Fitting felt shingles for log cabins

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Felt IKO shingles supplied with our log cabins and garden buildings

The instructions on fitting felt shingles are on the packaging received but can be a little confusing if the installer has not done this style of roofing before and I do seem to spend a lot of my weekends on emergency calls to customers who need a little advice and are getting in a muddle with them.

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So, lets throw away the instructions and I’ll explain how I fit them to log cabins.

First thing to know, is don’t leave them in direct sunlight, they have a bitumen strip that runs along the back of the tile. This is designed to melt with the sun and stick the roof together, the last thing you want is to have them stick together in the pack.

The tiles come in strips which contain three or four tiles in line depending on the type. The strips are in 1.0m lengths.

Felt shingle strip

First we need to apply them to the leading edge of the roof and this is where I differ from the instructions but I think it gives a better finish.

Overhang

Consider whether you will be having guttering or not. If you are then you will need to work out the overhang needed to reach the centre of the gutter. If you are not fitting guttering then we need to set the overhang. We recommend overhang of the shingles by 40mm from the ends of the roof edge boards.

Starter Tiles

The first tile, put on the roof and turn it upside down so the tiles are facing up. Then turn it upside down. In my opinion it looks nicer. Then I carry on and butt each tile together for the full roof length. I tend to only work from one side of the roof starting with a full tile. When I get to the other end I then cut the tile flush with the roof board. Make sure it is exactly flush as if not you will not get the bargeboard on. In the case of hipped roofs also make sure this is flush at the corner points, it will save you problems later on.

Now we have the first layer on start again from the side you started at. I always start from the left. Take your tile strip, this time the right way up with the tiles pointing downwards. Place it directly on top of the ‘starter’ one. I then move it half a tile to the left which then covers the joins on the tiles butted together underneath. I differ again with the instructions and only use three nails. One in either end just above the bitumen strip and one offset in the centre of the tile. If you follow my ‘three nail’ recommendation please do make sure you offset the centre one otherwise you will see nail heads. When you’re finished, there should be no nails visible.

Some fitters, for quickness, like to use staple guns. I’m told this method also works well.

I now carry on my first layer, once again butting them up together and, making sure I trim flush with the boards.

Trimming

The normal method for trimming the tiles is with a stanley knife or similar. However, you’ll go through loads of blades and get cramp in your hands. Where I want to trim I carefully fold the tile over and then hit the crease with my hand or hammer, I call it my ‘folding over and bashing’ technique. As a result, the tile is broken where the trim is needed. It’s not a neat finish but the trim line is never seen and it does save your hands!

Subsequent Layers

Starting from my preferred left hand side I’m now back to a full tile flush with the edge of the roof. I then position the tile to the top of the split line of the tiles beneath. It’s normally about 145mm. I then cut a block of wood from leftover boards at that measurement and use that as a template so each and every tile I lay is to that measurement. This makes sure they are all level.

I then carry on up the roof laying each layer of tiles. I do stop periodically, especially on very large roofs to check I’m still working in line, there’s nothing worse than seeing ‘wiggles’ in the tile lines.

Ridges

Once I’ve reached the ridge I will fold over the tiles as appears to be the neatest to me. I may trim as necessary.

Next we now need to finish the ridge or in the case of the hipped roof the corners. To do this we cut the tile strips into individual tiles. Again I use my ‘folding over and bashing’ technique to do this as it saves my hands from cramp, feel free to use a sharp blade though if you want to be really neat.

To make it easy to fold over the ridge I find the small ‘nick’ in the side of the tile and cut upwards at an angle or use the ‘fold and bash’ technique.

Cutting the tiles for the ridge.

Wind

I now lick my finger and stick it in the air. I’m looking for where the wind comes from the most as I don’t really want my ridge tiles to be overlapped with the wind coming directly at them and under the flap. Once established I will start from my chosen end. Then we finish by driving in nails either side of the tile at the bitumen strip. Once again I’m overlapping them by about 145mm or using my template block.

If I feel the log cabin is particularly exposed or it is during winter when I am installing I’ll use a drop of mastic or the proper felt tile glue in each of the corners of the overlapping tiles.

Final

If you’re doing a hipped roof such as one of gazebos, and you haven’t got a roof finial for it, you will have to be a little careful how you finish. With a pyramid roof such as our Corner Log Cabins the tiles on each of the corner tend to form a rose type fan at the top, they naturally want to interlock into each other, be careful at this point to finish it nicely.

I hope this has helped to explain a little how to do the tiles or at least how I do them. I also hope it might reduce my Sunday morning emergency customer help calls!

But I’m always here for customers who have bought directly from us. So contact me any time. Day or night and I’ll help you through your install. Please though, consider my lay in Sunday morning. After 1000 is fine for an emergency call 🙂

New videos added which helps to explain more visually: