This month we shine the spotlight on one of the fastest-growing categories of roofing products: roof underlayments. For someone like me who’s worked in the roofing industry for many decades, it’s been amazing to witness how the lowly-saturated organic felt has evolved into so many high-performance underlayments that provide significant improvements to roof system sustainability.
Most of the new underlayments offer a flatter, more uniform work surface to improve the consistency of roof application, while at the same time resist the elements before and after installation. Many modern underlayments also improve the overall strength of the roofing system, especially in terms of wind resistance, while others offer breathability to transfer trapped moisture and redundancy to restist ice damage. And finally, the light weight and skid-resistance of many modern roof underlayments benefit roofing crews by making installation easier and safer.