Felt First

Months ago, after framing was done, I cladded the roof rafters with OSB panels.

Then covered that with felt underlayment. But the felt kept being ripped and pulled off by strong winds.

The ripped felt left the OSB panels exposed to the elements and now I wished I had used plywood there instead.

Moving Slow

This is all my fault. Felt would have worked fine if I had followed up quickly with the final roof. But I didn't. I started to focus on the inside. I wanted to get the sauna heated up and running.

Now 2022 fall has started. Time to find a better temporary solution.

Rubber Underlayment

I switched to Grace Ice and Water Shield which is a rubber underlayment product. Some call it the "gold standard" in roof underlayment.

The rubber was just as heavy as the felt, some 50 lbs a roll and it took 1.5 rolls to cover the roof.

It was ~50 degrees out so the rubber wasnt very sticky with the OSB panels. Yes, I made sure to clean the panels off as best as I could. Using the leaf blower to blast off as much dust as I could. I walked along the rubber to smoosh it down where I really needed it to stick.

Grace is incredibly sticky to itself! There were a few tense moments where I had to pull it apart from itself.

Because of my experience with the felt not staying down, I let the Grace go past the edges and used roofing nails to hold it down. When I come back and put the metal roof down, I'll cut the Grace back to the edge of the roof and remove these nails.

Im hopping that at worst case, if I fail to finish the roof before winter, the rubber will protect the structure from the elements.

The Future

The next step on the roof is ordering and installing a metal roof.

This roof stack on the sauna is a trial run for when I go about replacing the asphalt shingles on the main house!

References

Back Injury

Oct 8, 2021

Lower back, left side, soft tissue injury

Injuries,

🌱 Seedling

On oct 2, I changed out the felt for rubber underlayment on the sauna. My back was really sore the day os this work