Roofing Felt In Cold Weather

These formations don t allow the snow on the roof to melt and they often cause roof leaks.

Roofing felt in cold weather.

Before you decide to start a roofing job in the winter or colder weather you ll want to make sure the roofing contractor is experienced in cold weather roofing. For roofing contractors in the southern states it s a welcome relief to the brutally hot summer roofing seaso n. People who want to use a nail gun for this purpose must be experienced because when they use it for roofing in cold weather it is not uncommon to injure themselves. The cold weather shrinks the felt to 9 feet long by 9 feet wide.

When you choose to use any kind of felt or membrane roll it out in your staging area and allow it to relax before you apply. In fact roofing in the cold weather requires special preparations and procedures. If the temperature dips below freezing frost ice and snow become a serious safety factor on the roof. The rolls of felt are quite heavy and to avoid damage must be handled with care.

Shingles installed in cold weather may not immediately seal until warmer temperatures are present for the sealant to activate. The best time to lay a felt roof using cold applied adhesive is when the weather is warm but this means that working on a flat roof can be exhausting work with the sun s heat and the heat reflected from the felt already laid. I know that cold weather is not really going to shrink felt a whole foot but for the sake of clarity let s say cold air shrinks the felt by 1 foot. Typically contractors avoid cold weather roofing for three specific reasons.

Weather adhesives and tools. Roofing in cold weather is unlike roofing in any other temperature. Eaves protector membranes and roll roofing casma recommends using winter weather membranes to seal your eaves valleys skylights vents and plumbing pipes rather than warm weather roll roofing which can buckle or wrinkle when applied in cold weather. Ice dams are one of the most typical problems for roofing when the temperatures are low.

Extra care should be taken when handling and or installing asphalt shingles when the air and surface temperatures are at or below 40 f 5 c. For contractors in northern areas it means it s time to adapt to the winter roofing season.