Roof isulated and drywalled?

[hhodge]

I just bought a old 11/2 storey home , the upper floor has attic space( well in the sides)it is my only source of storage , my question is that my roof is insulated and drywalled instead of the actual walls of the space - somone told me that this could potentially ruin my shingles on the roof because there is no where for heat to escape?
I believe the previous owners had children and they played in the storage space, between the walls, just because there is an old carpet thrown down and light fixture?
could this be why they insulated the roof?
Also my central air is running all the time to try and cool uptairs downstairs is freezing , is the isulated roof the culprit? ( i have tried closing the vents downstairs)
My concerns are that my bills are going through the roof because the central air running all the time and my 7 month old baby cannot sleep during the day because its too hot - it does cool down about an hour after the sun goes down
I want to take the drywall and insulation down and put on the interior walls but not sure what to do ?

 

[DAZB]

You may find help thin on the ground with this problem I'm afraid as this is mainly a UK based forum and many members will be unfamiliar with Canadian construction methods. Posting on a local forum willl get you more help and good luck with your query.

 

[Space cat]

I don't know anything about Canadian construction methods so I can only look at the physics of the problem. Am I right in thinking that shingles are the outer roof covering (what we call tiles)? I'm also assuming that it's the sun that's heating up your upper floor. (That's a problem we don't really have. Any free solar heating we can get through our rooftops is a bonus. )

To block this unwanted heat, you need to have a gap between the shingles and the insulation below and you need to have a free flow of air up through that gap and out through vents at the top to carry the unwanted heat away. The idea is that your shingles form a heat shield for the inner walls.

Moving insulation from the outside of the storage spaces to the inner walls is a partial solution (because it creates an air gap) but you'll still have to provide the ventilation. What does your ceiling look like? Is it flat with a void above the room or does the roof form sloping walls. If it's the latter, you'll still have heat pouring in. You'll have to move the walls inwards to get a gap between them and the shingles.

PS: You would have done better to post this question in the Building or Roofing forum. The mods might move it for you.

 

[wreckedit]

We had a brilliant comedian over here who played all the right notes of music on a piano but in the wrong places. So, like him asking your right questions in the wrong place/country is laughable!