Makes sense to me. I did the same thing—went with basic felt to keep things manageable. Haven’t had any major regrets either, and patching here and there has worked out fine. Unless your weather or insurance situation changes, it’s hard to justify the extra spend.
Basic felt does the job for a lot of folks, especially if you’re not in a spot with wild weather. I get the appeal of keeping it simple—less stress, less cash upfront. For me, switching to a green roof was worth it, but only because our area gets hammered with sun and rain. If you’re not dealing with that, patching felt when you need to just makes sense. No shame in sticking with what works.
You make a solid point about felt—sometimes the simplest solution really is the most practical, especially if your climate isn’t throwing curveballs. I’ve seen plenty of properties where basic felt holds up just fine for years, and patching here and there is way less hassle than a full replacement. No shame at all in sticking with something that’s working.
That said, I do wonder sometimes if folks underestimate how much their local weather can change over time. We had a couple of mild seasons, then suddenly two years of heavy storms and half the older roofs on my block started leaking. I guess what I’m getting at is, even if felt is holding up now, it might be worth checking if your area’s seeing more extreme weather patterns lately.
I totally get not wanting to overcomplicate things or spend more than you have to. Just a thought—maybe keep an eye on how your roof’s aging, especially after rough weather. Sometimes small upgrades pay off in the long run, but if you’re not seeing issues, no reason to fix what isn’t broken.
That’s a fair point about shifting weather—my area’s seen heavier wind and hail the last few years too. Curious if anyone’s actually switched to metal or synthetic underlayment after seeing more storms? I’m debating if it’s worth the extra upfront cost.
I hear you on the crazy weather—it’s like my roof’s become a magnet for every hailstone within a 10-mile radius. I’ve looked into metal, but honestly, I couldn’t get past the sticker shock. My neighbor went all-in on a steel roof last year, and yeah, it’s holding up great, but he jokes that he’ll be paying it off until retirement. I stuck with architectural shingles and upgraded to a synthetic underlayment instead of felt. Not as flashy, but it was a good middle ground for me—way less expensive than metal, and supposedly better at keeping water out if a shingle goes missing.
One thing nobody warned me about: metal roofs are LOUD when it rains. Like, “let’s all gather in the living room and shout over the storm” loud. Some folks love it, but I’m not sure my sanity would survive spring in my area. Anyway, I guess it comes down to what bugs you more—upfront cost or the risk of repairs later. For me, paying a bit more for better underlayment felt like a decent compromise.
