diff --git a/src/fs/loader.ts b/src/fs/loader.ts
index 81bcc589a..70eb45f4c 100644
--- a/src/fs/loader.ts
+++ b/src/fs/loader.ts
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ export class Loader {
   public * lookup (file: string, type: LookupType, sync?: boolean, currentFile?: string) {
     const { fs } = this.options
     const dirs = this.options[type]
-    for (const filepath of this.candidates(file, dirs, currentFile)) {
+    for (const filepath of this.candidates(file, dirs, currentFile, type !== LookupType.Root)) {
       if (sync ? fs.existsSync(filepath) : yield fs.exists(filepath)) return filepath
     }
     throw this.lookupError(file, dirs)
@@ -37,12 +37,12 @@ export class Loader {
     return path.startsWith('./') || path.startsWith('../')
   }
 
-  public * candidates (file: string, dirs: string[], currentFile?: string) {
+  public * candidates (file: string, dirs: string[], currentFile?: string, enforceRoot?: boolean) {
     const { fs, extname } = this.options
     if (this.shouldLoadRelative(file) && currentFile) {
       const referenced = fs.resolve(this.dirname(currentFile), file, extname)
       for (const dir of dirs) {
-        if (referenced.startsWith(dir)) {
+        if (!enforceRoot || referenced.startsWith(dir)) {
           // the relatively referenced file is within one of root dirs
           yield referenced
           return
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ export class Loader {
     }
     for (const dir of dirs) {
       const referenced = fs.resolve(dir, file, extname)
-      if (referenced.startsWith(dir)) {
+      if (!enforceRoot || referenced.startsWith(dir)) {
         yield referenced
       }
     }
diff --git a/src/fs/node.ts b/src/fs/node.ts
index 03712eb52..8ef7bdade 100644
--- a/src/fs/node.ts
+++ b/src/fs/node.ts
@@ -5,8 +5,13 @@ import { stat, statSync, readFile as nodeReadFile, readFileSync as nodeReadFileS
 const statAsync = _.promisify(stat)
 const readFileAsync = _.promisify<string, string, string>(nodeReadFile)
 
-export function exists (filepath: string) {
-  return statAsync(filepath).then(() => true).catch(() => false)
+export async function exists (filepath: string) {
+  try {
+    await statAsync(filepath)
+    return true
+  } catch (err) {
+    return false
+  }
 }
 export function readFile (filepath: string) {
   return readFileAsync(filepath, 'utf8')
diff --git a/src/liquid-options.ts b/src/liquid-options.ts
index ef92fda89..2803ec4e2 100644
--- a/src/liquid-options.ts
+++ b/src/liquid-options.ts
@@ -133,13 +133,13 @@ export const defaultOptions: NormalizedFullOptions = {
 export function normalize (options?: LiquidOptions): NormalizedOptions {
   options = options || {}
   if (options.hasOwnProperty('root')) {
-    options.root = normalizeStringArray(options.root)
+    options.root = normalizeDirectoryList(options.root)
   }
   if (options.hasOwnProperty('partials')) {
-    options.partials = normalizeStringArray(options.partials)
+    options.partials = normalizeDirectoryList(options.partials)
   }
   if (options.hasOwnProperty('layouts')) {
-    options.layouts = normalizeStringArray(options.layouts)
+    options.layouts = normalizeDirectoryList(options.layouts)
   }
   if (options.hasOwnProperty('cache')) {
     let cache: Cache<Template[]> | undefined
@@ -165,8 +165,9 @@ export function applyDefault (options: NormalizedOptions): NormalizedFullOptions
   return fullOptions
 }
 
-export function normalizeStringArray (value: any): string[] {
-  if (_.isArray(value)) return value as string[]
-  if (_.isString(value)) return [value as string]
-  return []
+export function normalizeDirectoryList (value: any): string[] {
+  let list: string[] = []
+  if (_.isArray(value)) list = value
+  if (_.isString(value)) list = [value]
+  return list.map(str => fs.resolve(str, '.', '')).map(str => str[str.length - 1] !== '/' ? str + '/' : str)
 }
diff --git a/src/liquid.ts b/src/liquid.ts
index 286f9649f..46b463b0c 100644
--- a/src/liquid.ts
+++ b/src/liquid.ts
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ import builtinTags from './builtin/tags'
 import * as builtinFilters from './builtin/filters'
 import { TagMap } from './template/tag/tag-map'
 import { FilterMap } from './template/filter/filter-map'
-import { LiquidOptions, normalizeStringArray, NormalizedFullOptions, applyDefault, normalize } from './liquid-options'
+import { LiquidOptions, normalizeDirectoryList, NormalizedFullOptions, applyDefault, normalize } from './liquid-options'
 import { FilterImplOptions } from './template/filter/filter-impl-options'
 import { toPromise, toValue } from './util/async'
 
