Hopefully someone here can offer some sage advice 
About 1.5 months ago some insulation was put in part of my loft. No problems. Till today - with snow outside melting on the roof (which may or may not be related)
There are droplets of water coming through my insulation and dripping into the space below room.
Heres some details of the room:
Its an attic space room, original (i.e. built this way), Victorian house, slate rooms.
The attic space is separated in to 2 areas - a main room (where im sat now quite happily) and a smaller area to one side behind a board wall - like a loft area, where the problem is.
The roof is slate, with bitchumen type material under it (no idea what the fancy proper name is - there is approx 7cm space between this and the room, i.e. the depth of the roof joists. Pre-insulating this bit of room, the only thing between the outside world and the inside, apart from the roof it self, was some chipboard nailed on the inside of the joists - and a whole lot of draft coming in!
The main room is all plaster board with a ?7cm? thick glassfiber insulating layer between the roof and the inside - i.e. gap between the roof and the plasterboard nailed to the underside of the joists.
Heres what was done to insulate - DIY job after research and advice.....
The chipboard was taken off the joists, and the gaps at the bottom edge of the roof between inside and outside world filled with expanding foam filler. Bye bye bad drafts and birds (dont ask).
Then polystyrene sheets 5cm thick cut to size (all the sizes between joists varied - 30-40cm - not handy for fitting pre-sized diy rolls of whatever into). These sheets were pressed up between the joists to lay flat with the inside edge, leaving a 2cm gap between the polystyrene and the roof.
And all was well. Till now!
I pulled back some of the polystyrene (its only pressure fitted in between the joists, not stuck) and there is defiantly a build up of ?condensation?. Didn’t see this after was heavy rain in previous weeks, only now its snowed. Maybe it was never bad enough before to notice!
Anyway im wondering if any of the following are true:
- Bad advice on the polystyrene - theres not enough space for both it and space between it and the roof.
- Bad advice on foam filling the edges between roof space and outside world - blocked all ventilation?
So what to do
Advice would be much appreciated!
Remove foam? Drill ventilation holes in it (won't that just provide an air `in` and not air `out`)? Remove all the insulation and have a nice cold room again? Fitting vents into the roof in the tiles I think is out the question - 1) its beyond my diy by a mile, 2) there are alot of joists to fit between.
Many many thanks in advance!
Martin
About 1.5 months ago some insulation was put in part of my loft. No problems. Till today - with snow outside melting on the roof (which may or may not be related)
There are droplets of water coming through my insulation and dripping into the space below room.
Heres some details of the room:
Its an attic space room, original (i.e. built this way), Victorian house, slate rooms.
The attic space is separated in to 2 areas - a main room (where im sat now quite happily) and a smaller area to one side behind a board wall - like a loft area, where the problem is.
The roof is slate, with bitchumen type material under it (no idea what the fancy proper name is
- there is approx 7cm space between this and the room, i.e. the depth of the roof joists. Pre-insulating this bit of room, the only thing between the outside world and the inside, apart from the roof it self, was some chipboard nailed on the inside of the joists - and a whole lot of draft coming in!The main room is all plaster board with a ?7cm? thick glassfiber insulating layer between the roof and the inside - i.e. gap between the roof and the plasterboard nailed to the underside of the joists.
Heres what was done to insulate - DIY job after research and advice.....
The chipboard was taken off the joists, and the gaps at the bottom edge of the roof between inside and outside world filled with expanding foam filler. Bye bye bad drafts and birds (dont ask).
Then polystyrene sheets 5cm thick cut to size (all the sizes between joists varied - 30-40cm - not handy for fitting pre-sized diy rolls of whatever into). These sheets were pressed up between the joists to lay flat with the inside edge, leaving a 2cm gap between the polystyrene and the roof.
And all was well. Till now!
I pulled back some of the polystyrene (its only pressure fitted in between the joists, not stuck) and there is defiantly a build up of ?condensation?. Didn’t see this after was heavy rain in previous weeks, only now its snowed. Maybe it was never bad enough before to notice!
Anyway im wondering if any of the following are true:
- Bad advice on the polystyrene - theres not enough space for both it and space between it and the roof.
- Bad advice on foam filling the edges between roof space and outside world - blocked all ventilation?
So what to do
Advice would be much appreciated!
Remove foam? Drill ventilation holes in it (won't that just provide an air `in` and not air `out`)? Remove all the insulation and have a nice cold room again? Fitting vents into the roof in the tiles I think is out the question - 1) its beyond my diy by a mile, 2) there are alot of joists to fit between.
Many many thanks in advance!
Martin
