Holes in Roof Felt Under Concrete Tiles

Quango Unchained

Our house was built in the early 1970s.

There are half a dozen holes of different sizes in various places in the original felt in the unconverted attic under concrete tiles. And the felt in some places is not in great condition and easily breakable - especially near the eaves. I'm not sure that patching it would work that well or last that long.

There is no water getting in at present that I can see but I can see evidence of leaks in the past.

How critical is it to replace this felt with a breathable membrane? I've tried googling this and see mixed answers - some Victorian buildings have no felt for 100+ years and are fine etc. It's a fairly big expense - looks like it will be in the region of EUR 6.5k to have tiles removed, new membrane fitted, dry verge and vents installed and tiles replaced. We've a lot of work to do on the house so we're trying to prioritise as best we can.

Also, how long do concrete tiles last? Google advice will say up to 50 years but ours are there just over 50 years now and I don't think anybody in the estate has had their tiles replaced yet.

The house has no insulation at the moment and old windows. But we will have the house wrapped, attic insulated and new windows and doors installed this year.

10-10-20

You might get away with eves trays to replace the felt at the lowest point, and if so it would be a very good opportunity to fit vent trays while the eves are exposed, then you have less to worry about in terms of ventilation when fitting the insulation snug up to the vent tray. Plus if you have a hipped roof address the insulation pain-points at the corners of the roof (as best you can) which are inaccessible from the attic.

Quango Unchained

Thanks. It is a pitched roof. Just replacing the lower part of the felt and adding eaves trays might just keep us going until eventually the whole roof needs doing.