Things Every Homeowner Should Consider When Picking an Underlayment

By Cass Jacoby. 

It can be tricky to know the right choice of underlayment for your home when you don’t really know what to consider in the first place. Don’t worry! We have got you covered. 

As homeowners, we tend to think of roofs as one thing rather than as a system, and we typically aren’t corrected on this notion until it comes time to replace our roofs. It can come as a surprise to learn about something so crucial to the performance of your roof that you probably had no idea about!  

Luckily AskARoofer has an expert to teach us all about what the underlayment is and why it is important. In Season 1, Episode 2 of the AskARoofer podcast Dominic Favazza of GCP tells us everything we need to know about underlayments so that we can make the best choices for our roofs! 

An underlayment, in simple terms, is the thing between the shingles and the roof deck. It is that layer on top of the plywood that works as a secondary layer of protection against rain, snow, ice and wind. This can be deceptively simple though, as there are so many considerations that lead into choosing the right underlayment for your home. 

“There's a bunch of different factors that come into play for a homeowner determining what  their best course of action is for waterproofing the home,” says Dominic. “I always like to think about the roof as a system. And that systemdepends on where you live, so you need to be very aware of what your roof system needs to handle.  You need to have the proper underlayment for your area’s weather.” 

For example, those who live in a hurricane zone, need to    select a roof system that can withstand that kind of weather. If youare on the coastline and often get wind-driven rains and hurricane winds that make shingles prone to lifting, then you should be choosing a beefier underlayment. A self-adhered  roofing underlayment  is  a good choice to withstand extremeweather as it will protect your roof from leaks when when shingles lift or tear. 

However, weather is not the only thing to take into account when choosing an underlayment Dominic says. Your budget might come into play, as well as the ventilation on the roof. “There are a bunch of different criteria when you're a homeowner to think about, “How do I best protect my investment, which is my home, with a roof system? What is the best course of action for that?’” says Dominic. “These are the things that every homeowner should consider when it comes time to replace their roof: weather, budget, ventilation and then what type of roofingunderlayment best fits our roof’s needs.” 

Listen to the podcast to learn more about underlayments and what you need to know to make the best possible choice for your home. 

Have a question? AskARoofer.   

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About Cass  

Cass works as a reporter/writer for RoofersCoffeeShop, AskARoofer and MetalCoffeeShop. When she isn’t writing about roofs, she is putting her Master degree to work writing about movies and dancing with her plants.