Want the loft to be used for storage

[davebwithane]

Hello,

My pitched roof has no felt. It's dirty and cold up there and I want to clean it out and use it for storage only
(at the moment). We may try and convert in 5 years or so, to an extra room, but not now. I also need to
re-insulate the loft floor. I was thinking of using rockwool for that and then cover it over with loft flooring.
Floor joists have only 90mm deep exposed.

It's a 1920s house. The rafters are in good condition, no rot or woodworm.

What would be the best method to make the loft usable for storage ?

I was thinking of using multi-foil, but this would be too expensive to waste in a loft only used for storage.
I just want to keep the dirt, wasps and wind out. Could I just use polythene ie. staple it too the roof rafters ?
Would this create any condensation problems ?
Any other suggestions ? Thanks for any ideas.

Dave

 

[davebwithane]

OK, sorry didn't realise this had been asked 2 million times before ! New to this site.

this looks like the correct answer from noseall (ie. don't put membranes of any sort stapled to inside of rafters).

"one thing everyones missing.

if you fix a waterproof membrane (breathable or otherwise), to the underside of the rafters, and you happen to have a roof leak, then two things will happen.

a. you will have water pi***ng into your property, down the cavity,round the rafter ends, wall plate etc, rotting everything.

b. because of the internal membrane you now have no early warning system, thus allowing water ingress for sustained periods of time.

very dodgy"

and nailed home by snozzer

"Forget it, adding roofing felt from underneath is a bodge and will haunt you.

The felt is there to back up the slates if a slate breaks, if that happens the water runs down the felt and into the guttering, because the felt laps into the guttering. IF the felt is inside where is it going to lap into to discharge any water, I will tell you, nowwhere, it will p**s out into the room below, only now instead of a few drips, you will have it all aggragated into 1 channel and it will pour in like a tap.

If your serious about this, redo the roof. Take the slates off, lathe and felt up using tyvek or simiar (no need to worry about went tiles/ridges which are ££ large), at the same time you could even fit celotex boards between the rafters before putting the felt on (much easier to do as you dont have to carry chuffing great boards through the house)

Reuse the old slates, or sell them on ebay and use a concrete tile, while your on the roof, check the pointing/stability of any chimneys, clean/repair/replace gutters and of course enjoy the view.

Its going to cost you a couple of grand, but if you try to bodge the roof from underneath you will waste £500, you may dislodge/crack a slate without knowing, then wake up on a wet February to a cold wet bed (not like a Sunday mornings warm wet bed)

Remember your whole house is protected at the moment by a little layer of slate nothing else, and while that is good enough, they can and do fail."

As I only have 95 mm floor joists showing, I'll clean up the loft and do some cross battening ..

 

[Deluks]

You can use brown paper, find someplace that sells it in big rolls for value. You might be able to increase the joist depth, can you give us more details? Roof type, measurements or pics?

 

[davebwithane]

I would imagine brown paper wouldn't last too long ..

 

[Deluks]

Use a heavy guage paper. It'll help keep the dust out which is the aim of the game right? If you do get a leak then it will show as staining through the paper and eventually go through if it's bad enough.

this will do

 

[davebwithane]

cheers Deluks