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Felt paper application

| Posted in Construction Techniques on November 23, 2002 04:31am

Here’s a two-part question about applying asphalt-saturated felt paper:

Another carpenter and I just finished putting felt paper on a two-story addition. We’ve done it a number of times together and do a pretty good job. But it is always a frustrating task and seems more difficult than it should be. In particular, the paper often travels up or down off the lines and then bubbles. We’re using cedar shingles so we used 30 pound paper. We use three-eighth inch stapes and manual tackers. Any tips, suggestions? What general guidelines do you follow for overlaping, layering, etc?

Also, the owner wants us to hang a tarp to cover the papered sides for the next ten days until we’re ready to shingle. He is concerned about the paper being exposed to the elements. Is that a problem? If it’s not, what can I tell him to convince him the paper is okay? We’re in Seattle so it’s not sunny or hot this time of year but there’s plenty of rain and moisture.

Thanks

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  1. Piffin | Nov 23, 2002 05:10am | #1

    Is this a roof or siding?

    In my experience the thirty will wrinkle worse than 15# but will stand up to wind better. If you get wind and haven't used anything other than staples, the tarp is a good idea. The felt can handle sun and rain just fine.

    I installit by placing the end at the rake of the roof and tacking two or three nails in the CENTER of the roll. Then I roll it out about twenty or thirty feet and rea back on it to stretch it tight and straight before nailing. Obviously the steeper pitched roofs get rolled shorter here and a wall might only be six feet at a time. On subsequent plies, I lap the paper four inches instead of the indicated two. Those lines they give you are not accurate anyway. Trying to follow them will give you wrinkles, gray hair, and crossed eyes!

    I use a combination of plastic cap nails and staples. This drawing is how I pattern the nails to hold best against the wind.

    .

    Excellence is its own reward!

    "The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are." --Marcus Aurelius

    1. wangdu1 | Nov 23, 2002 09:57am | #2

      Hey thanks a lot.

      Your advice makes sense. To clarify, my question was specifically about siding. But it seems like the techniques are pretty similar.

      1. Piffin | Nov 23, 2002 04:17pm | #4

        Ok, for siding, here's another trick/technique.

        Backrolling.

        It's a really big pain in the hump to have to hold a fifty or sixty pound roll of paper up against the wall tight while your helper tries to fumble with his stapler to reload it. Solution is to lighten the load. With the roll standing vertically a on smooth clean surface, take the end of it and start backing paper off the roll and re-rolling it in a parrallel roll. Estimate two feet per circumference of backroll. A little more on a new roll and less as you get to the center of the original. When you have enough, run the utilityknife down the paper between the two rolls to separate them and start placing it to the wall.

        If you are annal about accuracy, sweep the whole floor and me3asure off the exact distance you need and roll it out on the floor. For me that's a waste of time. I can run a backroll within three feet of what I need by this method..

        Excellence is its own reward!

        "The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are." --Marcus Aurelius

  2. Ragnar17 | Nov 23, 2002 10:10am | #3

    I don't have any great suggestions for avoiding the wrinkles.  I think it just comes with experience.  My buddy was a roofer for about 7 years, and he can apply paper to roof or wall sheathing no problem -- makes me sick!  <g>

    I'm also in Seattle, and I don't think you need to worry about the paper at all if it's only going to be up 10 days or so.  The sun is a lot harder on it than the rain, and at this time of year.... well, you know we aren't going to be getting much sun.  I really hate to admit this, but my house has been papered all season.  It's all beat up now, but it looked great for at least the first month.  You know how it is: the contractor's house is always the last one to get finished.  Just make sure you have the corners and edges well-stapled against the wind. 

    Ragnar



    Edited 11/23/2002 2:14:56 AM ET by ragnar

    1. wangdu1 | Nov 25, 2002 05:42am | #5

      Thanks for the tip.

  3. Nails | Nov 25, 2002 06:16pm | #6

    Roof or siding felt paper......best method of fastening I have found over the years is stapleing mason's twine [nylon string ] on laps and in the field , about 4 runs per .  You don't have to remove lath's no bulge from cap nails , and has withstood  central Illinois tornado with in 1/2 mile . I once asked an old timer how he put on felt and he said "black side up , with a lot of Budwieser" 

    1. User avater
      BossHog | Nov 25, 2002 06:42pm | #7

      Funny you should mention the "twine" method. I learned that from a contractor from Palmyra. Maybe it's an "Illinois thing".

