alternative to clout nails for roofing felt on child's playhouse?

[jkn]

Hi all I have been reassembling a wooden playhouse I bought s/hand recently. It had a felted roof and am working out the best way to re-felt it.

As befits a playhouse the T&G roof panels are pretty thin, and I am a bit reluctant to hammer clout nails in for fear of damaging them

The original felted roof had nails sized something like 3mm x 20mm from what I see in Screwfix. I am wondering if there is anything smaller, or less 'impactful', that I could use in this situation.

I have seen smaller diameter nails, but wondered if there is anything else - perhaps something that I could screw in, that would work with roofing felt? Happy to eg. put some blobs of sealant on top if that would help...

Thanks J^n

[John Rumm]

How about a tin of felt adhesive?

(or better still some torch on felt)

[Malcolm Race]

Felt Adhesive? Sticks like sh*t?

Malcolm

[jkn]

Hi John

Would felt adhesive work over a large area? I have some of that but ( "Usage restrictions: Ensure that the first felt layer on wood roofs is clout nailed. Do not use over tar based products."

I would be happy to try this but don't have access to the necessary torch etc, and when you factor in the hire costs it starts to get pricy...

Cheers J^n

[Dave Plowman (News)]

A decent staple gun? You should be able to get staples no longer than the wood is thick.

[meow2222]

1. bitumen paint
2. wafer head screws, 1/2" or 1" or both

NT

[Bill Wright]

The playhouses sold by Toys R Us come with very short like these from B n Q Clout Nail AVF-850318 (W)3mm x (L)12mm

Bill

[The Night Tripper]

Thanks, but it is the diameter of the nails that I am thinking is the issue wrt hammering them in. Homebase do some thinner short galvanised nails with a thin head that I am wondering about...

J^n

[The Night Tripper]

Hmm, not a bad idea, thanks - and I have a decent staple gun. Don't suppose galvanised staples are easily available though...

J^n

[charles]

I suspect the felt will have died long before any rusting problem with the staples becomes obvious.

[meow2222]

cue torn felt. Nails arent the best way to fix felt.

NT

[The Night Tripper]

I'm sure you're right ... though it turns out galvanised ones are fairly easily found ;-). I will try an experiment to see if the stables penetrate the felt too much.

Otherwise I might try the idea of wafer head screws.

Thanks for all the comments.

Cheers J^n

[stuart noble]

Allegedly the staples used on some fencing I bought were galvanised. Didn't stop rust stains developing though. Most shed roofs are (1/2"?) OSB and the galvanised clouts work fine for me.

[John Rumm]

They are ok if you are using proper "nail prep" felt which is woven through with strands in both directions and is deigned to not let the nails pull through.

If nailing ordinary felt, an old builders trick is to use say 1.5" wire nails, bang them in until firm, and then hammer them over flat so that you use the exposed 3/4" of shaft to grip the felt rather than just the head.

[meow2222]

You're still left with a lot of penetrations though, waiting to leak. Plus spot fixing thats much weaker than all over fixing with bitumen.

Bitumen has various other uses too, and sounds like a good option for the OP.

NT

[Another John]

As NT (Meow2222) said: I'd use bitumen "paint", or "gunge" as I call it. It's only a playhouse, so not a big area. I use a decorating scraper (spatula type - 3" wide, flexi blade) to apply it. If the pitch is quite steep, you could screw a couple of laths over the felt to hold it in place while the bitumen sets -- they help stabilise it all anyway.

Don't apply it too thick, esp. near the lower edge: you don't want it dripping out on all those hot summer days coming up. Especially not on to kids, who will proceed to get it everywhere.

2p J.

[The Night Tripper]

Thanks for the idea. By 'bitumen "paint"' do you mean yer actual 'bitumen paint'?

or something else? I have a 1L tin of bitumenous felting adhesive but at

0.8sq.m/litre, that isn't going to go very far if I use it as you suggest...

Cheers J^n

[meow2222]

I assume thats the stuff, just bitumen plus solvent

I'm suggesting a layer maybe 0.5mm thick. You could do loads of playhouses with a litre.

NT