Felt shingles? Any opinions?

[Inspector]

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.

https://www.iko.com/na/document-library/application-instructions/marathon-application-instructions/
Pete

 

[Spectric]

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.

https://www.cembrit.co.uk/roofing/fibre-cement-slates
https://www.tapcoroofingproducts.com/

 

[artie]

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.

 

[ey_tony]

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..

 

[Cabinetman]

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.

 

[John Brown]

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.

 

[Oddbod70]

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

 

[artie]

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