Maybe it's the cold & dark, short days talking ... ;o)
Best do it last then! The insulation at the moment is terrible! You know if you had a 20 year old pillow (not feathers) that had fallen to pieces inside and gone all lumpy? Dump 200 pillow fulls of that crap in my attic and add years of dust and you get the idea!! Probably only about 5cm deep in most places too.
Gonna be nasty clearing it out ......
a
Just done mine with some stuff from Screwfix.
I left largish gaps top & bottom to prevent condensation build up.
Andrew
My husband put in the loft ladder and floored it. So *anybody* can do it.
Yes, precising the above, ours swings a bit to allow for uneven floors too.
I like the look of that:
a.. Waterproof a.. Unaffected by Temperature Change a.. Absorbent Under-Surface Prevents Condensation Drip-Off a.. Reduces Wind Noise a.. BRE & Wimlas Certified
When you say you stapled it to the joists, do you mean you effectively hid the joists, or you stuck it up in strips between them? Have any pics?
a
If a wide plumber had been called out to fix my CH header tank he'd have been out of luck before I put a new hatch in - the original one was only 18" square.
In houses of this age and construction the original under-tile sealing was often done with lime mortar applied in a fillet between each row of tiles,a technique known as torching. It's effective while intact but tends to drop off after a few decades due to movement in the roof - you could have a go at it if you fancy continuing an ancient tradition :-)
And I certainly got a lot - thankyou very much indeed everyone :)
You're still married with that attitude? You must have a very understanding husband! :-))))
M.
Probably the biggest thing you cuold do would be to hoover the place up. Probably need a cyclone vac, not sure, but bag types tend to clog very quickly on building dust.
If you still find you need to do something with the slate roof I wouldnt put waterproof stuff under the joists, asking for trouble. Something more porous maybe, that allows airflow..
NT
Turbogolds go in just fine without any pilot holes.
Just to get things straight we're not strictly talking about 'pilot' holes here are we?
The way I would (probably) do it would be to drill a clearance hole in the chipboard (not a pilot hole) and no hole in the underlying joist. The screw will then be able to pull the chipboard tight down onto the joist.
If I was being lazy I wouldn't bother with the clearance hole in the chipboard. As we're not really wanting to pull the chipboard hard down onto the joists, the screws are only to stop it sliding around, it will work OK. You just need to check that the chipboard is snug against the joist before driving the screw in.
A pilot hole would be in the joist and (almost certainly) in addition to a clearance hole in the chipboard. The pilot hole is to locate the screw in the joist and to prevent it splitting the wood. Modern screws like Turbogold really don't need the hole to prevent them splitting the wood.
I hid the joists. I'll see about picture or two, but I suspect it'll just look black!
Ahh... That would explain the gobs of mortar in a few places!
And the real trick is; once you have all the crap in a bin-bag, don't catch it and tear it on the hatch trap as you try to manouver yourself and it out! :-( Very P'd off I was too!
Andrew
Yes you're right there
That's the way I did it (and countersunk the holes) for the first half of the loft before I had the turbogolds.
That's what I did it with the turbogolds for the rest of the job, and wished I'd discovered them sooner. Since I was usually kneeling on the board being screwed down there was no problem about it being in contact with the joist. Even if the pieces aren't in close contact they usually seem to pull together OK, it seems that the screws grip better in real wood than in chipboard so will just strip away any thread in the chipboard if required to pull it down.
lol, poor sod. It happens to us all some time :)
NT
The best way to minimise condensation might be to use vapour permeable membrane ('housewrap'):
It should be OK to take it down to ceiling level and up towards ridge level, leaving a space for ventilation all round.
cheers, Pete.
I dont think thats true at all.
With unlined slate roofs rain blow in is routine too, the timber will get wet. Waterproof sheet stapled to the wood is asking for trouble imho.
NT
Well what options present themselves then (bearing in mind they;ve been that way for 70 years without problem!)?
a
Theres nothing wrong with the timber getting wet on a regular basis up there, so long as it dries off promptly. Timber can happily last centuries like that. And unlined slate roofs allow exactly that to happen. I think this point is often not appreciated.
You need to continue to allow the wind/drying process to happen. I'm still not convinced theres a problem to solve. Any room in any house that hasnt been hoovered in 70 years is going to be filthy... So as I said before, I'd just hoover the place.
NT
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