Once again I’m requiring the help of those with much more experience in this area than me.
The house was built in the 30’s to give an idea of age, and as can be seen in the photo below, the roof is built with fairly substantial rafters and has three massive horizontal beams around the inside held in position with some smaller vertical uprights (apologies I don’t know the correct terminology). Tiles are all back pointed and generally it’s in good order.
The issues I’m having is there isn’t enough insulation to start with in the floor of the loft, and there are a number of items kept in there which are used fairly regularly, but end up covered in dust and dirt due to the back pointing coming off in small quantities and general dirt in there settling on things.
What I would like to do if possible is install some insulation to the rafters to reduce heat loss and stop items being covered in dirt. However I’m concerned about damaging the rafters if they don’t get the appropriate airflow around them. I also don’t want to miss any water ingress (not that it’s been a problem up to now) if it ever happens. Would I be better with a breathable membrane and just raising the loft floor? Main goal being preventing as much muck as possible from gathering on everything up there, then extra insulation being the second priority. I’m not as bothered about keeping the space warm, just the house.
Any advice greatly appreciated
The house was built in the 30’s to give an idea of age, and as can be seen in the photo below, the roof is built with fairly substantial rafters and has three massive horizontal beams around the inside held in position with some smaller vertical uprights (apologies I don’t know the correct terminology). Tiles are all back pointed and generally it’s in good order.
The issues I’m having is there isn’t enough insulation to start with in the floor of the loft, and there are a number of items kept in there which are used fairly regularly, but end up covered in dust and dirt due to the back pointing coming off in small quantities and general dirt in there settling on things.
What I would like to do if possible is install some insulation to the rafters to reduce heat loss and stop items being covered in dirt. However I’m concerned about damaging the rafters if they don’t get the appropriate airflow around them. I also don’t want to miss any water ingress (not that it’s been a problem up to now) if it ever happens. Would I be better with a breathable membrane and just raising the loft floor? Main goal being preventing as much muck as possible from gathering on everything up there, then extra insulation being the second priority. I’m not as bothered about keeping the space warm, just the house.
Any advice greatly appreciated