Condensation in my loft

aliasojo

Joatmojo wrote: »

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

No, you weren't being and I for one am glad of all input. It's always helpful reading advice from those who do have hands on experience.

davidoftheshire

This seems like madness. What on earth is going on?

About a week ago went up into the loft to get the Christmas decs down. No problems.

Went up 2 days ago and one side (only one side) of the roof felt is dripping loads of water. The other side of the roof is not. Never seen anything like it before. I've lived here 12 years and nothing has changed, no changes to insulation etc.

Now I've found this thread with all you people reporting the same problem. Totally bizarre.

Is the specifically the weather? It been continuousley frosty for several days here in South Bucks, no wind, very still, cold and dank.

Update....

Just went back in the loft - water drips and condensation still evident. I noticed that my loft hatch seemed looser than I remember, so have just fitted draft excluder strips all around it and tightened up the hinge screws which were loose.

Also, I said earlier that the condensation was all on one side of the roof felt, which is still true (North facing side). Well, my house has wierd (but v good) electric 'ceiling' heating - yes that's right it's in the ceiling. Each room has a thin element layed across the ceiling. One benefit is that every room has it's own thermostat for controlling the temp. A few days ago I turned up the temp in a number of rooms upstairs all at the back/North facing side of the house. So I am wondering if the combination of...

- Cold, damp weather
- Loose loft hatch
- Ceiling heating turned up in upstairs back rooms

have all contributed to this, which as I say I haven't seen in the 12 years I've lived here.

Robbo33

Hi, same problem, happened since new loft insulation + new shower + more central heating etc. Started opening windows, being extra careful to keep door shut/fan on/window open during showering etc to try and solve it.

We had 2 tile vents already, one front one back. We had a roofer round today who installed 4 extra roof tile vents - so now on each of the 3 roof slopes we have one vent near the ridge and one vent near the eaves, so 6 in total.

He also said we have the 'old style felt' which is not breathable. Does this mean that there won't be any ventilation around the eaves? He didn't seem to think that the eaves were an issue... We were told by someone else that the insulation should not be stuffed into the corners because it'll block ventilation... do ALL eaves have ventilation? Soffits..? or does our 'old felt' negate this?

CONFUSED!!!! Hopefully the new vents will do the job - i will update in a few days, see if it's dried out at all. Incidentally this roofer was recommended by a reputable roofing services company, who in turn were recommended by a roofing consultant from the internet. (Very useful site - http://www.roofconsult.co.uk/articles/tiling/tips28.htm)

Any thoughts - particularly from joatmojo..?

THANKS!!!

quietheart

We've just discovered the same problem. We had a re-roof 18 months ago and can't believe how wet it is up there....
Just wondering what everyone has done to try and solve the problem so far, looking forward to updates!
We're going to phone the roofer tomorrow and see what he has to say.:rolleyes:

emweaver

weve had this problem too, started 2 years ago just after having loft instulation and cavity wall insulation fitted! had 6 air vents fitted in the attic and last year no condensation so thought all was fine.Went into the attice tonight to get all DD xmas pressies down and they were all soaking wet! It was fine up there last weekend.Not sure what else to do as its ventilated?Altho I did read somewhere the loft insulation isnt meant to go from edge to edge of the attic and there should be a space around the edges to allow air to circulare. Does this sound right to anyone?Dont want to start moving the insulation if its meant to be edge to edge!

emweaver

http://www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1080717#1080717

emweaver

ps. does anyone know what / where the eaves are?

Beedle_2

I have lived in my present house from new for almost 24 years and have also just had the same problem - my son noticed a brown damp patch on the ceiling of his bedroom-my first thought was that it was a leaking water pipe but when I lifted the inspection hatch I found the the loft space damp, the loft insulation wet and condensation dripping down the rafters and accumulating on the underside of the roof sheathing and then onto the loft insulation and through the ceiling below

My immediate thought was that there was a roof leak but my roofer tells me that the problem is condensation and possible lack of airflow in the roof space. We had replacement uvpc windows, fascias and soffits fitted 8 years ago and I notice that the soffits have no vents but having said that the adjoining house still has the original soffits with no vents so obviously the houses were built that way - but as I said I have never experienced any condensation problems in the past.
My roofer feels that if he fits air vents this should solve the problem but clearly there are a lot of people just discovering that they have this problem and there must be loads of others who remain blissfully unaware.

For this problem to be so prevalent it must be related to the damp and cool summer this year and the high voulme of rain etc - it's a complete mystery though why this has suddenly become such a major problem for people.

Anyway my roofer is back tomorrow, he called on Saturday but the weather here was horrendous - high winds and rain(!!!!) so it would have been suicidal to go on the roof - hopefully he get the vents fitted on Monday, weather permitting.
However I would strongly recommend everybody to check their loft space if they haven't already done so because it seems to be an epidemic !

quietheart

Beedle - can you give me an idea of what the roofer is charging to fit vents?
Cheers!

exostate2

Hi,
I have exactly the same problem as many of you in that a few days ago my loft was literally dripping with water. i had a roofer around today who blamed it all on the type of black roofing felt i have under my tiles. he said that it was non-breathable and I neded the new breathable membrane which will mean the whole roof coming off to put the membrane on!! Having read the other posts on this thread the main topic seems to have been ventilation rather than a problem with the felt. My house was built around 1984. can anyone advise about the advice I have received please!!!