Felt Roofing in Birmingham
Moseley Roofing & Building Services

Felt Roofing, Done Properly

Felt has been covering Birmingham's flat roofs for generations, and it is still earning its place. Torch-on felt comes in rolls that are heated onto the deck in layers, each one bonded to the last, until the roof has a sealed, hard-wearing skin. Laid to good falls with the laps done right, it is a sound, honest system.

The trouble with felt is not the material, it is the shortcuts. A felt roof fails at its edges, its laps and its outlets long before it fails in the middle, and those are exactly the places a rushed installer cuts corners. Our flat roofing in Birmingham page covers flat roofs as a whole; this page is the felt version of the same story.

The Felt Roofs We Get Called To

Most of the felt work we are called to sits over one room or one car:

• Garage roofs, the classic single-car felt job.
• Kitchen and rear extensions where a pitched roof was never an option.
• Dormer tops on loft conversions.
• Porch canopies and bay window roofs.
• Outbuildings, from garden rooms to workshops.

If your flat roof is a different shape to all of those, it still counts. The inspection is free either way.

How a Torch-On Felt Roof Is Built

A proper felt roof starts below the felt: a sound deck, any rotten timber replaced, and falls that carry water to the outlet instead of letting it sit. Then the felt goes on in layers, each roll torched onto the one beneath, with the laps overlapped in the direction of the fall so water rides over the seams rather than into them.

The edges get the detail: trims at the drip, upstands where the felt meets a wall, and the outlet dressed so water leaves the roof cleanly. It is unglamorous work, and it is the difference between a felt roof that quietly does its job and one that calls us back within a few seasons.

Signs a Felt Roof Is Failing

Most felt failures can be spotted from the ground or a quick look over the fence:

• Laps opening up or splitting, either where two rolls meet or where the felt crosses a joint in the deck.
• The edge lifting back at the drip, letting water under the whole skin.
• Cracked, patchy areas where the surface has aged out.

One sign on its own is a maybe. Two together is a repair call, and the free inspection tells you which side of the line you are on.

Felt Repairs or a New Felt Roof

A small split away from the main field can be patched and sealed, and a repair is often all a middle-aged roof needs. When the felt has failed at several edges, or the deck underneath has taken water, patching becomes throwing good money after bad and a new roof is the honest answer.

We will tell you which is which after we have looked. If the leak cannot wait, our emergency roof repairs page covers the same-day securing side of the work.