The Day Felt Paper Cost Us a Full Day of Work

Early on when Johnny and I were building Dads Roofing, we took on a re-roof in Chilliwack. The homeowner wanted to save money, so we agreed to use #15 felt underlayment. We got two-thirds of the deck covered on day one. Then it rained overnight.

By 7 AM the next morning, every inch of that felt was soaked. The paper had buckled into ridges you could see from the driveway. We spent the entire second day tearing off wet felt and replacing it with synthetic before we could lay a single shingle. The homeowner's "savings" of about $500 on underlayment cost them a full extra day of labour.

That was the last time we offered felt as an option for owner-occupied homes. After 500+ roofs across the Fraser Valley, we can say without hesitation: synthetic underlayment is the only responsible choice in this climate.

What Underlayment Actually Does (And Why It Matters)

Underlayment is the waterproof membrane between your plywood roof deck and your shingles. If a shingle blows off in a storm, if wind-driven rain pushes under a tab, or if ice backs up at your eaves, underlayment is the barrier that keeps water out of your home. It is your roof's last line of defence.

The problem is that most homeowners never see it. It gets covered by shingles on install day and stays hidden for decades. So when a roofer says "we'll just use felt to save you a few bucks," it sounds reasonable. But that hidden layer is doing critical work, and if it fails before your shingles do, you will not know until water is dripping through your ceiling.

Head-to-Head: Synthetic vs Felt at a Glance

Why Synthetic Wins in the Fraser Valley — Our On-the-Roof Experience

Rain During Installation is Not "If" but "When"

Agassiz, Chilliwack, Harrison, Hope — every community in our service area gets substantial rainfall. The Fraser Valley averages over 170 cm of precipitation per year. When you are stripping a roof down to bare plywood and re-decking it, there is almost always at least one rain event during the project.

With synthetic, rain during install is a non-event. We cap-nail it down, the water sheets off, and we pick up where we left off when the sun comes back. With felt, rain turns the material into a soggy, wrinkled mess that has to be torn off and replaced. We have seen it happen to other crews, and we learned our own lesson the hard way.

Tear Resistance Saves Time and Prevents Callbacks

Johnny and I are particular about our work. No low nails, no bad cuts — that is our rule on every single roof. But no matter how careful your crew is, boots scuff the deck, tools get dragged, and wind catches material. Felt tears if you step on it at the wrong angle. Synthetic holds up to foot traffic, tool drops, and wind gusts without flinching.

A torn underlayment is a future leak. We are not interested in callbacks, and we are not interested in hidden damage showing up three years down the road because the underlayment got compromised during installation.

Lifespan That Actually Matches Your Shingles

Here is a question most roofers will not bring up: if you install 30-year architectural shingles over 15-year felt, what happens at year 16? Your shingles still look fine from the ground, but underneath, the felt is degrading. Moisture starts getting trapped between failing underlayment and shingle adhesive strips. By year 20, you can have rot and mold in your decking that nobody sees until the next re-roof.

Synthetic underlayment lasting 25-30 years means it keeps working for the full lifespan of your shingles. That is the kind of match-up that actually protects your home long term.

When Felt Still Makes Sense (Honestly, Almost Never)

We believe in being straight with people. There are a small number of situations where felt might be acceptable:

• Extreme budget constraints on a rental property where you are doing the absolute minimum to pass inspection and keep a tenant dry for the next few years
• A temporary cover on an outbuilding that will be re-roofed or demolished within a couple of years
• Dry-climate installs where you know for certain you will have the roof fully shingled same-day with zero chance of rain (this does not describe the Fraser Valley)

For any owner-occupied home in the Fraser Valley, we will always recommend synthetic. We are not trying to upsell you — we are trying to make sure the roof we put our name on performs for decades.

Real Cost Breakdown: Is the Upgrade Worth It?

Let us look at actual numbers for a typical Fraser Valley roof:

On a $12,000 to $18,000 total re-roof, the upgrade to synthetic is 3-5% of the project cost. Spread that over 25-30 years of protection and you are paying pennies per day for a material that will not absorb water, will not tear, and will not fail before your shingles do.

Now consider what happens if felt fails early: trapped moisture leads to plywood rot, which leads to decking replacement at $80-120 per sheet plus labour. A few sheets of rotted decking can cost $1,500 to $3,000 to replace. The $500 you saved on felt starts looking like a very expensive gamble.

How We Install Underlayment at Dads Roofing

Johnny and I are both Red Seal Journeyman Boilermakers. We spent years working with industrial-grade materials where tolerances are measured in millimetres and a bad weld means a failed pressure vessel. We bring that same precision to every roof.

Here is what our underlayment installation looks like:

• Ice and water shield first — We run self-adhering membrane a full 36 inches past the interior wall line at all eaves, valleys, and around penetrations. In the Fraser Valley, ice damming is a real risk during freeze-thaw cycles.
• Minimum 4-inch overlaps — Horizontal seams get 4 inches of overlap minimum. On lower-slope sections (4:12 and below), we go to 6 inches.
• Cap nails every 12 inches on center — No staples. Staples tear through underlayment in wind. Cap nails hold.
• Drip edge under at eaves, over at rakes — This detail gets missed constantly by other crews. The drip edge goes under the underlayment at the eave so water flows onto the drip edge and into the gutter. At rakes, the drip edge goes over the underlayment.
• No wrinkles, no bubbles, no shortcuts — The underlayment gets laid flat and tight. Every wrinkle is a potential moisture trap. We take the time to get it right.

Brands We Trust and Stock

We source our synthetic underlayment from Fraser Valley suppliers including Roofmart in Chilliwack and Abbotsford. The brands we have had consistent results with:

• IKO RoofGard-SC — Our go-to for most residential work. Good balance of tear strength, traction, and cost.
• GAF FeltBuster — Excellent UV exposure rating. We use this when a project might sit exposed for an extended period.
• CertainTeed DiamondDeck — Premium option with great slip resistance. We use this on steep pitches where crew safety is a priority.

We do not have a financial arrangement with any of these brands. We use what performs. If a product stops performing, we stop using it.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Bottom Line From Two Boilermakers Who Roof for a Living

Johnny and I founded Dads Roofing in 2021 because we saw too many shortcuts in this industry. Underlayment is one of the areas where shortcuts hurt homeowners the most, because the damage stays hidden for years.

We install synthetic underlayment on every owner-occupied home we touch. Not because it makes us more money — it does not, materially — but because we refuse to put a 15-year material under a 30-year shingle system. If you are getting quotes from roofers who are offering felt to save you $500, ask them one question: what happens to that felt paper in year 16?

If you want a roof built with boilermaker precision and materials that will last as long as the shingles on top of them, give us a call. We serve every community in the Fraser Valley from Hope to Abbotsford, and we are happy to walk you through exactly what goes on your roof and why.

Ready to talk underlayment? Call Kory or Johnny at (778) 539-6917 or email info@dadsroofrepair.com