Roofing Felt Vs Tar Paper

Prospectors during the california gold rush covered the roofs of their temporary shacks with roofing felt also known as felt paper or tar paper.

Roofing felt vs tar paper.

Roofing felt is comprised of a base made from natural materials such as wood cellulose or synthetic ones such as fiberglass or polyester and then coated or saturated with a. Per square 100 sq. It was easy to use durable and even had alignment lines to help with the shingle installation. Felt is commonly sold in either 15 or 30 rolls measuring 36 inches wide.

Although tar paper has traditionally been the standard undercoating for shingles as of 2010 synthetics are becoming more popular as an underlayment. Synthetic or felt roofing underlayment which is better. Felt underlayment is an all over roofing accessory made of a natural wood cellulose natural fibers etc or synthetic. Long ago a 15 role actually weighed.

Felt paper and synthetic. Fast forward 170 years and roofing felt is still the most popular roofing material now used as an underlayment being installed today. Generally speaking roofing felt is a felt paper that is soaked in asphalt and other water resistant compounds to produce a membrane. Roofing felt offers an additional layer.

For this article we will just call it felt underlayment or felt paper. It also offers fire resistance required for home construction. Sometimes called roofing felt underlayment roofing tar paper or roll roofing this is a layer of protection installed between the roof deck and the roofing shingles. In our industry there are two main varieties of underlayment.

For decades roofers have fitted a layer of felt over a roof s sheathing or roof deck before installing shingles. Tar paper also called roofing felt is used under shingles. Asphalt felt underlayment is known by many different names including felt paper roofing tar paper felt underlayment asphalt soaked felt and so on. Most of the felt paper stocked by lumberyards today is either unrated 15 felt which typically weight around 7 or 8 lbs.

Roofing felt or tar paper is infused with a petroleum based solution to provide an additional layer of roof protection under shingles. Roofing felt also known as tar paper provides a protective underlayment over the roof deck and beneath the shingles. If you are looking for a suitable roofing felt for your home and want to get the best available then you may be torn between peel and stick roofing underlayment and felt roofing paper the former is a modern invention which is designed to be more easy to place on a roof and need less professional assistance. The sheathing paper specified by code irc is astm rated type 1 paper astm d226 an asphalt saturated felt tar paper which weighs a minimum of 11 5 pounds per square.