I am planning to cover my roof trusses with a whole roof tarpaulin to insure against the possibility that the slaters or slate deliveries might be delayed for a couple of months.

 

The essential roof dimensions are 10.5m x 6.5m for the main block plus another 4.5m x 4.5m L extension at the roof same level. 

 

Can anyone recommend a tarpaulin supplier or material grade that will be up to this job?

 

This caught my eye:

https://www.tarpaulinsuk.uk/products/heavy-duty-brown-tarpaulin-240gsm-high-density-woven-polyethylene-tarp

 

It is a 30 degree roof in a sheltered low-land village location.

 

 

I've thought about this and plenty of suppliers on Ebay. My biggest concern was keeping it down and not acting like a big sail if the wind picks up

Don't do it. Just get lath and felted 

Putting a tarp on the roof just guarantees high winds and frankly they never work as you want and a constant worry (I have found out the hard way) , get it felted and battened.

15 minutes ago, Vijay said:

I've thought about this and plenty of suppliers on Ebay. My biggest concern was keeping it down and not acting like a big sail if the wind picks up

 

 

A top concern of mine also. I would not tie the tarp to the rafters, I would just throw it over the trusses and weigh it down with planks and blocks on the staging.

 

I will check out eBay.

8 minutes ago, Oz07 said:

Don't do it. Just get lath and felted 

 

 

I see your logic but with Scottish forum members warning about delamination of felt due to frost action after a couple of months I started looking for a different solution. Another problem is that the roofers will not batten until the fascia is on and same sample guttering is available. I am a few weeks away from that stage and now the nights are getting frosty the potential damage to the building is not just water getting to the edges of the first floor boards but also frost action on the blocks which soak up water during rain.

14 minutes ago, Oz07 said:

Don't do it. Just get lath and felted 

do this.

 

it will still leak through the nail holes but be better than a sheet.

6 minutes ago, joe90 said:

Putting a tarp on the roof just guarantees high winds and frankly they never work as you want and a constant worry (I have found out the hard way) , get it felted and battened.

 

 

The idea came from watching a pro roofing team on YouTube, they used tarps to cover up large sections of a roof during a reslate job.

 

Did your tarp wind event lead to damage to the roof truss structure?

I might try some 1000ga plastic membrane which is 25% the cost of heavy duty tarp and hope that in a winter gale it will rip before forming a sail that would try to tug the roof trusses off.

why waste the moey and effort when you have to batten and tyvec the roof anyway ?

 

This is where diy'rs show their lack of experience when a builder rolls up.

£200 buys you enough Sark-IT non breather membrane and slate battens to put them on at 2ft intervals. Will be fine through the winter, and they can then rip it off when they do the roof proper. 

Also a lot safer to put on

58 minutes ago, epsilonGreedy said:

Did your tarp wind event lead to damage to the roof truss structure?

no it led to osb getting sodden before GRP was laid and had to be ripped off and replaced (I know it was not a slated roof like yours) plus the fact I had to get it (Most of it) back from various gardens .

Edited November 9, 20205 yr by joe90

1 hour ago, epsilonGreedy said:

I might try some 1000ga plastic membrane which is 25% the cost of heavy duty tarp and hope that in a winter gale it will rip before forming a sail that would try to tug the roof trusses off.

It will last a week before being ripped to shreds. 

You can get seconds of proctor membrane on e bay roll it out and secure with battens, then rip it off and throw it away. 

You will throw any tarpaulin away anyhow as it will be ripped to shreds, all the pointy tops on the trusses will punch through on the first night. 

The blocks will not care about being wet, you will see it all dry out in a couple of weeks after the roof is on, you will start to see a change in colour after a couple of days as the moisture pulls out of the blocks. 

 

Stop worrying and get the facia on. 

7 hours ago, PeterW said:

£200 buys you enough Sark-IT non breather membrane and slate battens to put them on at 2ft intervals. Will be fine through the winter, and they can then rip it off when they do the roof proper. 

 

I should think about this option again. I had previously ruled it out because I was concerned the nail holes left from the temporary battens might prevent secure fixing of the proper battens when the proper roof goes on.

 

I suppose smaller clout nails could be used for the temporary battens?

Unlikely unless you are very unlucky - most of the roofers I know use 75mm Paslode nails for battens as they are standing on the battens they like them to stay where they are put. I'd just use 63mm ring shanks and they will soon pull out when they come to do the rest of the roof

You are not going to put your temporary battens in the same place, you just “ scatter batten “ this is enough bits of batten to hold it down no more than that.