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Condensation in Loft

garyi

garyi

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Oh my. I am not sure if its a combination of non stop rain or what but we are seeing a terrific amount of condensation in the loft. When you open the hatch and pull out the metal ladder it drips!

I was not overly concerned however this morning I notice a patch on the ceiling in the centre of the room, thats a problem. No pipes up there any more, water storage long gone.

Looking around it says this is a fact of good insulation, does that sound right?
 
Has the insulation be jammed right into the eaves? It should be on the wall plate (i.e. the inner skin of bricks/blocks) leaving enough room for ventilation.
 
I think it needs to be replaced a lot of it is forty years old. But no there is gap there as there should be.
Just went to look nothing is jumping out at me and it’s just this one patch. The wood of the roof is wet on the side of the tiles.

I cannot see any evidence of a leak from the roof it’s most odd.

We have a bit of black mould in the far corners of the house as well. I put that down to the heating being right down and rain constantly for weeks, but perhaps not.
 
What state is the roof felt in? Is it brittle and crumbling or a modern membrane? It's probably time to get some advice from a good roofer.
 
I don't have the money to get advice from a good roofer.

The felt is indeed buggered. There are no tears or anything in it across the bulk of it. However at the base of the roof its all cracked a deteriorated. I know this because I replaced the guttering a couple of years ago, and had to get some plastic stuff to put under there to allow drainage into the gutter.

Might call upon my uncle. He is a roofer!
 
Condensation will be due to poor ventilation. If the ladder is aluminium, a lot of the condensation on that will be from the inrush of warm, relatively damp air as you open the hatch.

Make sure that all insulation is pulled away from the eaves so that you get plenty of air movement through the loft. You can/should normally see daylight around a good deal of the eaves if you go up there with no light on and the trap shut

Unlikely, but if you have had lying snow recently, wet getting into the roof to some degree is normal - the snow stops proper drainage of the melt water and it backs-up and finds its way under tiles/slates.
 
Also we have a terrific amount of shit up there and its all pushed into the corners. This no doubt wont be helping air flow
 
garyi said:
Also we have a terrific amount of shit up there and its all pushed into the corners. This no doubt wont be helping air flow
Click to expand...

Sounds like a good place to start - so far as possible and still allow access, stack loft-crap in the middle.

I have never done it in a loft, but somewhere online there ought to be a figure for a smoke test - how long should smoke take to clear with proper ventilation. You can buy smoke tablets, but a smouldering piece of tightly-twisted tissue generates plenty (what I use if testing an extract fan or suchlike - twist a couple of sheets of loo roll together tightly, light it, allow it to burn 10 seconds or so and then blow it out - it will smoulder very slowly and generate loads of smoke) - BE CAREFUL if you try either, you don't need an insurance claim for a fire.
 
Same problem here too as the nasty 1980s plastic roofing felt is failing in a sticky way. This requires major roof surgery, which will not be cheap at all. Basically the whole thing needs to come off. Hopefully getting it done Feb, March or thereabouts. That will eat a good chunk of savings, but it is only losing me money at present so may as well get it done now rather than later…
 
tony if you dont mind me asking what sort of price range we talking here lol?

I might offer my services to my uncle if he does mine, perhaps get the cost down. TBH when I did the guttering a few years ago I was concerned with the felt.

I do feel ultimately its the weather this year its been like the lake district in Andover our garden is a pond.
 
garyi said:
Oh my. I am not sure if its a combination of non stop rain or what but we are seeing a terrific amount of condensation in the loft. When you open the hatch and pull out the metal ladder it drips!

I was not overly concerned however this morning I notice a patch on the ceiling in the centre of the room, thats a problem. No pipes up there any more, water storage long gone.

Looking around it says this is a fact of good insulation, does that sound right?
Click to expand...
It has been exceptionally wet and I imagine the tiles and external walls will be saturated, plus has your heating been turned down/off more than usual?
 
Yes it has Mike. We dropped it 2 degrees this winter and frankly it all feels a bit damp/cold.

I know it costs money but it may have to go one properly for a while.
 
You dont have any extract fan hoses up there? I spent 2/3 months looking for something causing damp - not on your scale - but still enough to make trusses "feel" damp. Turned out that 1 of the 3 hose outlets (Kitchen, Bathroom, Shower room) had lost its external flap and birds had been building in it over the years resulting in a number of gashes/holes. It was the extract to a shower where son can spend 30-60mins at a time!
The hoses are mainly tucked down the sides of existing insulation, and it wasnt initially obvious there was a problem.
Renewed hose, problem gone.
Good luck, it does need sorted.
 
A lesson that I've learned (the hard way) with a house - always start with the roof before spending any significant money on anything else...
 
We had our roof stripped and new felt a couple years ago. Cost about 9k from memory but that was a bungalow. Larger area but only small scaffolding. Probably could have got it cheaper but went with a trysted and well regarded roofer.
 
People get very hung-up about under-felt.

It is a recent invention, presumably associated with use of concrete tiles???? No traditional slate roof (or any other traditional roof covering) originally had under-felt - the tiles went straight onto battens that went straight onto the roof trusses. Going into a loft under them was/is filthy, cold and like looking at a starry sky during daytime.
 
Ok thanks Rodrat. Well if it needs doing it needs doing. I am not adverse to having a go with most things, but equally I don't want to be dead, I'll get some advice.
 
Building material costs have soared but most of the cost of roofing is labour - it is simply a slow job.

A friend at work completely reroofed his (very old) place himself 4-5 years back - from the trusses up, although he re-used the tiles, and it cost him very little. Trusses are not extortionately expensive, although under-felt prices will make you weep.
 
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