Condensation in my loft

schmoodub

msun wrote: »

We had severe condensation in cold weather (water dripping off he rafters) in the loft after having loft and cavity wall insulation installed. The complete cure for us was to fit "easyvents" - they are very simple plastic devices held open by a spring that are inserted into the felt lining - we used 10 in all. They look like this and completely cured the condensation for us.

thanks for the link msun

we have the same problem with condensation in our loft, just discovered it yesterday. having briefly googled around i found details of a similar system called lapvent which appears to do much the same thing as easyvent - its website makes installation look extremely easy, which is what i need!

anyone here used lapvent before? any good? cheers!

gazza975526570

schmoodub wrote: »

thanks for the link msun

we have the same problem with condensation in our loft, just discovered it yesterday. having briefly googled around i found details of a similar system called lapvent which appears to do much the same thing as easyvent - its website makes installation look extremely easy, which is what i need!

anyone here used lapvent before? any good? cheers!

Or how much they cost please?

lemonade_lifestyle

Just to give my thoughts on this.

We too discovered a very wet and stinky loft space few years ago whilst going to retrieve xmas decs...was absolutley distraught...had vision of roof collapsing, ceilings falling thro (yes I do blow things out of perspective when it comes to maintenance work and its costs!!)

Anyway, this is what we have had done.

Got the timbers sprayed with some anti fungal stuff as they looked like they were rotting (mould growing all over them!!) by our local damp specialists.
Had roof tile vents put in and some air bricks put into wall.

I believe our problem stems from stopping using the open fire. We boarded it up few years after we moved and now poss regret our decision. The chimney breasts upstairs amd in loft would have dried out any problems (plus also heated upstairs bit better)

Hindsight is a wonderful thing...

Oddgy

Hi - Well i have come across this thread after a panic tonight!! Yes, i have gone into my loft to get the xmas decs out, and everything is soaked up there. And of course from the roof, there is water completely covering the felt on the roof which is in turn dripping onto everything. The boxes are wrecked...and im gutted big time. Worst of all, i am not DIY minded, and have no clue what to do or how to do it.

Like others on here i have read - this is the first time this has happened. I have been here 2 years now, and last winter up there was ok. The only thing ive had fitted is a loft ladder...that hasnt effected the loft hatch as we kept the same one, so that cant be the issue.

We also have vents in the soffits i have noticed, so even thats been done.
Im confused and worst of all worried about the situation..

As it is, all our paperwork, fotos, old school paperwork etc, is now downstaires on the clothes airer next to the radiator....

Isnt it strange why so many of us is suffering when we never suffered before and have done nothing different....maybe this is the start of big problems being caused by the weather............

Joatmojo

To vent a roofspace properly, you need to ensure that you are not going to encourage more problems by using slapdash methods, and quick fix cures.

"It is against all the principles of good practice to make unguarded openings in insulation membranes"; especially protective shielding like roofing underfelt.

By adopting the wrong approach, you may actually cure one problem and create many others if your not careful!

Wildlife infestation (birds and bees and other things with little knees!) driven rain and snow, airborne pollution, storm damage (wind uplift factors), etc., even the dangers of over venting and energy loss!

I strongly suggest that you take a long look at something the best professionals would use - Google about for Lapvent, I like it a lot, it's simple, it does what it says on the box.

Joatmojo

aliasojo

The problem isn't so much whether you have vents or not, it's where they are placed that's of importance.

We had terrible condensation problems to the point where the water dripped down through a bedroom ceiling. Ironically, there was a vent in the roof directly above that area, but it wasn't much good as there was no vent opposite to cause a cross draft of air.

We had a surveyor out for something else and queried it with him. The advice was that air must move...it has to blow in one way and blow out the other, taking any warm air with it, therefore stopping it from collecting on the underside of the roof. So we needed to set up this cross draft by putting in vents on the opposite side.

We had advice from one other roofer to install soffit vents but the surveyor said tile vents were what we were best going with. They dont look as pretty but they are effective.

The other thing to check is to make sure you have draft excluder fastened around your loft hatch. You'd be surprised how tiny amounts of warm air can seep up through small spaces and cause problems.

Our tile vents were £40 each but we know the roofer so he only took £20 for fitting them. I suspect you could do it yourself as it only took him seconds...whip one tile out, cut membrane underneath, slide in new tile vent. I just dont have a head for heights though.

Joatmojo

Not all surveyors or roofers necessarilly know their onions; the protective shielding/insulation proporties of the underfelt is destroyed by making a random hole in it. Opening up a roof space to the elements exposes it to wildlife infestation, driven rain and snow, storm damage, airborne pollution, over ventilation, loss of energy/heat, etc.

glosman555

I fitted some extra insulation 2 weeks ago and I came across this post by accident so I decided to check in the loft and it is saturated, luckily it has not got to the ceiling. Most of the condensation is at the back of the house that face's north.

aliasojo

Joatmojo wrote: »

Not all surveyors or roofers necessarilly know their onions; the protective shielding/insulation proporties of the underfelt is destroyed by making a random hole in it. Opening up a roof space to the elements exposes it to wildlife infestation, driven rain and snow, storm damage, airborne pollution, over ventilation, loss of energy/heat, etc.

Possibly not, but when you have a surveyor, a roofer and a tile manufacturer all saying the same thing, I have to assume they know what they are talking about.

Are you a roofer or in some way connected to this kind of subject?

Joatmojo

Yes Aliasojo, I am involved in this industry and have been nearly all my life.

I sympathise with what you say, and fully understand that we all have to rely on some sort of professional advice at one time or other - it's just that in some subjects some experts are more aware of some things than others.

Ripping a hole in underfelt and putting a vent tile ablove it is a pretty naff way of going about things as far as I am concerned - for the reasons stated.

I don't wish to appear pedantic - just voicing my honest opinion.