Sometimes people get an inheritance. But each new owner wants to remake the home to suit their tastes and needs, since in our time it is much easier. You need a roof, say, with an attic, or you need to update the old roof, or repair the rafters with dilapidated boards.
How do you know if it's worth taking on a task like this?
Alteration of the roof of the house should have a clear goal in order to understand the scope of the task and the necessary financial and other costs.
Suppose there is a desire to equip an attic for relaxation. Operated roofs require insulation, water and vapor barrier.
Let's start the process in the following order:
- To create an unhindered movement of air from the inside, we will make a counter-lattice.
- Then we put a layer of waterproofing so that excess moisture does not get into the attic space.
- The second layer is insulation.
- And finally - the vapor barrier.
Where to begin
Sometimes they ask the question, so, they say, the wood has stood for 50 years and looks like new, is it worth changing it?
Difficult to answer, but where water has leaked due to roof defects, a thorough inspection with a good flashlight and possibly a partial disassembly of the attic floor is certainly needed. The best treatment is prevention, before remodeling, cleaning the roofs from rotten boards is the first thing.
A typical "pie" of an old roof consists of the following layers:
- slate,
- ruberoid,
- crate,
- rafter "leg".
It is not difficult to inspect these “layers”, you can quickly identify problems and clean the roof from minor defects. If the roofing material and slate are well preserved, you should not “bother” and make another layer of waterproofing if it doesn’t flow anywhere in the rain anyway.
We describe the option when roof reconstruction is not required.
In this case, it is enough to insulate only the slopes between do-it-yourself roof rafters.
- Roof insulation from the inside produce with mineral wool or better with slabs, plugging small cracks with cotton wool.
- The thickness of the insulation depends on your climatic region. Look at the data on the heater.
- After filling with insulation, it is necessary to lay a layer of vapor barrier with a shiny layer inside. Fasten to the rafters or counter-lattice - with a stapler. Joints must be glued with a vapor-tight film.
Advice.There is no need to insulate the floor of the attic, under it there is already a warm room.
If you had attic floor insulation, there is no need to remove it. Usually, this was done in the old days, for example, by pouring a layer of slag mixed with straw. This is a wonderful soundproofing, which is now also useful, though for a new need.
Above this layer, boards were previously laid to make it convenient to walk around the attic during preventive roof inspections or repairs. If everything is in good condition, you should not redo the floor. These boards will make it easy to attach the floor and walls to them for a new attic space.
Advice. The new floor should be made across the old boards to create greater structural rigidity.
Attic
Let's consider an option. If you do not need the entire roof area, you can put racks and puffs, having received an attic, indicated in the figure of the form.
In this case, it is not necessary to insulate the entire structure, such as, but only the racks, slopes and tightening along the line 1-2-3-4-5-6. This will save you insulation. But the entire roof area will be inaccessible, so be sure to provide technological hatches in the ceiling and walls of the attic for access to the rest of the roof area.
More about the insulation option
Insulation can be mineral wool or glass wool. The first one is better.
On vertical racks and slanting parts of the roof, slab insulation is needed, because the wool will sag over time, it is too soft.
And on the screed on the roof, you can just put cotton wool, it will lie there calmly and will not move and go astray.
Ventilation
On the roof under the roof, there must be space for air to move from the bottom up and constantly drain the roof.
Ruberoid, as a rule, is laid on a horizontal crate. Therefore, when reworking, nail to the horizontal strips, from the inside of the roof, three vertical strips of the counter-batten. .
In this case, when laying the insulation, a gap is formed between it and the roofing felt, at least 50 mm, where the air flow from the roof overhang to the ridge will pass freely.
More about insulation
For a climate at the level of the Moscow region, on the vertical parts of the walls, a heater thickness of 100 mm is sufficient. For the upper part on the attic ceiling, a thicker layer of wool is needed - up to 200 mm.
On the oblique parts, where 200 mm of insulation is also required, the following alterations will be needed.
Usually the width of the boards for the rafters is 150 mm, in addition, 50 mm will “eat” on the counter-batten. Therefore, it is necessary to get 100 mm from the bottom of the rafters with additional bars. Then 200 mm of insulation will fit in the indicated oblique places.
Additional details of the work can be viewed on various roof installation videos. For example:
feng shui in roof remodeling
The cardinal rules of Feng Shui point to protection and everything that helps us to protect ourselves. In order for your space to be favorable to you, you need to take care of protection from the external elements of nature: sun, wind and rain. It is for this purpose that a roof is made over the house.
According to Feng Shui, it is generally accepted that just a flat roof does not protect the owner well. The gable roof is much more protected, all the water easily drains to the ground.
One of the signs of danger is “water on top of a mountain”.In this regard, water on the roof is a very bad option. Blue Roof - Blue tiles are considered a symbol of water, so a different color roof, preferably a brick shade, is highly recommended.
transparent roof
If you are making a winter garden on the roof, you need a transparent roof. Or you want a custom roof with a lounge area that has lots of light, this can be done quite simply. And you don't need a roof chandelier.
To do this, many manufacturers produce special systems for the construction of such translucent roofs. Corrugated panels are the newest type of roofing material.
There are flat sheets and semicircular sheets, a plastic roof is possible in a wide variety of shapes, such material does not limit the architect's imagination.
These materials are multi-layered:
- First comes the outer layer of modified PVC, which can withstand both frost and summer heat, as well as ultraviolet rays.
- Then comes a layer of foamed polymer with a high degree of polymerization.
The new roofing material holds water and heat well, and provides sound insulation from external noise. Light weight, chemical inertness to acid rain and other chemical influences, as a result, environmental friendliness, light construction of rafters - all this allows you to make beautiful translucent roofs.
Solar panels on the roof
Installing rooftop solar panels is not much different than installing, say, satellite dishes. If you mean the simplest option, unmanaged batteries, then it is enough to install them correctly.
In order for them to catch as much light as possible, and to get the most electricity, it is necessary to install at the optimal angle and direct them along the optimal azimuth, which in the given area will allow reaching the maximum possible energy production.
This refers to the angle of inclination between the horizontal along the building level and the perpendicular to the plane of the batteries.
In any area, the most optimal azimuth is the direction to the south, where the maximum height of the sun during the day. The angle depends on the geographic latitude. They usually choose the average between the summer maximum and the winter minimum of the position of the sun.
Often they try to simply put the batteries on the roof, which reduces wind loads and simplifies the installation of solar panels. However, in this case, most likely, you will have to make a rather steep angle of the roof slope.
Practice has shown that for the latitude between Moscow and St. Petersburg, angles between 30 and 45 degrees are optimal.
Azimuth is equal to the angle of deviation of the perpendicular to the plane of the solar array from the south direction. For example, if the battery is oriented due south, then the azimuth is zero. For the same latitudes, it makes sense to deviate from the zero azimuth by no more than 25 degrees, then the efficiency of the batteries drops sharply.
These features must be combined with the wind rose during the construction of the house and roof. If your roof is not suitable for the specified angles, you will have to install batteries on additional structures.
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