Good news

I managed to get the spear and jackson sprayer, with an extension and sprayed the rafters, clearing most of the mould. The sprayer was fantastic, managed to use the angles and extension to reach far beyond my reach

Used this Sika guard solution also found on amazon

one tin of 5 L covered one half of the attic rafters, which appeared cleaned of mould after being sprayed.

As mentioned, I could twist the sprayer at various angles and get into the various crevices, so happy about it

Will spray another tin next week

The problem I have now is the 1) rat infestation

2) The fibreglass insulation which is soaked in rat pooh and urine

3) These blow outs in felt, which are hard to reach

For the rat infestation I bought and put 6 rat poison pellets. Tomorrow will use those smoke bombs/ pest fumigator

I think I will get rid of ALL that pooh coated insulation and may be put up floor boards and replace the insulation?

As it’s summer, I got few months to play and can do a little, each weekend?

The blow outs, no idea

My hand doesn’t reach there!

May need to get a roofer to help? More money and knock on effect on my budget

Once I get rid of all the infected/ contaminated insulation could buy new ones and like in this you tube video, put new loft boards and insulation?

Seems doable to me and end result is very neat. I got most of the tools as well

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cu7yJTO7Th8

Not sure how much that insulation and new floorboards would cost!!

Time I have and weather is on my side, for the next 3 months at least !!

There may be grants via your local council for the loft insulation, that’s how we did ours, so worth contacting them or checking their website to see if you are eligible?

That roof felt will need replacing at some point. Looks like mine did before being replaced with new membrane. It will mean stripping the roof tiles, so not a cheap job.

Thanks Sonia and Sarah

Sarah, in the interim, anything I can do to patch the roof felt?

How much did it cost you, to replace the felt? How long did it take?

Thanks

Mel

Well mine was patched up with shed roofing felt (by previous owner). I don't know if that's a good idea or not?

I will speak to the builder and ask his advise. He’s down to change the sun roof to an all weather roof. In the quote it mentions ’to supply and fit felt’

So could ask if he could patch the main roof felt at the same time?

Next week I will inspect all of the attic and check the felt thoroughly

Now back to work shortly

Thanks

Mel

ps

Jonathan, any ideas please

Some good news

That blow out in the felt is easily reachable from the other side of the loft!!

Any ideas, on how to temporarily patch this up?

Also, any advise on how to clean the loft? My plan is to put chunks of insulation in bin bags and get rid of them. There’s incredible amount of dust, even on touching the insulation! Looks like thick smoke in the flashlight. May be I could haul a hoover up there and once I get rid of all the insulation, give it a good clean?

Thanks

Mel

If that insulation is fibreglass do not breath it in or touch it with your bare hands. Nasty stuff to handle so make sure you wear a mask and gloves.

Yes, it’s fibre glass

Thanks for the advise

Mel

Hi

Just been looking up loft insulation

Does it say that sheep insulation is the best? Although expensive

Any information about it?

That fibre glass is awful and full of dust and itches like mad

KR

Mel

I read that sheeps wool is the best and totally natural, but I’ve never used it.

The good thing is that, despite the dust and debris in the attic, it's something I could envisage cleaning up, hoovering and replacing the insulation on me own. So all I would need are the raw material and some weekends off. Plus, my daughter and I suffer from all sorts of allergies, such as pollen/hayfever and eczema. So thought this natural wool may be ideal, plus it's said to absorb moisture, helping in keeping the attic dry. Which is already under attack from mould.

The two negatives it has are wrt costs and its thermal R rate. If I can fit it myself, could help lower these costs and wrt to its lower insulating property, with global warming etc, maybe we might not need that high level of insulation? Except in 2012 (beast from the east), the last 15-20 winters in Birmingham have been pretty mild. That's my theory at least

Thanks

Mel

Home base seems to have reasonable sheep's wool, including DIY storage kits

https://www.homebase.co.uk/building-hardware/building-materials/insulation/loft-insulation.list

Traver Perkins seems a lil more expensive

https://www.travisperkins.co.uk/product/building-materials/insulation/loft-insulation/c/1500215/

https://grantschemes.co.uk/free-loft-insulation-birmingham-city-council-area/

Hi everyone,

Hope all is well

Just tying up loose ends, and will move in later this month

Installed a state of art alarm system, so feel much better. Will send before and after pics soon, as requested. Will also be a thank you from my side

-- One damp squib this weekend was the felt. As you can see from

in the above pictures, there are several blowouts in the felt, which I repaired with Gorilla tape and 'felt' v happy about it.

This weekend I went back to inspect the attic and sadly ALL these tapes had come undone!!

Felt a bit miffed, as I thought the tape could stick to everything. It just fell off, like cheap paper

Any other ideas or options?

Do let me know

KR

Mel

gorilla tape was waterproof, patch and seal tape black

https://www.toolstation.com/gorilla-waterproof-patch-seal-tape/p18482

Mel is that roof felt the stuff that is under roof tiles?