Roofing Felt Vs Tar Paper

Ft or unrated 30 lb.

Roofing felt vs tar paper.

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. Gaf shingle mate 36 in x 144 ft 400 sq ft felt roof underlayment. Roofing felt offers an additional layer. Roofing felt also known as tar paper provides a protective underlayment over the roof deck and beneath the shingles.

Felt is commonly sold in either 15 or 30 rolls measuring 36 inches wide. Long ago a 15 role actually weighed. 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. Prospectors during the california gold rush covered the roofs of their temporary shacks with roofing felt also known as felt paper or tar paper.

Although tar paper has traditionally been the standard undercoating for shingles as of 2010 synthetics are becoming more popular as an underlayment. Roofing felt or tar paper is infused with a petroleum based solution to provide an additional layer of roof protection under shingles. Generally speaking roofing felt is a felt paper that is soaked in asphalt and other water resistant compounds to produce a membrane. Lighter than felt synthetic underlayment is just as easy to work with.

It also offers fire resistance required for home construction. Synthetic or felt roofing underlayment which is better. Most of the felt paper stocked by lumberyards today is either unrated 15 felt which typically weight around 7 or 8 lbs. Per square 100 sq.

Fast forward 170 years and roofing felt is still the most popular roofing material now used as an underlayment being installed today. It was easy to use durable and even had alignment lines to help with the shingle installation. Felt paper also referred to as tar paper was the standard underlayment material in roofing for decades. Of course it is a bit more technical than that but this is the basic idea behind how felt works.

Synthetic underlayment started gaining popularity in the last decade.