Stripping an Old Felt Roof Laid Onto Decking

The roof stripping is progressing very well. The previous roofing company had laid this roof directly onto the decking. They laid 3 layers of mineral felt using hot bitumen. Note the little dots on the decking, indicating they opted to use a perforated 1st coat of felt. The idea behind this is that the 2nd coat of felt will only partially bond to the decking. This ensures that when it fails, the next roofer can remove the old felt without having to hack away at the decking. This can be a common problem, because when roofers don’t follow manufacturers’ instructions, and fully bond the roof, the cost of removing the old roof covering could be considerably more expensive.

Most of the felt is up now. The green bags have been pushed down vent holes to stop any debris from making a blockage. Note the old skylights. Here is a link that shows us cleaning off the skylights. Also take a look at the state of the wall by the chimney pots at the left of this picture, and you can see how we finished them off here – chimney pots.