We’ve got rain in the forecast for the next seven days. We burned through all the nice, bright sunny days fixing issues with the roof that were unexpected, so we’re going through this weather with noting but tarpaper between the house and the weather. Last night we got a leak which came down the ceiling fan and soaked part of the bed, unfortunately, so up I go into the attic crawlspace with buckets at 4AM. I had to tack old business cards to where it was coming in to keep the water from following down past where I was putting the buckets, and that seemed to work.
Everything I’ve read about roofing says the paper should keep the weather out temporarily, and its working fine on the front roof. A call is in to the contractor, who is coming over shortly to look at it. Fortunately, I’m a lot less cranky than I was last night.
The house I grew up in had nothing but tarpaper on its roof and walls for about the first five years we lived there. You should do OK for awhile.
BTW, I’ll never love another house as much as that one.