Roofing Felt In Cold Weather

In fact roofing in the cold weather requires special preparations and procedures.

Roofing felt in cold weather.

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. Typically contractors avoid cold weather roofing for three specific reasons. The background on cold weather roofing. Yes asphalt shingles can still be installed successfully in cold weather providing a few important changes are made to the usual practices.

The cold weather shrinks the felt to 9 feet long by 9 feet wide. We will assume that the felt is originally 10 feet long by 10 feet wide. Ice dams are one of the most typical problems for roofing when the temperatures are low. For contractors in northern areas it means it s time to adapt to the winter roofing season.

If the temperature dips below freezing frost ice and snow become a serious safety factor on the roof. 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. The rolls of felt are quite heavy and to avoid damage must be handled with care. 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.

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. 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. 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. Shingles installed in cold weather may not immediately seal until warmer temperatures are present for the sealant to activate.

Roofing in cold weather is unlike roofing in any other temperature. These formations don t allow the snow on the roof to melt and they often cause roof leaks.