Roofing Underlayments EXPLAINED by a roofer: Tar Paper, Synthetic, Ice and Water Shield

what's up everybody brent simmons  here with roofing insights   so if you saw my recent video i was  talking about roofing nails something very   basic something that doesn't get talked  about very often because it seems like   everybody's just talking about shingles which  one's better which one sucks all that jazz well   in this video i want to cover another unspoken  hero of a proper roofing system and that is your underlayments so before we get into the different types of  underlayments we have here let's talk about   the purpose of underlayments so underlayments  are basically what the name implies it's an   underlayment for the final product so in the case  of these three these are all shingle underlayments   these go between the shingles and the roof  deck or whether or where the plywood or one by   decking is this is a barrier a second layer of  protection basically if something were to happen   to the shingles all right a couple of other  ones you've got ice and water shield and some   sticky membranes they serve a slightly different  purpose but overall every single product here is   a waterproofing product it's part of a proper  roofing system so let's begin with the basics   let's go a little old school for a second so these  two rolls are what is called asphalt felt tar   paper actually there's a ton of different names  for them but this is one of the oldest forms of   underlayment that's still around this is basically  made out of wood pulp other organic materials   ground together to make paper essentially and then  it's coated with an asphalt layer on it and what   the asphalt does is actually helps the water to  shed off so it doesn't absorb water but these   two products you're not seeing a lot of roofing  companies install occasionally you'll see them   because they have pretty much been replaced by  this right here this is called synthetic felt   synthetic underlayment tons of different names  again but what this is is a polypropylene   uh synthetic membrane it does the same  thing you can tell that this is actually   quite larger but the benefits of using this  over this type of felt paper first of all   this is a lot stronger and to demonstrate that  i actually have some samples here this is the   30 pound felt and here's your 15 pound felt so i'm  just going to put them together and just show you   how easily these tear tore just like paper here  we have synthetic felt one layer is even thinner took a lot to tear that this was almost as hard as  beating Dmitry in arm wrestle these are your main   underlayments that you'll find on every shingle  roof or at least you should be finding them there   but let's move on to a little more specific  applications this is what we call ice and water   shield again there's a lot of different names  for it but this is a really unique product so   this stuff actually has this this plastic here  that protects the backside and the reason this   is here is because this is extremely sticky so the  purpose of this underlayment is to actually go in   areas that are more prone to leaking so in valleys  of roofs around chimneys end walls where the roof   meets the wall that's where you're supposed  to put this stuff and what's so cool about it   is that it will actually when it heats up it  will stick to the decking really well making it   almost impossible to remove and any nails that  get driven through this product will actually   seal around it when it gets hot it's pretty  cool now another product that's a step above   is called high temp ice and water shield and  this stuff is actually a completely new brand   i've never seen this before but you can see it  almost looks like synthetic felt on the surface   but you still have that sticky backing and  this stuff is extremely sticky this is called   high temperature ice and water shield because  you're supposed to use this in areas where it   gets extremely hot and what i'm talking about is  like under metal roofs copper roof standing seam   that type of thing i was reading the label  of this product too and they were saying   that it's also good with other types of synthetic  tiles clay tile concrete tile that type of thing   so this is a really neat product i probably want  to do a video just on this pretty soon because   i've never seen this type of style before and  this is actually just like the synthetic felt   it's got a non-slip surface on it so it's pretty  cool the final product that i want to talk about   and i consider this an underlayment  because it applies directly to the decking   but this is actually part of rolled roofing  systems so rolled roofing are those granulated   flat roofs that you see that are on really low  pitched areas this is called base sheet you have   base and cap so this actually installs before you  put the granulated cap sheet on and what's really   cool about a lot of the products they actually  put markings on it so you can very easily tell   you know where your laps are and and your spacing  on the cap sheet but it's pretty similar to ice   and water shield actually again you've got the  sticky backing it's just quite a bit thicker you   might be able to see the difference here but  that's a base sheet and that's an ice and water   shield it's roughly i'd say twice the thickness  of it there's a lot of other underlayment products   out there when i was talking to my rep to get  all this stuff he was getting real specific with   certain things but in this video i wanted to cover  the common ones that we use on almost every job   if you have any ideas or you want to talk about  any different types of underlayments that are   out there let's open up a conversation and talk  about it in the comments i'm always reading them   and i always respond i want to hear of any crazy  underlayments that are out there i'll give you one   example there's actually a fiberglass asphalt  paper that's out there couldn't find any of it   here but if you've ever used it i want to hear  about that any other crazy products like this   let's talk about it i want to know what's out  there but either way if you like the video i   want you to like and subscribe for more  awesome content i'm brent simmons thanks you

Channel: Dmitry Lipinskiy

Views: 134,219

Keywords: roofing underlayment, roofing, roofer, roofing underlayments, roofing job, tar paper, synthetic underlayment, synthetic roofing, ice and water, roofer explains, roofing 101, roofing contractor, roofing advice, roofing company, how to start a roofing business, roofing business school, roofing marketing, roofing ice and water shield, roofing ice and water

Id: PJvVVlhnLW4

Length: 6min 51sec (411 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 14 2021