Finishing the edges of roofing felt...

Discussion in 'Builders' Talk' started by Devil's Advocate, Apr 11, 2012.

  1. 'Ello. Got a job to do...

    It's a kind of car-port thingie except it's for a fork-lift truck. So a fork-port thingy.

    Anyways, it'll have a single, gently-sloping, roof roughly 3.5m square. What to finish it with for protection?

    I know there's EDPM but that's probably over t'top, so more likely will be mineral felt.

    I've done the odd shed in t'past, and have always found the 'usual' way of finishing off the edges to be a bit unsatisfactory, if only from an aethetic point - ie: lapping the felt over t'edge and tacking it with or without a batten over it.

    Any improvement on this? What about using these felt support trays which have a lip on them, tacking them in place first of all and adhesiving the felt to their top stopping at t'bend?

    And then there's the bottom 'corners' and how to handle the 'fold in two directions' bit - ideally without folding. I mean, I can fold it, but it just looks sh*te and also puts the felt under stress.

    Chust looking for ideas :)

    What's a suitable board underneath - I'm thinking Sterling board as it's cheap (isn't it?) and won't have any water on it (cough) so should be ok. Or should I chust play safe and go for ext-ply?

    Ta very much.
     
  2. Mr. Handyandy

    Mr. Handyandy Screwfix Select

    You mean 'starting' the edges. Start with 10" of felt tacked in the first 2" with the underside facing you to the fascia/batten, fold at 2" back up to the roof edge, fold over the roof edge, lay the last 6" on the roof, stuck with tar-adhesive. Do that all round, tucking corners(to involved to explain). Then lay flat all over roof tarring especially where the flat overlaps the 6" over turn.


    Mr. HandyAndy - Really
     
  3. removed 7

    removed 7 New Member

    Hello Dev's,

    You might just as well opt for OSB/Sterling Board rather than Marine/External Ply, because the idea is to keep it covered with good quality felt.  Marine Ply will rot as quickly as any other sheet once the felt has let in water.

    The verges and corners are easy to do once you have the knack.  There's no need for visible felt tacks, because the edging strips are secret-tacked by gently folding the strips back on themselves.  Avoid sharp creases and above all avoid Wickes ("It's got our name on  it") felt.

    The corners will require a vee section to be removed from the edging strips in order to get a neat wrap-over.  I suggest you experiment with Origami - then you'll see exactly what I mean.........

    Personally, I wouldn't faff around with timber sheets and felt. I'd use alumininum tile-lookalike sheets, available in 4M length x 600mm wide.


    Lucia x
     
  4. Geee, thanks yootoo x 2.

    Ah, I get what you mean, Mr Ha, by starting the bottom edge - I likes it. Yeah, that will look much better with the folded edge.

    I know what you mean by the 'V', Looch, and now recall that's what I've done in t'past - I always find the very top of that cut to be a bit scary as it's the most vulnerable bit to egress, innit?

    I don't however, understand your method of achieving the invisible felt nails - how do you secret-tack them by folding back strips what have already been fixed? Ok, I know that you know what you are talking about, but I don't know what youetc. Do you mean like Mr Ha, or is it a way of doing it after the main sheet has been laid?

    Hmmm, cost might be a factor on choice of roofing, but I certainly likes that idea of using ali sheets - I shall investigate. What about Onduline stuff - I have used that in t'past?

    Ta very, very much.
     
  5. MajrGFX

    MajrGFX New Member

    To your original post, there are many ways to finish the edges off.


    If you google Roofing Warehouse they have a large range of felt edge trims... And they also stock/sell EPDM that works out just as cheap as felt.


    And sterling board OSB is the cheapest option for decking.
     
  6. Decking 18mm t&g 2.4 x 600 osb.
    To make it easier, as it sounds like you cant do a tidy job on the drip trims etc, use glass fibre trims, the felt will stick to these, use torch on felt.
    In my opinion, epdm is far better product, a lot easier to fit plus its cheaper than felt.
    Google the epdm sites, they do shed kits designed for small areas like yours.
     
  7. Thanks Majr and CotsB. I'll check all that out. Yes, I'd much rather use EPDM but assumed it was a lot more than felt. Metal sheets (not the heavy galv stuff) also seem to be more reasonable than I'd assumed and that would be better still as well as not requiring sheeting.

    Cheers :)
     
  8. If using metal sheets, get the plastic coated box profile, they look okay when fitted.
     
  9. Cheers - that's exactly the stuff I was thinking of.
     
  10. Cool - thanks for the prompts above, Looch and Cots; Plasti-coated box-section roofing sheets turns out to be very reasonable - whole area (about 3.5m square) should only come to about £120.

    The 3.2m (max) square frame to support this roofing will be made from 6x2s on t'outside with a single central 6x2 rail, with two lengths of 4x2 'purlins' (?) at right angles in between so's the sheets have no more than 1m support along its length (manufacturer's website recommends 1.2m max). This frame will be sitting on 6No. 4x4 posts, 3 along top and 3 at t'bottom (so 3m span in one direction, and 1.5m in t'other).

    I'm looking at the most reliable (ie: a system whose characteristics are 'known') way of joining the framework together, so tempted to use joist hangers. (If I was doing this myself for my own use I'd probably just cross-nail in some hefty 6"nails/screws, but I want to avoid end-grain fixing, and also couldn't be arsed with cross-halvings either.) So, would hangers be the way, or are there other similar fixings out there you'd recommend?

    Ta very muchly again.
     

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