Coating inside roof tiles

Rebob

Hi

Our house was built (1906) with an attic bedroom. There are still two large usable areas of loft space. As the house is so old the roof does not have a layer of felt so I have been thinking of having the roof slates coated with the foam spray on stuff. Sorry that I dont know what it is called.

Does anyone have any experience of living with/using this stuff?
Thanks in advance!

Rebob

BTW Thinking of doing it so that the house will be better insulated and the space will be cleaner and more usable.

pvsol

We have it in our house it was there when we moved in - at the time the surveyor told us that it wasnt the best thing to do. Its a nightmare - dont have it - we had a situation where a tile had fallen off the roof - to replace the one tile they had to remove all the tiles around it which meant chipping through all the foam insulation it took us days and days for something which should have been a 2 minute job.
Also apparently it stops the timbers underneath from breathing and in time will cause them to rot according to the surveyor that was.

Hope this helps

bunking_off

I'd heard that as well. I'd also heard it say that surveyors may be suspicious when they come across it because there's no telling what horrors are lurking behind such treatments.

Rebob

Looks like I better give it a miss then.
Thanks

thehairybuilder

Spray-on roof repairs should be avoided - unless your home is really about to fall down.
take a look here for details
http://www.ask-jeff.co.uk/building-roof-repairs.htm

Rebob

It was not really for repair but to make the roof voild more usable as the house had coal fires and the normal dirt build-up has made it a bit mucky.

robowen

I've posted before on this subject...but I cant find the thread just yet.

Anyway, My nan had this done 3/4 years ago and it proved a disaster.
The roof had a leak, finding it proved to be impossible. When some of the foam was hacked off, it was noticed how rotton some of the timbers had become. :doh:
The cost of this foam was more than a new roof would have cost....and now they face having to have a new roof anyway. :eek:

Boarding up the roof is not a problem, this will make the space cleaner. Just remember to leave an air gap between the tiles and the boards for ventilation. Put in some ridge tile vents as well. :idea:

rob

Rebob

We had some roof vents fitted when we bought the house 2 years ago. Would this be enough?

robowen

Yes. that should do you.

You need to have ventilation flowing from under the eaves right upto the ridge vents on the inside of the roof.

I think you have to leave a 50mm gap between the underside of the tiles and any insulation you might want to put under the boarding so air can flow up and out the top.

A roofer might comfirm this for us. My knowledge of this is from the roofing on my extension, it was written on the plans.

rob