This is in a house I'm buying, so no rush, but I would appreciate any informed (!) opinions. It's a Victorian house, so some aspects are not quite up to current spec, and there will be a lot to be done (so beware of many posts in the future!). There are two separate roof voids, neither of which is very easily accessible, although my surveyor has managed to get photos of both. Two things are clear. First, there is very little insulation and second, that the joists look extremely flimsy (3 x 2 at a guess), so to get up there and insulate seems to be a bit hazardous without some forethought. Does anyone have experience with this? Clearly, the best thing would be to tear the ceilings down and start again but that seems rather extreme for a bit of insulation. One approach that came to mind was to reinforce ('sister') the joists to make them more substantial by screwing more timber along the tops. In view of the restricted access, it wouldn't be possible to do this with complete lengths, so each 'sister' would be a number of runs, which might compromise the benefit somewhat. Even if this worked, I would be concerned about wrecking the ceilings while doing it, so is it necessary/sensible to support the ceiling from below (I'm thinking Acros and plywood) to help matters along? Clearly an alternative would be to get insulation blown into the spaces, but in one case there's a bit of brickwork on a chimney breast that could do with sorting and I'm also mindful of the possible need to deal with wiring, roof timbers etc etc. Any thoughts, chaps?
- posted
12 years ago