      Although - Us rednecks in the small towns have been known to use baler twine - Cheaper and more plentiful...............(-:How does a shelf salesman keep his store from looking empty?

      1. Nails | Nov 25, 2002 07:06pm | #8

        Boss ... funny you should mention twine , I was in the Palmyra Auction barn last Wednesday morning and they were selling baler twine . Ever wonder what civilizied people on the coasts think about posts like these?   God  must  have loved the rednecks ................for some reason I just can't think of what it would be.

        1. User avater
          BossHog | Nov 25, 2002 07:23pm | #9

          Don't worry about those so-called "civilized" people from the coasts.

          They all wish they could be like us.For women, sex is like snow — you never know how many inches you're going to get or how long it's going to last.

          1. Ragnar17 | Nov 25, 2002 09:43pm | #10

            Could you all elaborate on the use of twine or wire over felt paper?  I'm not getting it.  Do you run the line horizontal, or vertical?  Parallel to one another?  How far apart, and how many staples on the lines per foot?

            Thanks,

            Ragnar

          2. User avater
            BossHog | Nov 25, 2002 10:17pm | #11

            If you were from Illinois, we wouldn't have to explain it...............(-:

            After the felt is put down, you go back and run a line along the bottom edge. Staple it every foot or so, and it holds the edge down so it doesn't blow off. A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.

          3. Ragnar17 | Nov 25, 2002 10:23pm | #12

            So you just put the line up, say, a half inch or so from the exposed edge?

            Sorry I'm not from Illinois.... maybe you can type more slowly for me.  <g>

            Regards,

            Ragnar

          4. User avater
            BossHog | Nov 25, 2002 11:07pm | #14

            I'll type slowly, as I know people from your area don't read too fast..................(-:

            Half an inch up from the bottom sounds good, although I've never paid much attention to where it ended up - I just kinda stuck it on. The world has achieved brilliance without conscience. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. [General Omar Bradley]

          5. Piffin | Nov 26, 2002 07:24am | #18

            Come on now Boss, you've got to be more specific about stapling schedules and string spacing if we're ever going to get this written into the code books. It is a mazing what a little baler twine will do. I don't know what held the world together before they invented it..

            Excellence is its own reward!

            "The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit.

            The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are."

            --Marcus Aurelius

          6. bobhallsr | Nov 26, 2002 07:51am | #19

            <It is a mazing what a little baler twine will do. I don't know what held the world together before they invented it.>

            Baler wire. LOL

            BJGardening, cooking and woodworking in Southern Maryland

          7. rez | Nov 26, 2002 08:01am | #20

            Had an old farm boy tell me once ' you need just three tools on a tractor to do everything. A big screwdriver that'll double as a chisel/prybar, a big cresent wrench that'll double as a hammer, and baler wire.' Let the thunder crack and the waves roar.

             We're going on.

          8. UncleDunc | Nov 25, 2002 10:34pm | #13

            >> ... it holds the edge down so it doesn't blow off.

            In Illinois it holds the edge down. In Colorado the wind would just laugh, briefly.

          9. Nails | Nov 26, 2002 02:00am | #15

            Seriously.... I staple string 4 lines per run of felt horizontal ly the length of the building , I don't seem to use any more staples and I do it after tacking and aligning paper , this is also great for house wrap. I once had a house sit for 19 mo. [owner ran out of money]  and nothing came off any where. as for wind probably more hot air comes from Illinois than any place else but it stays on even asI mentioned before within a 1/2 mile of a tornado.

          10. Ragnar17 | Nov 26, 2002 02:28am | #16

            Thanks for the suggestion -- it sounds like a good one.  Especially for my house -- the tarpaper mansion.  <g>

            Plus, stretching the string with one hand will give me more opportunity to smack my thumb with the hammer tacker!  Always a great activity on cold days. 

            Ragnar

          11. grayling103 | Nov 26, 2002 04:16am | #17

            The string trick works like a charm in Colorado as well.  I don't recall where I learned it from, but it does the trick.  Had a roof with tarpaper on for a couple really windy weeks this last summer.

            By the way, we use baling twine as well when we forget the string.  We have a ranch kid who always seems to have some in the back of his beat-up 79 Ford.  Gotta love that.

          12. User avater
            BossHog | Nov 26, 2002 03:36pm | #21

            ".....probably more hot air comes from Illinois than any place...."

            No - Only from Springfield.................(-:Would a fly without wings be called a walk?

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