Tips for Maintaining Your Felt Roof
Felt is an effective and generally low-cost material for your roof, especially if you have a flat roof. Like any roofing material, though, it’s subject to wear and tear, meaning that it needs regular maintenance. This is vital if you want to put off the cost of a full replacement. Although not as expensive as some roof types, replacing a felt roof is still costly.
So how do you go about maintaining your felt roof?
Regular Inspections for Your Felt Roof
Both extreme weather and the wear and tear of time can damage your roof, so it’s essential to inspect it regularly. This is essential after weather events such as storms, or extremely hot or cold conditions, but in any case, it’s important to make an inspection at least twice a year — preferably in spring and autumn.
In general, felt roofs tend to be flat (although they can also be a suitable material for pitched roofs), which makes inspection more difficult. Whereas you can inspect a pitched roof through binoculars from street level, a flat roof can only be seen by climbing a ladder.
It’s also useful to look around indoors. Damp or mouldy patches on the walls show an urgent problem, but you can also make out holes in the roof by going into the roof space in daylight, with all artificial lighting off, and looking out for pinpricks of light.
Repairing Damage on Your Felt Roof
Typical problems with a felt roof are tears and punctures in the felt, as well as moss, twigs and leaves, and pooling water. It’s vital to get any of these seen to as soon as possible.
Tears and punctures should be repaired, since they’ll let moisture in and cause damage — but this really needs a professional roofer, both for safety and to ensure the work is done effectively. Debris can be blown off with a leaf blower, and this may be within the capacity of an experienced DIYer.
If you find water pooling on your felt roof, this can cause strain on the materials and lead to leaks. If it happens regularly, this is probably a sign that the drainage needs to be improved.
Ensuring a Longer Life for Your Felt Roof
Besides repairing damage, there are proactive strategies you can take to ensure that your felt roof lasts longer. One is to ensure that your roof is properly insulated. This will reduce condensation, one of the greatest enemies of roofing materials, as well as the bonus of reducing your energy bills.
Another effective strategy is to protect the felt against UV damage — an issue that’s likely to become more important with rising temperatures. This can be done either by applying a reflective coating or by covering the felt with gravel or chippings.
Getting Professionals In
While a few of these jobs, such as inspecting your roof or blowing away debris, are within the capacity of experienced DIYers, other jobs need to be done by professional, specialist roofers. In any case, it’s advisable to have even inspections and minor work done by experts, who know exactly what they’re looking for.
Give Empire a call to discuss how we can help ensure your felt roof continues to do its job of protecting you and your home from the elements.
