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Old 02-28-09, 06:24 PM   #1
gascort
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Default I might need a new roof... and more.

So.... we bought our home almost two years ago. It's from 1920 and has had lots of stuff done to it over the years. This summer, while looking for ways to improve efficiency, I noticed that our house has a roof cap vent along the ridge, but no soffit vents. Further inspection revealed that the insulation up there was applied to the underside of the roof, not around the living area. We have an attic bedroom, so the sequence goes (from inside - out) sheetrock, fiberglass insulation, roof boards, felt/tar paper, shingles. NO AIR BREATHING ROOM! I felt a bit overwhelmed at the time, plus it was too hot to work up there, plus we had a baby. My plan was to add some soffit vents and to remove the insulation that was directly under the roof, at least the 30% of it that I had access to that was outside our bedroom.
Today I was working on a new patio in our backyard, spreading gravel base. I turned around toward the house and saw several areas of buckling!!!! They vary from 30cm to 1m wide, and probably rise 3-5cm from where they're supposed to be.
I'm scared. The roof was brand new when we bought the home, and we were not planning on having another huge expense (sewer broke last winter @ $3500). I just hope we get through the next few months without water leaks and that I can fix it myself, or with a little help from friends/family. We were planning on some more fun upgrades, like adding a bathroom and wood floors.
I'm thinking the solution will be to:
1. remove the sheetrock from the bedroom ceiling
2. use something to make some space between the bottom of the roof and the insulation. Possibly coroplast - I have plenty laying around that I got from campaigns. Maybe leave a 1.5cm gap for breathing.
3. reinstall sheetrock, with insulation between sheetrock and coroplast and wrapping down around the room, not extending past room's walls out onto eaves.
4. Install a few soffit vents, and if I can't find a way to get those to work, install gable vents (I think that's what they are - the ones on the sides of the house) as close to the attic floor as possible.
5. Figure out how to repair the roof, and pray that it doesn't require complete replacement.

Anyone have any experience/ideas here?

Hopefully this huge PITA will also come with some hefty energy savings after I do it right.

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Old 02-28-09, 08:14 PM   #2
mincus
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woah, that's no good at all! i dont know a whole lot about roofs, but your plan sounds good to me. I guess the hard part is figuring out the correct ratio of air space to insulation. I would guess that if you give it 1-2cm of air space, you should be alright. But, if you cut it too close, you're just wasting your time. I would tend to think you should go on the upper end. 1cm of lost insulation would be worth it to prevent future buckling. I'll bet the coroplast will work well. I was looking for something similar this fall when I was redoing the insulation in my attic. All I could find was some crap at HD that was made of really thin polystyrene that looked like it could snap at any moment. Not something I spent any money on....

if you need any help this summer, let me know!!!
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Old 02-28-09, 11:00 PM   #3
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It might just be best if you can isolate the leak to get up on the roof, pull up some shingles, and add a lot of tar to patch up the hole.

Good luck!
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Old 03-01-09, 07:36 AM   #4
gascort
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Mincus, I didn't notice you were in town! We will have to get together to scheme up some eco stuff or compare ideas. I won't make you suffer in my attic though! I live in South City, at Gravois, between where Kingshighway and Loughborough intersect it.

Ben, no leaks (YET!!) I will be hopefully just repairing the damaged sections once I correct the source of the problem.

I had an epiphany this morning; might not have to tear out the drywall. If I make some long sheets of coroplast and shove them in from the attic on the sides (I have about 2m on either side of the room that's open attic) I might be able to push them up between the insulation and roof, all the way to the top.
Oh man, just realized that won't work. Roofing nails penetrate as much as 3cm past the roof. Those will have to be exposed and cut off prior to this project.
Darn.
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Old 03-01-09, 08:19 AM   #5
mincus
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Haha, ummmm, actually gascort, I'll see you at work tomorrow :-) Now do you realize who I am?!? Remember, you referred me to this forum?!

My offer still stands to help you this summer (actually spring would probably be better....before it gets too hot!) as long as we can find someone to watch the kids.
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Old 03-03-09, 07:01 PM   #6
gascort
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lol... an unfamiliar alias and I'm thrown off the trail!
ok, YOU can come to my attic!
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Old 03-04-09, 11:29 AM   #7
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Default Attic re-model

Gascort,
Can I assume you do have an bungelow style attic space, where part of the ceiling walls are slanted?
I consulted a friend on an bungalow attic remodel. He did most of what I suggested, and he gave it an B+. Could have been an A if he did my full plan.
Here is the short of it: you need to seal the living space from the non-living space. This was done by creating an air channel between each stud with Cayno using It would be best if you could remove the thermal short circuit where interior drywall is nailed directly to the same stud that the outside sheathing is nailed to. Thermal short circuits reduce whole wall R values by 30% with 16 inch centers, 24-26% with 24 inch centers. Where the room ceiling is angled is where the expensive insulation is.
Ill comment more later, my infected workstation is gonna be re-staged.
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Old 04-23-09, 12:26 PM   #8
Hugh Jim Bissel
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Quote:
Originally Posted by larryrose11 View Post
Here is the short of it: you need to seal the living space from the non-living space. This was done by creating an air channel between each stud
Thats what I was thinking too, putting another set of studs on the rafters (though that would be a short circuit like Larryrose was saying, so keep them separated if you can) so between the rafters is airspace, and between the new studs is insulation.
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Old 04-24-09, 08:06 AM   #9
Ryland
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You could also fix it from the outside, add furring strips and either new ply wood or purloins and steel roofing, it would also give you the chance to insulate more on the outside of the house, so you are adding instead of taking away from your insulation value.
this happened on the south side of the house I'm guessing and you have dark shingles, correct?
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Old 04-24-09, 09:08 PM   #10
gascort
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ryland View Post
You could also fix it from the outside, add furring strips and either new ply wood or purloins and steel roofing, it would also give you the chance to insulate more on the outside of the house, so you are adding instead of taking away from your insulation value.
this happened on the south side of the house I'm guessing and you have dark shingles, correct?
an interesting idea - would that help with the condensation too?
Yes, dark shingles on SE roof.

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