Help! Weird stuff growing in the loft!

wywywywy

Hi,

So recently there are a lot of mosquito midgets in the flat, and I was really puzzled because we usually have all doors/windows closed. Until today, I saw a couple of them coming out from one the downlighters. I thought to myself, "NOT GOOD!"

Got myself a ladder, stuck my head out of the loft hatch and poked around with a torch - there is weed and mould from one of the corners!!

So does this definitely mean my roof is leaking? Or could it be the damp from the flat rising into the loft? If there is weed, does that mean there is sunlight in the loft? (I can't visually see any though.) And if I use weed killer + insect killer + bleach, are they likely to come back?

This is not looking good... Any advice/suggestions/comments please?

Thanks.

ukwoody

Pictures or a decent description will be inavaluable here, as it could be one of any number of things including fungal invasion. One thing is for all most certain, there must be some form of damp there and if weeds - light, for them to thrive. It is important to identify not only what is growing, but why, hence the need for pictures.

Woody

patchwork_cat

If there is light go up without a torch you will soon see it! Weeds can grow without light, but won't survive for long - they will be etiolated, ie long and searching for light. You are going to have to find out where the moisture is ccoming from - this could be trial and error or you could get a buider in to have a look and tell you. Then make your descion as to what to do from there.

I would have thought if it is only on ecorner it is probably not getting there from the flat. Do you have ventilation in your loft?

PasturesNew

OMG I can't believe you stuck your head in the loft... how scary!

Go again, take photos.

Do it now!

PasturesNew

I wonder if something made its home in there and died.
Like a bird/bird's nest.
Hence the fly things.

patchwork_cat

Don't you go in your pastures? Ours is a necessary storage area. Although if you go in now it will be like a sauna!!

PasturesNew

patchwork_cat wrote: »

Don't you go in your pastures? Ours is a necessary storage area. Although if you go in now it will be like a sauna!!

I have many odd fears and phobias... lofts is one.
I am in a rented ground floor flat at the moment.
My last house had the full loft conversion, complete with stairs/windows/floorboards... marvellous. No messing about. No creepy, dark, spooky corners full of god knows what horrors.

I'm a coward and happy to stay that way.

Funniest loft story I ever heard was from my builder. He'd been working on some OAP's home in the Midlands. They had heard odd noises from the loft and asked him to investigate. But he couldn't get the loft hatch open. So he started to cut through .... and ended up in the living room of some illegal accommodation next door had built up there. Next door had simply knocked a door through the wall and boarded the place out and rented the space

redmatchstickman

i have a loft phobia too, mine has a window alarm on which i leave on in case someone comes down it (!) but one night while in asleep bed the alarm went off ! i sh.... myself and made a dash for the front door at 4am, grabbing my car keys on the way. i stayed at my best friends having visions of people coming out of my loft and relaxing around my house.:eek: the reason the alarm went off is a dodgy roof tile(still there) and the wind causing a suction effect on the loft hatch. now its alarmed and gaffa taped!
theres still some things up there from the last owner as my house was a reposession.

wywywywy

Ok... pic...
You asked for it, now don't puke!

hardpressed

That looks very much like ivy, have you got any growing up the outside of the building? It will get in through the smallest gap.

ukwoody

Yep I totally agree, it's either come thru a gap, or grown from a birds nest. If it's from the outside cut it well back fromt eh eves. if it,s form a nest, use rubber gloves and remove the whole darn thing.

woody