already 12 years old. I weatherproofed the ridges with 'Flashband' adhesive flashing, which has proved excellent. If I took a picture today, the roofs would look no more weathered. Hope the pics give an idea of the durability and weathering of the shingles and might be of help and interest.


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## Inspector (15 Sep 2020)

Endy you said in posts #18 & #19 above. "The shingles themselves have a glue line that melts to the course below and are nailed along the top edge". Are you sure you have that correct? The nails should be just above the midpoint across the shingle. The nails in the next course above then go into the top of the shingle below, the bottoms of the shingle covering the nail heads of the course below. Nailing along the top puts 4 to 6 nails into the shingle where nailing along the middle doubles the nails in each shingle. With your described method if the shingle becomes unstuck in the wind, (tabbing failure) then the wind lifts and flaps the entire shingle. Nailing midpoint only exposes half the shingle to lifting. See an example of installation instructions for traditional 3 tab shingles below. The architectural shingles (single sheet with pattern bonded on top for texture) go on the same way.






Application Instructions for IKO® Marathon 3 Tab Shingles


Below are Application Instructions for IKO® Marathon 3 tab shingles in multiple languages including English, French, Spanish, Punjabi, Polish & Mandarin.




www.iko.com





Pete


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## Spectric (15 Sep 2020)

Hi there

Just remembered another option, man made slates which are a good option, cheaper than real slate to buy and much easier to fit. Here is a couple of sites.






Fibre Cement Slates :: Cembrit


Cembrit fibre-cement slates, Cembrit Moorland, Cembrit Jutland, Cembrit Westerland. Roofing products.




www.cembrit.co.uk













Tapco Roofing Products


Synthetic & Metal Slate, Shake, Shingle & Roofing Accessories




www.tapcoroofingproducts.com


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## artie (15 Sep 2020)

Inspector said:


> The nails should be just above the midpoint across the shingle. The nails in the next course above then go into the top of the shingle below, the bottoms of the shingle covering the nail heads of the course below.


That's the way I used to do it.


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## ey_tony (16 Sep 2020)

Each to their own I suppose but personally I can't see how anyone can actually say with conviction that shingles don't last and come off. 
Yes I suppose they will if not properly installed but if correctly installed which they should be if spending that sort of money on a roof, then I'd expect them to last a minimum of 20 to 30 years and should weather any storm that the UK has thrown at it.

With regard to appearance, aesthetically there is just no comparison between correctly matching shingles and roofing felt. Roofing felt is generally far cheaper and much easier to apply which I suppose is the appeal but to say it looks better is just not correct.

Presently I'm just finishing off building a Catio which is attached to my home and part of this will be covered in roof shingles in order to blend with the aesthetics of the building...roofing felt would just look cheap and nasty I'm afraid..

My dual purpose potting/garden shed which I designed and built 3-4 years ago was finished with roof shingles. The shed is sited facing South and therefore in full sun most of the day and even though it gets unbearably hot in there at times, there is absolutely no effect on the roof from extreme heat we're experiencing these days and the high winds up here we experience in East Yorkshire have not even touched it.

One key element no matter which material is employed for the roof covering is the actual roof base...if it's covered in cheap and nasty thin ply or boarding with poor supports then it will show in a year or two. To overcome this I used plenty of support and a good exterior grade 18mm ply. Given my health issues I expect the shed will last far longer than I will but even so the last thing I wanted was to be climbing up on a roof to repair it so I made sure that it would last so I didn't skimp on anything..

My shed..


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## Cabinetman (17 Sep 2020)

Purely for informational purposes for this post I enquired today about the price of cedar shingles, £96 plus VAT per bundle and a bundle covers 2.2 m² . (They have just gone up – what hasn’t) So that works out at just over £52 per square metre including the VAT.
No I don’t suppose so either.


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## John Brown (29 Sep 2020)

OK, I am going with felt shingles. I have laid a felt underlay, and about to start shingling.
One question:
Considering I have felt underneath(which overlaps and eaves and verges), am I supposed to fold the shingles over the verges and nail down?
I'm hoping not. The company I bought from are not very good at answering questions.

One reason I'm going with shingles rather than EPDM is access. I had the devil's own job getting 5m lengths of felt on by myself. I don't think I could have managed a giant rubber sheet without scaffolding.


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## Oddbod70 (29 Sep 2020)

I stuck decent quality felt shingles on the tractor shed about 7 years ago and they are still spot on so I'm pretty sure you'll be OK with your choice.

I got a 200mm(ish) wide roll of the same colour shingle material from the same place that supplied the shingles (roofing superstore IIRC) and lined the roof edges with that folding it over to give a little bit of a drip whatever you call it. Then I tacked the shingles over it up to, but not over, the roof edge. I also got a few tubes of "shingle adhesive" (foul black tarry stuff that got everywhere!). I'm not sure if that's how I should have done it but it seemed to work.

Edit: I did it in summer so the shingles and the roll were a bit more flexible. Having the roll warm made a big difference to its' flexibility when bending it over the roof edge - no sign of any cracking


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## artie (29 Sep 2020)

John Brown said:


> Considering I have felt underneath(which overlaps and eaves and verges), am I supposed to fold the shingles over the verges and nail down?


no


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