Leaving roofing felt exposed for a week before shingles?

[Putter]

I am building a packaged house right now and have ran into delays due to the horrible weather here in Central Alberta. We should be sheathing the roof today before I go back to work for five days. Should I roll the roofing felt on? I have really worked hard to keep the 5/8" sheathing dry even thought it has rained every day this month here. My question to you guys would be will it be better to let the OSB sheathing sit in the elements or cover it with the felt and let that get wet?

Thanks.

I will start a new thread on the build later,with pictures of course, just no time right now.

 

[MarkV]

Get the felt down. Here you will see a place dried in with felt and left that way for weeks before shingles. Wind is normally the biggest problem with felt left exposed. The plastic cap nails do a better job against wind than staples do.

MarkV

 

[clemsonfor]

Dosent the stuff turn in to a wavy mess when wet, does it go back flat when dry? it must or if not is not an issue cause you see tar paper rained on all the time? OSB is water resistant and has a water resistant glue. NOT water proof though.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

If you have to tear the tarpaper off and re-do, small loss. Tarpaper is cheap. Putting down the felt is known as "dry sheathing", and is a common practice in the trades. If you are in a windy area, forget it.

 

[radioman]

It depends, any more rain coming up? Do you think you will get winds? It doesnt take much for wind to blow off the paper. How big is the roof? is it simple roof? or bunch of dormers? Most likely you won't have the bundles of shingles up there to hold it down since it will be up there for a week and sun is bad for shingles when its still in pacakage. If you still have the lumber wrap your wood came in, you can use that for tarp and weigh it down if you have enough. If there is alot of rain still to come, I'd use plastic or tarp or whatever you have instead of tar paper. The tar just dries out too easily when exposed to the sun and loses it water resistance.

 

[jinman]

If I thought I was going to leave the paper down for awhile without shingles, I'd use 30 lb felt instead of 15 lb. It's not that much more expensive, but it sure is tougher and will resist wind damage much better. Tar paper is remarkably tough. We put some down between rows in the garden to inhibit weeds and it is not ripping or tearing when we walk on it. We've had several rains and 100+ degree days, but the tar paper is still doing its job.

 

[2manyrocks]

Supposedly, synthetic felt can be left exposed for something like 90 days and is more tear resistant than paper felt. It is lighter and comes in larger widths, too, so it is easier to handle.

The guy across the street from me had his roof exposed with synthetic felt for quite some time over the winter, and so far as I know, didn't have problems.

 

[inveresk]

Tar paper will wrinkle. Consider spending a little extra on something like Novaseal.

http://www.intertapepolymer.com/Products/ECP/BuildingConstruction/Pages/default.aspx

 

[valley]

Greetings, Cover it with felt! I had a delay of 3 years with 30# felt on the roof before I was able to put the asphalt on, I now have metal. It was 25 years plus before I put the metal over the asphalt shingle.

Richard

 

[studor]

Are you putting down ice and water shield too? Expensive but it goes down fast and nothing bothers it nee a coule of rows of it at the eaves and valleys anyway -JMHO