Stupid question… are these vents to help ventilate roof space?

stuart45

Knee walls.

ThisIsWeird

What a silly name

stuart45

Yes, it is a bit silly. It's said to be called that because a lot of them are only around knee height. In conversions they are usually to square off the room and create some storage space behind them, 
In the house here, it's possibly a storage space in there.

dr_bogenbroom

I’ve been thinking about the lack of roof insulation again in my bathroom and cloakroom - rather than take down existing ceiling can I just add some sort of insulated plasterboard on top? The room height is 2.3m so adding 100mm would reduce it, would this be an issue regs wise etc? Also what board could I use? 

FreeBear

dr_bogenbroom said:

I’ve been thinking about the lack of roof insulation again in my bathroom and cloakroom - rather than take down existing ceiling can I just add some sort of insulated plasterboard on top? The room height is 2.3m so adding 100mm would reduce it, would this be an issue regs wise etc? Also what board could I use? 

You could just stick up 100mm of insulated plasterboard. It is going to be a bit of a crapshoot getting the fixing screws in to the joists. Then you still need to give the ceiling a skim coat of plaster.

At the end of the day, there won't be any significant savings to be had on materials. And if you are doing the bulk of the work yourself, taking the old ceiling down will only incur a modest charge for waste disposal.

dr_bogenbroom

No worries will just take existing ceiling down and stop being lazy - just think the Mrs will think what on earth I’m up to destroying the ceiling! 

dr_bogenbroom

What’s the best way to take it down? Drill a couple of large holes and use one of these plasterboard saws? 

FreeBear

Big hammer, pry bar.

A pad saw might not be a good idea if there are any cables (lighting ?) floating around in the void.