I'm using the 'Easy Seal' products from Wickes because for a start they are on offer this week so the mid-range stuff is no cheaper, and the cheapo shed felt is crap, don't even go there! The advantage of Easy Seal is that they're, well, easy to seal! Self-adhesive in other words, so it's just sticky-backed plastic for grown-ups. I first slapped on a whole tin of primer on the bottom half of the roof. Good thing I did because it was only just enough to cover that half. The real reason for me doing that was the weather - the BBC weather web site keeps changing every 5 minutes and it said thundery showers today. The primer has to be covered up in 4 hours so if it rains it's start again (and 10 quid a tin ain't cheap). As it turned out it was sunny all day, but it was so hot I only had the energy to do the bottom half of the roof so it all worked out well in the end.
Once the primer was dry, I measured out the underlay, a 5.8 metre length which would cover the top of the roof and wrap down over the fascia as well. Getting that to stay in place while I unrolled it onto the roof was a job and a half! The peel-off paper was very slippery so the whole thing started to slide down the roof - no sooner did I have one end in place than the other end slid down. I eventually nailed it in one corner and that did the trick. The backing paper pulled off without much fuss and basically the Easy Seal did what it said on the roll!
One thing you have to be careful of: if you leave this stuff for 20 seconds in the sun it gets as hot as a frying pan - I kid you not, I left it unrolled to get the nails, was down the ladder for 5 minutes and when I came back I leaned on it and nearly burned my hand! I didn't know that so much heat would concentrate on one surface, and I'm definitely glad I changed my plans which were originally to put a huge polycarbonate window on the back roof. Double glazing as well? It would be like spending a week in Spain in your duffle coat!
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