The roofing felt on my house which should overlap into the gutter is rotting and I would like to replace the last foot or so, so that the water coming off the roof ends up in the gutter. My tiles are nailed on so it would not seem practicle to take the bottom 2 layers of tiles off to do the work ? My other thoughts are whether I can just slide the new material up behind the old - but I guess that the old stuff will be nailed to the spars and prevent this ? Can anyone please give me guidance on whether what I want to do is achievable and if so what the best way to do it would be ? Much appreciated .... Thanks in anticipation, Gerry
Hello Gerry Use drip edging. It is a poly product and comes in strips about 400mm wide with a folded edge about 75mm that slides under the felt. It is nailed and sealed with a mastic and sits neatly into the guttering. If you replace with felt it will rot out over time but this stuff holds up forever. It is easily available at good roofing supplies. Charlie
Thanks for that Charlie. I've had a look at some on the net and it looks like just the job. I will need to take a couple of rows of tiles off to enable me to fit the drip edging. My roof tiles are thin man made material (same colour as slate but not real slate). These are nailed on so I would need to user a ripper to get them off. I would not be able to nail the final row back on - the nail holes will be well under the slate above so nailing them on does not look possible. So I would need to 'wire' them on without nails - is this acceptable - to have a complete row of tiles 'wired' with no proper retaining nails ? If it is not acceptable then how would a pro do this without re-tiling the whole roof ? Again your help is very very much appreciated. Thanks, Gerry
Hi Gerry Cut the drip edge to fit - Just so long as it is under the felt and sealed it will do the job without tearing your roof off. You must source replacement tiles man made or otherwise so that if any accidents happen then it can be rectified. Charlie
A good DIY method is to push 6" DPM Between the fascia and slates, this may not prevent the felt from sagging but will stop fascias rotting and help run water into the gutter without need of removing any slates. A professional roofer would not use this method, but would remove all slates fit eves protector and reslate using lead tags to hold up slates. cut DPM into 3m lengths should help.
"A professional roofer would not use this method, but would remove all slates fit eves protector and reslate using lead tags to hold up slates." Thanks for the answers. Since I am replacing the facias and soffits with PVC I might aswell do a proper job and take up the slates and fit eves protectors as stated above. Can anyone confirm that it is OK to reslate and thus have a complete row of tiles held up using lead tags ? I am still a bit nervous of this ... Thanks, Gerry
you can remove every other slate from the row above and fix the lower slates with 2 nails 1" apart on one side (stops them slipping on other side) then refix slates above using tags (lead or tin), thus only using tags every other slate. Do not be tempted to use adhesive instead as will not hold over time.