Doing a roof rebuild, roofers select question

on a 46 year old bungalow. Have made a new facia, raised some rafters and replaced some roted ones, put on wintergaurd and drip on the eve and gable end.

Had trouble with laying the roofers select. working as one person I rolled it out towards me and nailed as I went. I find if you push the roll up a bit it is tight at the bottom, if you let the roll sag which it wants to do on this 25 degree slope then it is buckled at the bottom, So I tried to keep it straight and split the difference, it didnt seem to pull tight.

I nailed it per the manual at the six inch spacing but think it makes it worse. I see one photo where a roofer nailed it at approx 24 inches and the buckling is minimal or at least stretched over that distance rather than between the closely spaced nails, my gut feeling was what I did would have telegraphed through.

Dont see how you can walk on it if you have fewer nails as it tends to pull at the nail head.

Is there a technique to this or should I not be working as one, I put the winterguard on and it was a breeze.

I also left the roof uncovered last night and with the dew on it this morning the remaing stuff is bucklet but think that will pull tight when it is dry.

Going to start again, first time doing this myself so a bit harder to have judgement on how things should be, I should have taken a photo but it was getting late and was busy removing what I felt was not quite right.

Thanks,

Warren

Well, for me Roofer’s Select doesn’t go in too much different than a ‘regular’ 30 # felt other than having to watch out for the fiberglass that will make me itchy (& fer gawd’s sake, do NOT rub your eyes!).

Lay the roll on the deck @ a point that will get your overlap to where you want it on the layer below, then put 2 or 3 tin tabs plastic caps in a tight cluster within 6" to 1 ft. of the rake.

Roll it out as far as you can to the other rake & with the rake behind you & roll in front of you, straighten it out for the overlay & remove wrinkles by tugging it tight.

Tack a couple of tabs or tins in the R.S. & then hop over to the other side of the roll; backspin the roll to take about 2’ extra off (enough to lay off the edge of the rake), cut the roll off, tack down, then lay in tin tabs / plastic caps as required for pitch.

Lather, rinse, repeat…

rooftopguard.com, check this web site.
TOP quality!
I always use this.

Use these

Normaly we nail every 4-6" top and bottom and run diamond patterns along the middle.

Walk in the middle, not on the seams unless you’re into adrenaline rushes, heh.

Thanks for your responses First of all no hopping around, as a cabinet maker anything higher than my work bench is too high.

This is another bungalow, last one was 4/12 this one I think is 5/12 it measure out to at least 25 degrees. I really notice the difference plus it has a gable end instead of the last one having the cottage style roof. That knocking sound you may have heard was my knees but I am adjusting, not sure I will get used to it but going slow and trying to pay attention.

I didn’t approach the roofers select again today, I took another row of it off, there was dew on it in the morning and it was rippled worse, it was flattening out as the sun got on it and the one row I left was pretty flat.

What I noticed is I got one side of the first row straight and pretty flat, the other side the top side had the rippling. So today I realized that meant the next course above would have a ripple just from the top edge of the first coarse.

I just didn’t have the technique but you mentioned pulling it tight which I was trying to do as I unrolled it a foot to two feet at a time well maybe that was the problem, easier to pull a long length tight.

Those are slic fasteners. I did talk to my favourite Certainteed Rep and he said he has seen a number of people use hammer staplers. I used an air nailer and noticed that walking on the paper pulls it around the nail heads and can even tear it or at least enlarge it. When I pulled it off today it was actually hard to do, the nails held it well and it really didn’t want to pull away from the nails.

I looked at the home I rebuilt last year and photos I took at the time. the roofer who did the roof had put nails in about 24â€Â

I had posted I could not get it on without some ripples. I pulled two layers of it off, tried it again with extreme care and still ripples in it.

Pulled it off and took a unupened 1 year old roll sitting in a garage, a damp garage and rolled it out. It rolled out perfect and with ease. I did a second coarse and half way accross it started to want to ripple a bit. This was at about 50 feet out of the roll

If it all rolled out the way this old roll did on the first roll out it would be a breeze. It was simple and easy, something is up with this material. Either it was defective, stored wrong, had humidity in it or maybe the outisde of the roll lays flatter than once you get into it.

I dont know the answer, the new roll went down perfect simple and easy when it was opened. Something I have to figure out.

Warren

Maybe you can post photos of your progress / concerns / rippled felt.

That’s the only way we can advise you if what you’re getting is acceptable or maybe the cause for your tweaks.

off the rippled rows and I might have a few photos have to find them and also figure out how this works.

I did photo the run from the new roll and it was flat. I was working tonight and it is kind of damp here, stuff that was already on there has expanded a bit.

I realize there is judgement as to how much of a ripple is a problem, but I have a plywood roof that is pretty flat and smooth, I have a photo of the Roofers select that has laid flat and the stuff with ripples, well today I learned waves are enough to foul up snapping chalk lines, anywhere the paper is up is holding the chalk line up. Maybe some of this would be easier working with two people but I am going to get through it myself. Landmarks went on nice today.

Give you guys alot of credit, at 163 lbs and decent shape for my age bundles of 30’s are too much to darry up a ladder and flop onto a roof then carry over to the work area. Not into putting them up on my shoulder either.

Will see if I can figure out the posting.

Also one of the guys posted those fasteners with the large plastic heads, Where are those available, are they a Certainteed product or a Grace or or?

Thanks,

Warren

First photo is the bottom of three rows, two were ripped off cause of waves I will call them. Tried to roll another out same roll just got waves.

Then got a year old roll had stored next door, rolled out like a dream you can see it is the one on the righ much smoother.

The second photo may show the waves better. Even that smooth row on the right seemed to wave up a bit more today as I was working and it was humid. I think I might have to replace some of the row on the left as I get closer working the diagonal back, will see if it pushes down or not.

This is first time trying photos sorry if it is not right then will try again, not sure how the sizing works

Warren

First photo is the bottom of three rows, two were ripped off cause of waves I will call them. Tried to roll another out same roll just got waves.

Then got a year old roll had stored next door, rolled out like a dream you can see it is the one on the righ much smoother.

The second photo may show the waves better. Even that smooth row on the right seemed to wave up a bit more today as I was working and it was humid. I think I might have to replace some of the row on the left as I get closer working the diagonal back, will see if it pushes down or not.

This is first time trying photos sorry if it is not right then will try again, not sure how the sizing works

Warren

From everything I’m seeing, you have nothing to worry about. A 30 year shingle will “suck up” the defects in the average roof, so don’t sweat a little bit of felt looking bumpy.

As for the photo of the fastener, those are called “Plastic Caps” & a box worth of a few hundred will cost you less than ten samolians. For an entire roof, you will probably want to get the large plastic tub of them; should run you near to $ 35.00 - $ 40.00 IIRC.

I call those plastic capped nails “Mexican tax”.

Never seen a white guy put one down but see all Mexicans using them. See more guys leaning towards the air powered tackers than the plastic capped nails.

Fiberglass felt holds up against wind and rain better than organic felt. Duo Fast 550’s are all I’ve ever used, same thing as the 20 or so roofers I know.

Haven’t touched a roll of 30 pound felt in 7-8 years. At one time the builders had us put down a row of 30 lb on the garage and 15 pound after that. With laminates 15 pound roofer sellect is plenty good.

I always just nailed the underlayment from the center out. Never had any troubles with it doing it that way.