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another diy question. im renovating the front bedroom. it was over an open porch like many 1930s properties, at some point it ls been enclosed. the room has always been bloody cold.
i have the boards up and can see that the porch area is bascially completely open to the cavity, so in effect that section of the bedroom is basically single skin woth major drafts. i have no idea why it was built like that!
there is few feet from floor level to the porch ceiling so a fair void
debating what to do about it. i could stuff it with rockwool, but its going to take a lot or something more clever. not keen on maybe introducing a damp risk if the insulation is against a single skin. no signs of damp at the moment.
it also has a wire for the porch light so that will get covered with insulation. not sure how to cover it, ive read about uprating, swapping to a 2.5 would be easy enough worh the boards up
anyone else had a similar problem?
You need a vapour barrier between the floor and the insulation. And you need a breathable membrane between the insulation and the porch ceiling.
Pull the porch ceiling down. Stick the membrane up, following the guidance for finishing the ends agains the structure. That will stop your drafts.
Drop your insulation in from above. Leave no gaps.
Place your vapour barrier over the top of the joists and seal/tape round the edges up the wall.
When refitting ceiling and floor you need to be hitting the joists. You don't want to undo all your hard work by poking holes in it.
Is there room to 'lower' the porch ceiling with a slab of insulation below?
hmmm is a vapour barrier essential in that location? rather not take the porch ceiling down as its escalating the job even more!
when i had a section of the downstairs foor insulated the guys just fitted kingspan between the joists and foamed. no vapour barrier. there was a big void beneath though
Actually good point. Where is the ground floor wall in this regard do the joists cross over the top? If that's the case you need to insulate over the top of that or you will have a cold bridge.
Basically you need to draw it out. And work out how you can create a continuous (as possible) envelope. You need to tie into existing insulation etc or you are wasting your money.
joist go over the void, but for some reason the porch ceiling is roughly 3 feet lower than the bottom of the joists. its this void that is then single skin, incan see the cavity wall start where the porch ends and that cavity is compelte open to this void, so i need to seal it vertically and horizonatally.
starting to think porch ceiling out, seal off the cavity, insulate and then reinstate the ceiling a few feet higher than it is now. must be a reason they did it like this
If you have all the boards up you can put the breathable membrane in without dropping the ceiling.
Like this:
Breathable membrane floor installation
Is that a female equivalent of being Rick Rolled?
Pointy hatted door warmer.
Lift the floor.
Hang a false floor* below in the cavity about the porch ceiling.
Membrane to seal the edges of the false floor to stop all drafts coming up.
Fill the gap between the false floor and the underneath of the real floor with as much insulation as you want to.
*not really a floor, just a boarded up level to reduce the gap down to the porch ceiling that you have to fill with insulation.
yep, insulation part of thr project put on hold till i refurb the porch and ill drop the ceiling. boards back down in the boys room. i have very limited time, so if the jobs too hard it gets parked!
I only suggested dropping the ceiling for ease of fitting the membrane. Deffo just do it from above. Even getting the lower membrane and stopping the drafts will make a massive difference.