Roofing Underlayment Quality is about how Hearthstone is presently installing a dependable leak-proof underlayment on a project they are building in western North Carolina right now.
Most Builders still use cheap 15# asphaltic felt. That’s not as good and not what Hearthstone recommends, if you have some additional funds to spend on the quality of your roofing.
Why: because:
1. It doesn’t seal around the thousands of nails and screws that penetrate it, put there while roofers install the actual exposed roofing.
2. It becomes brittle and can actually flake apart over the years, leaving next to nothing under your exposed roofing.
3. It tears in the slightest wind and most Builders simply nail back down those tattered remnants, which provide next to no protection of your roof sheathing at all.
CLICK ON PHOTO ABOVE TO SEE YOUTUBE VIDEO IN ANOTHER TAB
When Hearthstone Construction’s customers, like the one above, ask for better protection, they often install a peel and stick thick membrane, like the one seen in the image (and video) above. The Architect (HOME ARCHITECTS ®) said they have never had this underlayment membrane leak on them (as long as it was properly installed and covered in the specified time per the manufacturer).
One of the best features of such high performance membranes is that they seal around the nails and screws that penetrate them when the actual exposed roofing is installed. That’s a real plus, and one of the reasons you want this fail-safe protection under the exposed roofing, protecting your roof decking from leaking and damage.
The membrane above is 40 mils thick (many times the skimpiness of asphalt felt “tar paper”). And the composition is modified SBS, an extremely sticky adhesive and bonds nearly immediately to just about anything, in particular to wood roof decks (plywood, OSB, wood planking), and to itself at membrane overlaps. So much so, that future attempts to remove it will pull apart the wood roof sheathing. Now that’s a good bond to keep out rain, ice and snow. And why you should never attempt to install it yourself. You will get into a GAM (God Awful mess) faster than you can imagine. Watch our in-house pros carefully installing the membrane. They perfected that technique after many trial and error efforts.
Hearthstone considers their recommended approach (the above high-performance membrane) to be an economical “insurance policy” to have a better roof underlayment as described above. They have fewer call-backs and you get a better house. And your roof livelihood may be extended.
Contact Hearthstone for more information.