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ export class Liquid {
     return function (this: any, filePath: string, ctx: object, callback: (err: Error | null, rendered: string) => void) {
       if (firstCall) {
         firstCall = false
-        self.options.root.unshift(...normalizeStringArray(this.root))
+        self.options.root.unshift(...normalizeDirectoryList(this.root))
       }
       self.renderFile(filePath, ctx).then(html => callback(null, html) as any, callback as any)
     }
diff --git a/test/e2e/render-file.ts b/test/e2e/render-file.ts
index edacaba8f..4caa04da1 100644
--- a/test/e2e/render-file.ts
+++ b/test/e2e/render-file.ts
@@ -55,6 +55,6 @@ describe('#renderFile()', function () {
       extname: '.html'
     })
     return expect(engine.renderFile('/not/exist.html')).to
-      .be.rejectedWith(/Failed to lookup "\/not\/exist.html" in "\/boo,\/root\/"/)
+      .be.rejectedWith(/Failed to lookup "\/not\/exist.html" in "\/boo\/,\/root\/"/)
   })
 })
diff --git a/test/integration/builtin/tags/render.ts b/test/integration/builtin/tags/render.ts
index e91d08b9f..203118509 100644
--- a/test/integration/builtin/tags/render.ts
+++ b/test/integration/builtin/tags/render.ts
@@ -250,7 +250,7 @@ describe('tags/render', function () {
   })
 
   describe('static partial', function () {
-    it('should support filename with extention', async function () {
+    it('should support filename with extension', async function () {
       mock({
         '/parent.html': 'X{% render child.html color:"red" %}Y',
         '/child.html': 'child with {{color}}'
diff --git a/test/integration/liquid/liquid.ts b/test/integration/liquid/liquid.ts
index e01a2aac8..69b20bff7 100644
--- a/test/integration/liquid/liquid.ts
+++ b/test/integration/liquid/liquid.ts
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ describe('Liquid', function () {
         extname: '.html'
       })
       return expect(engine.renderFile('/not/exist.html')).to
-        .be.rejectedWith(/Failed to lookup "\/not\/exist.html" in "\/boo,\/root\/"/)
+        .be.rejectedWith(/Failed to lookup "\/not\/exist.html" in "\/boo\/,\/root\/"/)
     })
   })
   describe('#parseFile', function () {
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ describe('Liquid', function () {
         extname: '.html'
       })
       return expect(engine.parseFile('/not/exist.html')).to
-        .be.rejectedWith(/Failed to lookup "\/not\/exist.html" in "\/boo,\/root\/"/)
+        .be.rejectedWith(/Failed to lookup "\/not\/exist.html" in "\/boo\/,\/root\/"/)
     })
     it('should fallback to require.resolve in Node.js', async function () {
       const engine = new Liquid({
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ describe('Liquid', function () {
         extname: '.html'
       })
       return expect(() => engine.parseFileSync('/not/exist.html'))
-        .to.throw(/Failed to lookup "\/not\/exist.html" in "\/boo,\/root\/"/)
+        .to.throw(/Failed to lookup "\/not\/exist.html" in "\/boo\/,\/root\/"/)
     })
     it('should throw with lookup list when file not exist', function () {
       const engine = new Liquid({
@@ -128,7 +128,7 @@ describe('Liquid', function () {
         extname: '.html'
       })
       return expect(() => engine.parseFileSync('/not/exist.html'))
-        .to.throw(/Failed to lookup "\/not\/exist.html" in "\/boo,\/root\/"/)
+        .to.throw(/Failed to lookup "\/not\/exist.html" in "\/boo\/,\/root\/"/)
     })
   })
   describe('#enderToNodeStream', function () {
@@ -158,7 +158,7 @@ describe('Liquid', function () {
       expect(drainStream(stream)).to.be.eventually.equal('foo')
     })
     it('should throw RenderError when tag throws', async () => {
-      const stream = engine.renderFileToNodeStream('error.html')
+      const stream = await engine.renderFileToNodeStream('error.html')
       expect(drainStream(stream)).to.be.rejectedWith(/intended render error/)
     })
   })
diff --git a/test/integration/liquid/root.ts b/test/integration/liquid/root.ts
index d6caf3428..cc9aba147 100644
--- a/test/integration/liquid/root.ts
+++ b/test/integration/liquid/root.ts
@@ -1,11 +1,12 @@
 import { normalize } from '../../../src/liquid-options'
 import { expect } from 'chai'
+import { resolve } from 'path'
 
 describe('LiquidOptions#root', function () {
   describe('#normalize ()', function () {
     it('should normalize string typed root array', function () {
       const options = normalize({ root: 'foo' })
-      expect(options.root).to.eql(['foo'])
+      expect(options.root).to.eql([resolve('foo') + '/'])
     })
     it('should normalize null typed root as empty array', function () {
       const options = normalize({ root: null } as any)
diff --git a/test/unit/fs/loader.ts b/test/unit/fs/loader.ts
index cfc26afa8..54da91365 100644
--- a/test/unit/fs/loader.ts
+++ b/test/unit/fs/loader.ts
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ describe('fs/loader', function () {
   describe('.candidates()', function () {
     it('should break once found', async function () {
       const loader = new Loader({ relativeReference: true, fs, extname: '' } as any)
-      const candidates = [...loader.candidates('./foo/bar', ['/root', '/root/foo'], '/root/current')]
+      const candidates = [...loader.candidates('./foo/bar', ['/root', '/root/foo'], '/root/current', true)]
       expect(candidates.join()).to.equal('/root/foo/bar')
     })
   })