Hi,
I just ripped out the ceiling from my flat roof in the "conservatory" (glorified lean too built in the 70). I can see tons of water marks on the joists which all seem to be old (I know it was re-roofed about 9 years ago so assuming they were made before that !). However, I have bought myself a moisture meter and noticed that all the beams are up at the 15% reading for the tops of them and around 6-10 at the bottom. Is this a sign of condensation?
Also, when I opened it up I could see fresh marks at the point where it touches the outside wall of the house.
The beams go from the house outwards and have upvc frames beneath them . There are half hearted gaps between the upvc frame and roof beams (a few mm's at most fronted by the cladding) which let in very little air and they only let it in around at the point furthest away from the house (the bottom of the slope as it were) so there is no way that air will get to teh back - near the house wall. When I ripped it down it was packed with ordinary loft insulation - but not very well - lots of airholes.
My thoughts are that I want to turn it into a fully insulated area by sealing around the edges completely with expanding foam/sealent. Then packing the void between the joists with a combination of celotex and ordinary loft insulation to avoid any air gaps and then putting up a vapour proof board ceiling.
It feels like a sound plan based on my reading/googling however, I need to know, please, a) are the moisture readings indicative of condensation or something worse and b) is my closing in plan sensible !?
many thanks for any help !!!
John.
I just ripped out the ceiling from my flat roof in the "conservatory" (glorified lean too built in the 70). I can see tons of water marks on the joists which all seem to be old (I know it was re-roofed about 9 years ago so assuming they were made before that !). However, I have bought myself a moisture meter and noticed that all the beams are up at the 15% reading for the tops of them and around 6-10 at the bottom. Is this a sign of condensation?
Also, when I opened it up I could see fresh marks at the point where it touches the outside wall of the house.
The beams go from the house outwards and have upvc frames beneath them . There are half hearted gaps between the upvc frame and roof beams (a few mm's at most fronted by the cladding) which let in very little air and they only let it in around at the point furthest away from the house (the bottom of the slope as it were) so there is no way that air will get to teh back - near the house wall. When I ripped it down it was packed with ordinary loft insulation - but not very well - lots of airholes.
My thoughts are that I want to turn it into a fully insulated area by sealing around the edges completely with expanding foam/sealent. Then packing the void between the joists with a combination of celotex and ordinary loft insulation to avoid any air gaps and then putting up a vapour proof board ceiling.
It feels like a sound plan based on my reading/googling however, I need to know, please, a) are the moisture readings indicative of condensation or something worse and b) is my closing in plan sensible !?
many thanks for any help !!!
John.
