Garden Shed Roof Leaking

[News]

Can anyone help please?

My garden Shed roof is leaking due to sagging. The roof is 11 foot 6 x 7 foot 6 with a 6 inch drop. The shed was handbuilt (poorly) by the previous owners and is covered in felt over tongue and groove boarding. The 2 supporting beams are along the long axis rather than the shorter one. Each "beam" is are made out if 2 lengths of 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" with a short length of the same bracing them at the join (something like -_- ). This has caused the centre of the roof to sag and leak. I have tried bracing the roof with poles and sealing the joins of the felt with bitumen paint with limited success. Can anyone suggest a good to fix this? I am reluctant to replace the entire roof as I'm not that adventurous with DIY and I don't think that the weather will be kind enough to allow me an extended fixing period.

I was considering fitting a second roof over the first by constructing a frame (with the main supports on the shorter span), boarding and felting this. This will hopefully allow me to increase the slope of the roof as well. A 6" drop over 7 foot 6" seems a bit shallow to me. Is this a relatively easy job? Or would removing the existing roof and rebuilding be a better bet?

All suggestions gratefully received.

[OldGit]

Cover with a Polythene sheet for the winter, then build a new roof in the spring!

[Andy Hall]

From experience, trying to fix something like this never works satisfactorily.

I would suggest you buy a roll of the cheapest felt you can find or even some plastic sheet and nail it on for the time being.

Then, when the weather improves, rip the whole lot off and build a new roof. Generally you don't want the pitch to be mush less than about

15 degrees......

.andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

[N. Thornton]

Hi. I quite agree with Andy.

Your existing roof has 2 design problems. First its too light, resulting in sagging. and thus holding water. Second its t-n-g and felt, and the 2 dont mix well. Felt has to have a flat smooth surface to sit on or it fails prematurely.

Come warmer weather I'd pull the whole roof off and build the frame up a bit on one side to give more slope. Replace roof with 8x4 sheets of

18mm water resistant wood, and preferably pay attention to how you joint the sheets. Run a length of eg 2x3 along under each joint, screw into from above, and this is important, fill the resulting depression smooth. Also fill any gap left between the sheets. The result is you'll have a much longer felt life.

Now add good quality felt. A days work.

You can use any old junk for the filler, in this case. Dont build on the existing roof because a) you trap wet, b) the roof isnt strong enough to last, and c) its easy to remove and replace.

Regards, NT