What are these bits of wood, and a Q about insulation

[SimonH2]

Firstly, what are these vertical (or vaguely looking like they were meant to vertical) bits of wood for ? Holding the ceiling up, or the roof down, or something else ?
Or put another way, can they be safely removed (they are in the way of flooring it), and what needs to go in to replace them (nail rafters to purlin with a short bridging piece ?) if they are removed ?

Untitled

• SimonH2
• 25 Feb 2014
• 1

Also, I believe this is a breathable sheet under the tiles. The ceilings slope down for a foot or so at front and back of the house. AIUI, because this is a breathable sheet, I can fill the whole gap with foam board (ie Kingspan or equivalent) without having to leave a ventilation gap. Is that right ?
I haven't actually worked my way out to the eaves yet (I'm a "well build" chap and been putting that off as long as I can), so I don't know what if anything is already in the gap - I'm assuming decent insulation probably wasn't added while it was being reroofed and it would have been trivially easy to do from above
And for the small gaps (like between the end joists/rafters and the walls where there's no chance of getting anything else in), is is safe to fill with expanding foam (being careful not to overfill ) ?

 

[tony1851]

The bits of wood are just joist hangers, intended to stop the ceiling joists from sagging too much. You can re-fix them further back near the purlin. The important point is that they are not vital to the stabiity of the whole roof.


Even with breathable felt, you still need a little air gap -around 20-25mm.

 

[SimonH2]

OK, I'll drop some off the purlins then. Best of it is, the ones in that photo aren't far from an internal brick wall the joists sit on.

 

[WabbitPoo]

It looks like all that timber you have piled up (are you doing extra boarding up there?) will add significantly to the weight on your ceilings below. Just be careful you don't overload the ceiling joists.

 

[SimonH2]

Yes, I am boarding it.
All the weight isn't going onto the ceiling joists. There's an internal load bearing wall (front to back) about where I took that photo from, another (side to side) about under the timber in the very bottom left of that photo, and obviously both end walls. The new timbers are supported from the walls - behind me I've bolted a rail to the wall and hung the joists with hangers, at the far end I'll be bolting the existing joists to the wall (with packing) under each new joist end. And where the internal walls are, I'll be packing the new joists off those.

And I'll be giving madame instructions on which areas to use for heavy stuff so it can be close to the supports.

Insulation wise, I'm intending to lift what little there is, put 75 - 100mm Kingspan/equivalent between the original joists, then put glass fibre between the new joists. According to the figures I've seen, that should give the equivalent of the 270mm glass fibre that's normally recommended.

What with other stuff, it's going to "be a while" before it's finished But the enlarged hatch is nearly done

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Any shower cables up there?

 

[SimonH2]

Don't you start.
Yes there is, and it'll probably be coming out as it's not used any more - and isn't likely to be used in the future.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Don't you start.