Refurbing/insulation for loft room

Bendy_House

benson1980 said:

Now that I'm seeing these pics on a large screen (instead of my phone), I would say it's very likely indeed that some of these damp patches are being caused by water penetration.

Condensation would tend to produce a more spread-out layer of mould around the corners and the top, and - whilst there are signs of this - it's interesting how it's so concentrated on the end wall, and not spread over the sloping ceiling side as well. But then, there IS a single damp spot 2-3 feet along the roof - that is definitely not condensation - coupled with a vertical line of very significant dampness, which ends in a flaking patch of paint exposing mouldy plaster underneath - again, not cond.

I could, of course, be wrong, but I'm pretty sure you have actual water landing on the other side of that plasterboard.

benson1980

I finally got round to cutting out the plasterboard to properly investigate this damp problem. Roofers are coming next week as the chimney needs repointing anyway. It was evident as alluded to above that there was water penetration- and the pointing is believed to be part of the issue. I suspect a combination of issues such as flashing, tiles possibly slightly out of place…?

doesn’t look too good 🙁

ThisIsWeird

Yes, pretty clear signs of water ingress. No actual rot in that timber?

Fingers crossed it's the pointing as suggested, and then you should be good to go.

Is that end wall an external gable? If so, d want to insulate that too, and the easiest way would be to adhere insulated p'board to it.

Ok, we can see the sloping rafter, and 'wool' insulation above it. What else? Just the roof felt? 

FreeBear

ThisIsWeird said:

Yes, pretty clear signs of water ingress. No actual rot in that timber?

Fingers crossed it's the pointing as suggested, and then you should be good to go.

I suspect it a bit too much staining for it to be just pointing. The felt looks to be on it's last legs, so it may pay to budget for a reroof in the near future.

benson1980

ThisIsWeird said:

Yes, pretty clear signs of water ingress. No actual rot in that timber?

Fingers crossed it's the pointing as suggested, and then you should be good to go.

Is that end wall an external gable? If so, d want to insulate that too, and the easiest way would be to adhere insulated p'board to it.

Ok, we can see the sloping rafter, and 'wool' insulation above it. What else? Just the roof felt? 

The rafter isn't too good in that section where the white mould is growing. Feels quite spongy and I suspect it will need to be replaced. The battens are obviously completely rotten in that section as well. It is a gable end wall, and will definitely be insulating that wall when I get around to refurbing it. It is just the wool insulation.

FreeBear said:

ThisIsWeird said:

Yes, pretty clear signs of water ingress. No actual rot in that timber?

Fingers crossed it's the pointing as suggested, and then you should be good to go.

I suspect it a bit too much staining for it to be just pointing. The felt looks to be on it's last legs, so it may pay to budget for a reroof in the near future.

Yes I think there's a leak somewhere around the chimney flashing as well. The felt is definitely perished in that corner. On the other side of the house we have an actual loft i.e. felt exposed and it looks fine. So, I suspect (hope) that they can just replace the felt in this section?

I was surprised how much water damage there is. As per previous post a few months back, one roofer completely wrote it off as a leak and said it was condensation.

ThisIsWeird

benson1980 said:

ThisIsWeird said:

Yes, pretty clear signs of water ingress. No actual rot in that timber?

Fingers crossed it's the pointing as suggested, and then you should be good to go.

Is that end wall an external gable? If so, d want to insulate that too, and the easiest way would be to adhere insulated p'board to it.

Ok, we can see the sloping rafter, and 'wool' insulation above it. What else? Just the roof felt? 

The rafter isn't too good in that section where the white mould is growing. Feels quite spongy and I suspect it will need to be replaced. The battens are obviously completely rotten in that section as well. It is a gable end wall, and will definitely be insulating that wall when I get around to refurbing it. It is just the wool insulation.

FreeBear said:

ThisIsWeird said:

Yes, pretty clear signs of water ingress. No actual rot in that timber?

Fingers crossed it's the pointing as suggested, and then you should be good to go.

I suspect it a bit too much staining for it to be just pointing. The felt looks to be on it's last legs, so it may pay to budget for a reroof in the near future.

Yes I think there's a leak somewhere around the chimney flashing as well. The felt is definitely perished in that corner. On the other side of the house we have an actual loft i.e. felt exposed and it looks fine. So, I suspect (hope) that they can just replace the felt in this section?

I was surprised how much water damage there is. As per previous post a few months back, one roofer completely wrote it off as a leak and said it was condensation.

If the roof is otherwise ok, then I guess they can strip back that corner as far as the rot, and redo just that area, reusing the existing slate (is it slate?).

I guess  worth two quotes from each roofer - a whole new recover, or just a repair? See what each roofer says.

If that 'wool' has been stuffed in to fill the whole depth of rafter, then that would have compounded any issue by restricting the ventilation under the roof, so any damp would be less likely to be dried off. A min 50mm gap should be left clear under the felt, with a free flow of air from one eave, up one slope, over t'top, and back down t'other.

benson1980

Yes it’s just been stuffed right up against the felt. I’m going to strip all the plasterboard and existing insulation and put rigid insulation board in, leaving an air gap the roof side