Roofing Felt not to the edge of the guttering

skimper

We have just had a roofer in to clean out the guttering & check the fascia's, he said the roofing felt isn't right to the edge of the guttering & cut about 30 cm short so water coming off the roof is sitting behind the fasica's instead of running in to the gutter.

We would need to take a row of tiles off & add some waterproofing to the 30cm gap so water goes where it should.

Does this sound the right action to take? Is it as urgent as the roofer is making it out to be? (I have no idea about roofs - but wouldn't want it to let water in) I'm assuming its been like that since the house was built 30 years ago.

societys_child

Does this sound the right action to take?

Yes, quite normal to add an extra strip of under-felt.

I'm assuming its been like that since the house was built 30 years ago.

No matter how long it's been like that, it would be better to get it done, rather that just leave it.

I've done it myself in the past, it's easy and cheap, don't know how much a builder will charge for his time. What's he quoted?

southcoastrgi

Yet again the wrong trade, a roofer lays tiles & slates they don't clean out gutters or check facia's, felt is a secondary defence if there is water regularly getting onto the felt then you have a problem with the tiles/slates/flashing etc, he sounds like a chancer to me

Furts

Millions of houses exhibit the same problem and millions of home owners turn a blind eye to the situation. In an ideal world the felt would get corrected, which means fixing a durable strip under the felt. Easier said than done when the felt has rotted. Equally the first course of tiles should all be fixed in place which makes it harder still.

Bear in mind two fundamentals - the felt should never have been done like it was, but in mitigation, nobody foresaw the modern obsession with gutter cleaning. This cleaning destroys the felt, and I am at a loss to explain why consumers allow this procedure, and damage, to be done.

Gloomendoom

Furts wrote: »

Bear in mind two fundamentals - the felt should never have been done like it was, but in mitigation, nobody foresaw the modern obsession with gutter cleaning. This cleaning destroys the felt, and I am at a loss to explain why consumers allow this procedure, and damage, to be done.

Like many others, I suspect, I clean my gutters because they get clogged with moss that rolls down from the roof causing the rainwater to overflow and run down the walls. Mind you, the roof doesn't have any felt on it at all so it would be difficult to damage it.

Furts

Gloomendoom wrote: »

Like many others, I suspect, I clean my gutters because they get clogged with moss that rolls down from the roof causing the rainwater to overflow and run down the walls. Mind you, the roof doesn't have any felt on it at all so it would be difficult to damage it.

But for the vast majority of roofs moss is not a problem. MIL has a bungalow roof which gets moss on the north face, but this has accumulated over 50+ years. Here the answer is not to wait for it to clog the gutters but instead to remove the big clumps from the roof.

fezster

The felt is a secondary protection and erodes over time. So I wouldn't say it's an emergency like he's making out. Ideally the tiles will provide all the protection you need.

Chanes

I wouldn't panic, my Mums house has no felt at all and the roof is in good condition. I think it is better to have felt than not but maybe it isn't a huge emergency. If the price is fair I would have it sorted.

Grenage

I put plastic grills in the new guttering when I replaced it all; seems to help the large pieces roll off onto the floor.

I wouldn't bother replacing perished felt unless the roof needed redoing.

27cool

Many older houses have no sarking felt. I don't think that it was introduced generally until after WW2.

malc_b

What you want to fit is a felt support tray which looks like this. In the old days the felt was taken over the wooden fascia board and draped into the gutter. The sun rots it and so it breaks off at the fascia and then any rain that has managed to get to the felt runs down the unpainted back of the fascia board causing it to rot. Support trays slide under the old felt and make sure the water is directed to the gutter.