Fire in the loft

abtmay

I recently got access to my loft in my new house and found that there seemed to be burnt marks on the longish wooden beam and above it, the roof felt has melted away, exposing the tiles. When we had the full structural survey done, the report did mentioned something like that, but the wording was quite gentle, so we ignored it. A couple of questions:

- should I be worried about the burnt wooden beam and the melted felt, even though the full structual survey says that it is sutructally safe?
- there are no insulation in the loft. Could this explain why our house is soo cold?
- The lenght of burnt area is confined within 2 joists holding the roof tiles and the height is about 1/2 of the whole roof. How much does it cost to mend the melted roof felt? Could I just repair the affected area or do I need to replace the felt on one side of the whole roof?

Many thanks

SplanK

are you able to get any pictures of the burn marks at all.... my decision would be based on how bad the burn marks look...

if the burn marks looks exsessive and look as though they have burnt into the beam... i would check for any cables that maybe around it - carful because if they are damaged there maybe exposed live copper... if there is i would get that resolved first or at least isolate the cables....

then i would get somebody in to check over the effected beams to be on the safe side - if there is a charge and needs repairing - you maybe able to recoupe some or all the costs from the people who did the inspection....

i would avoid putting insulation in just yet until you have had it checked over.... but yes - fitting insulation where there currently is none will help keep your house from loosing heat as quick

27col

I am having difficulty in believing that there are still houses with no insulation in the roof. In spite of 45 years of publicity on the subject.
Get the structure checked out and then do the full recommended depth of insulation ASAP. It is difficult to form an opinion about the fire damage without seeing a picture of it.

ormus

i agree entirely. the insulation needs to be done asap.
the beams are probably ok if just burn marks. timber is still fairly strong even with a bit of charing.

the roofing felt issue really needs to be redone as its a second line of defence against leaks. although expensive cause it means taking half the roof tiles off.

abtmay

ormus wrote: »

i agree entirely. the insulation needs to be done asap.
the beams are probably ok if just burn marks. timber is still fairly strong even with a bit of charing.

the roofing felt issue really needs to be redone as its a second line of defence against leaks. although expensive cause it means taking half the roof tiles off.

I read somewhere that in some older properties, there are no roof felt under the tiles and it is not an integral part of the roof covering as it is merely an emergency barrier. If thats the case, I would rather leave it as it is and get it fixed in the summer as it might be cheaper (I think)??

By the way, can anyone recommend a roofer in the Loughton, Essex area?

Many thanks

Pauls

abtmay wrote: »

I read somewhere that in some older properties, there are no roof felt under the tiles and it is not an integral part of the roof covering as it is merely an emergency barrier. If thats the case, I would rather leave it as it is and get it fixed in the summer as it might be cheaper (I think)??

We have no felt, our house was built c1930. I'm sure this is the norm for this period

morg_monster

Pauls wrote: »

We have no felt, our house was built c1930. I'm sure this is the norm for this period

ditto - 1930s house, no felt.