Browse Forums Building Standards; Getting It Right! 1 Mar 23, 2011 10:50 am Hi - not sure if this is the right place to post this, so mods please move if not We're in the process of insulating the roof space in our existing house. However, our roof space currently has a gap of around 40cm between the actual roof and the structure of the house (all the way round), which is covered with mesh to prevent animal/bird access. We would like to board this off as we're sure it will make any insulating we do far less effective. Does anyone know what the reason for this gap would be, whether or not it is a building standard based on the type of house (red gum, hills cottage on stumps, sloping site, bushfire area etc) and whether or not we can cover it up without being forced to remove it all should we later sell? On a related note, we also have air holes throughout the walls and roofs (1 of each in each room), that seem to go only into the wall space or the roof cavity. The draft through these in winter is unbelieveable! So, same questions really - can we block them without getting into stick later? Answers on a post to: "why we have no insulation despite living in a thin walled wooden house up a hill where we get frost and occassional snow..." Thanks in advance Re: Open Roof Space 2Mar 23, 2011 6:52 pm Hi Kerry, I have no answers to this (probably just questions!), but maybe you could call the local council and have a chat. Sometimes you may get lucky and get someone who really knows about "stuff". So maybe even a few calls until you get the "right" person. Secondly, I'm trying, but can't even imagine what the holes look like and how exactly has all of that been designed and done . (I suppose I can't get it because the whole idea seems so strange to me.) Anyway, I found it shocking that our first rental place in Sydney had those "glass" louvres at the top of balcony door which were fixed to be permanently open . Strange to build something like that if the temps have even once in 10-years' chance to go below 21 degrees . So your case - although probably not quite the same - reminds me of that - possibly poorly thought through building practices and ideas . And yes, we were absolutely freezing during 3 seasons (summers were good) due to this constant "fresh" air intake ... you can see how I'm still so impressed by that!! My signature is distracting people from my wise posts ... Re: Open Roof Space 3Mar 24, 2011 9:29 am I've called the council so many (many, many, many...) times with planning questions and yet hadn't thought of giving that a go - maybe I will The entire roof space is open under the eaves. Now, I'm sure that was so that air movement could be used to theoretically keep the house cool in summer and warm in winter, but in practice it allows hot air to become trapped in summer (getting hotter all the time) and cool air to howl through in winter, whisking away any warm air that has risen from the house. Our house is effectively the same temperature as is outside, unless we run the aircon (we only have a window one) or the ducted air (retro fitted at some point and badly placed under the windows, so the warm air rises to the cool glass, where it.... cools down and causes a draft!!!) constantly. We check the outdoor temperature to decide what to dress our girls in by flicking the ducted air on to see what temperature it is inside because it's always the same in the morning - meaning we're quite often in low single figures inside in winter. It's become a competition to see who gets the lowest temperature of a morning when they turn it on And last winter our ducted air broke, which was pretty crappy with a newborn baby and a young child!! Yeah, I can see you were well impressed Lex Re: Open Roof Space 4Mar 24, 2011 10:55 am If I am understanding your post correctly it sounds that it is an 'older' style home with wall vents (up near the ceiling level). These can be closed off or removed (as long as the minimum air flow requirements are maintained - an openable window sash equiv. of 10% of the floor area to the room.) As for the open eaves . . this does'nt prevent any thickness of ceiling being installed - bearing in mind that any insulation 'squashed' to fit in where the rafters meet the external wall will reduce it's performance. It is debatable, & often discussed, as to how much having or not having a 'vented' roof space (the eaves) adds or detracts from the ceiling insulation performance - to my mind in your climate the ideal would be to have ventillated roof space during the summer & closed roof space during the winter. Peter Clarkson - AusDesign Australia www.ausdesign.com.au This information is intended to provide general information only. It does not purport to be a comprehensive advice. Re: Open Roof Space 5Mar 24, 2011 1:18 pm Thanks for the reply Peter Yes, older style home (1950s ish - records went up in smoke during bushfires in the 60s, but it was first rated during the 50s so it's a safe assumption) with plenty of windows that are all openable. Internal wall was removed at some point, which means the main area of the house is open plan with 2 external doors opening onto it too. Glad to know we can cover the vents and I agree, ideally we would have a roof space we could open in summer and close in winter! Unfortunately not practical however Cupcake.girl This really depends on your local council. Each one has different definitions and ways to calculate contributions. This is called a contribution… 1 2972 Hello! We have a very large open plan living room and wanted to get layout options, and furnishing ideas for this space. Currently there is only a… 0 1066 You can really use anything you want the main consideration would be how it looks once painted/finished - or the look you want. Cabinetmakers use MDF because its cheap… 2 6644 |