Can you install battens over wet peel-and-stick underlayment before a metal roof?
A builder in the Pacific Northwest has self-adhered underlayment on a roof deck over a sauna, 1x4 battens ready and weeks of rain ahead. Manufacturer instructions say the membrane is the waterproof layer, so the real questions are drainage under the battens and what wood touches the metal.
The question came up on Reddit's r/Roofing on Nov. 8: will strapping nailed over a wet membrane trap water against it?
GCP Applied Technologies' data sheet for Grace Ice & Water Shield calls for installing the membrane on a clean, dry deck at 40°F or warmer and covering it within 90 days. Its rubberized asphalt seals around fasteners, so batten nails through it are expected. Three cautions apply. A nail pulled back out leaves a hole that may not reseal and must be patched. Fasteners should not go through the membrane over unsupported joints between sheathing panels. And at 0.05 perms the membrane is a vapor barrier, so the deck cannot dry upward; over a sauna, GCP's advice to provide insulation and ventilation against condensation applies directly.
Water that gets under the battens has to drain. Battens run only across the slope can hold water on their uphill side. Benjamin Obdyke, which makes roof underlayments, says the first layer of 1x strapping should run parallel to the rake to form vertical channels for drainage and airflow, and the second layer run along the eave. An air space under metal lets condensation dry or drain, the company says.
Then the wood itself. The Galvalume producers' information site says neither pressure-treated wood nor any wet lumber should touch bare or painted Galvalume, because wet treated lumber and the coating form a corrosion cell. Use untreated battens, let them dry before panels go on or add a separator, and check the panel maker's instructions, as GCP's sheet also advises.
Why it matters: Roofers in wet climates can batten over a membrane that is already down. Run the first layer down the slope, keep treated and wet wood off Galvalume, and patch any fastener hole that is backed out.
Sources
- Can pressure-treated wood be used in contact with bare and prepainted GALVALUME sheet?Steel Roofing (steelroofing.com), Jun 23, 2023
- Double-Strapping the Roof: Underlayment Requirements & AlternativesBenjamin Obdyke, Jul 16, 2024
- GRACE ICE & WATER SHIELD Data SheetGCP Applied Technologies, Mar 20
- Laying down wood strapping over wet underlayReddit r/Roofing, Nov 8