Loft, roof structure, big cracks and treasure! (1920's Renovation Part 3)
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- čas přidán 18. 12. 2020
- I’m heading up in to our loft for the first time! What did I find? Welcome back to our 1920’s renovation project. I’ll also show you a bit more detail about the roof structure and a possible cause for that giant crack in the bedroom wall. I also found treasure!
Here’s the full 1920’s semi renovation playlist:
• 1920's SEMI RENOVATION
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Thank you!! 👍🛠🤘
Old triode valves, chokes (inductors), a 2 microfarad capacitor. Pre 2nd WW vintage. Previous owner was probably a radio amateur or a German spy. :)
Very interesting! 🤣🤣👍
Yup plenty of old radio bits.... the stories that come from old houses
Telephone service - the north east of england electrics were a bit non-standard too, strange to be in loft, unless in a cardboard box that rotted out.
@@GosforthHandyman A STC PA1 seems unobtainable now, equivalents are from £270 from Billingtons in the UK ( £170 with bulk discount). No direct eqivalent for a PEN4 , similar are either unobtainable or equivalents about £20. Who else thinks they are probably out of a Bush DAC50 or similar !!
@@highpath4776 I can find a Bush DAC51 which along with the DAC53 has a PEN36C in it but that is a rare pentode with an M7A base. The example here looks like it only has 4 pins except the internals look like there should be 6.
I also love finding interesting old items like that. I found really old newspaper fragments in my basement (my house was built in 1882). My parents found (in their attic) an old duffel bag containing WW1 uniforms and clothing from that time.
That solar panel set up is worth getting working again!
The PEN-41 is a valve used in radios/tv's around the 1930's - nice find!
Im loving this! So glad I found the channel. Thank you for making these videos!
There's an Optician in Barnard Castle!
🤣🤣 Might head there.
😂😂
No it's a holy site of eye healing approved by the Pope.
The valves are likely both from a post WW2 radio. The PA1 is a triode and was designed for use in telephone exchanges (from memory) but also worked for amplifying audio, the 41 is a pentode, also used in radios and TV's. Both are what are also known as power tubes.
Interesting! I wasn't sure if all this was telephone related... but equally might have just been a hi-fi buff. 👍👍
@@GosforthHandyman Definitely not your average home telephone setup, more like equipment in a long-distance exchange, so I'd say radio amateur.
Lovely old radio bits from the days when people made and or repaired their own receivers, nice finds and probably quite collectible for the vntage radio folks
Hard to tell but that solar setup doesn't look all that old, a nice bonus if you get it working. Really not a fan of the sprayed insulation though, absolute nightmare if you need to repair the roof and a bit of a moisture trap.
A real nightmare if there are slates on top of it.
Really enjoying the series andy. A lovely property with huge potential.
I own a property that was built 1900 and has very similar construction.
That garden though is something mind!
Looking forward to the next update 👍
Cheers Chris! We bought a garden that happened to come with a house. 👍😁
Great series Andy. I have ceilings like that with the sloped edges. I believe it's because of what is called a collared roof structure.
Hi mate, those breeze blocks will test your drilling and plugging abilities, I will be interested to see your answer to an age old problem of fastening something to those walls, can't wait for future videos, it's going to be interesting. Many thanks for the video, have a great Christmas, and best wishes for the new year, Stuart uk.
Agreed re: keeping the SOLAR turned off till you're sure. The fact that the panels themselves can supply power to stuff that's otherwise powered down is a good reason on its own. Nice tidy install though, whoever you get to fix it will be pleased about that!
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
NICE TO SEE A developers perspective on these types of projects, nice channel, new sub here
Have just found your chimney and it’s brilliant and hope you are staying safe and well and I have just subscribed to your channel
I have to take the credit, I was the one who mentioned the loft first and we should take a look there. Me. It was me. Without me you would not have this video. Us Durham colliery village lads are not so bad always.
Ha ha thank you! 🤣🤣👍
The Loft.....unless converted, never enjoyable 😆
I take it back! Clean as a whistle
A very pleasant surprise! 😁👍
Congratulations on getting to 132,000 subscribers
Instead of running a steel beam to carry the load of the ceiling joists, you could just sister up the existing joists with beefier ones. Looks great and am looking forward to following along!
Cheers - glad you're enjoying the series! Lots to come! 👍
Not many houses in the UK have the spray form insulation on the underside of the roof space. I purchased a product from Poland called polynor and it works wonders for tiny leaks on a slate roof without the need to change the roof slates.
hi Andy, the two valves you found are from radios, before capacitors were invented, as a boy I used to buy radios and swop out the valves to find out if they were okay or not, I would then use as many as I needed to get an old radio working and sell it on for a profit, at a guess I would say the green thing with the two terminals look like a 12 vote battery and the little bulb is a 12v dc bulb usually in model railway systems to light up a house or other building.
Cinder blocks - not concrete - they were made from the by-products of gas production (in gas works - where the gasometers were)
Think you're right! Now I want to know what the downstairs walls are made of. 👍😁
@@GosforthHandyman Our Sixties house has cinder block inner walls, and my god do they make a mess if you drill them! They will blunt even high quality drill bits doing just one hole. BIg mess if/when you take that wall out!
Cinders were also obtained from the left overs of coal burned in steam trains. Back in the 1950's here in the US, I frequently walked along rail road tracks near my home which were ballsed using cinders. Long gone now.
Definitely not any concrete in them.
I knew them as breeze blocks when I was young, maybe a trade name, but as already said a combination of cinders coal waste and other by products.
Soft as anything but with some really hard bits that make your drill bit wander so bad a 6mm hole looks like you used a cold chisel
I just removed a dividing wall between small bathroom and separate toilet. 1930s house and the walls are grey clinker. Unbelievable mess and incredibly heavy to shift.
Just looking at the loft insulation was making me itch, helped a friend out recently in his loft. Wore a Tyvek suit and a mask.
Apparently lubing up with barrier cream helps
It's awful stuff. Fortunately this loft wasn't too bad. I'm quite used to handling it. 👍😂
We put Rockwool in our attic after removing the pathetic amount and getting our house rewired. Easy to install and tidy.
@@wendya1580 Rockwool is awesome stuff. Doesn’t care about water, doesn’t burn.
@@CantankerousDave Exactly! We put a layer between joists ans some areas will have only that, with pieces of subfloor to allow access. Other areas have 2 or even 3 layers, perpendicular to block any gaps.
Easy to cut. One fairly inaccessible area, I told my husband to measure the length, left and right. I knew the width, measured left and right lengths, and cut the angle from left to right. Fit in like a puzzle piece.
I'm working on a 1930's police house & also found a lightweight block wall built directly onto the floorboards.
How times have changed - now they build houses out of 4x2 & plasterboard, "because it's structurally safer..."
Breeze blocks were usually non load bearing partitions , easy to work with , often saw wiring in cut channels under the plaster
Yup, and means they can get to roof level before the chippy comes in. 👍
@@GosforthHandyman Surprised that the sockets were on the skirting board, I would uplift and channel into the blockwork.
Is there a chance some of the walls are lathe and plaster? Sometimes it's hard to differentiate from block walls.
Hey, great work, on a semi-detached property, do you advise completely sealing the divide in the loft?
Just caught up on your last 3 videos and can't wait to follow along with your new project. I was expecting a horror story when you opened the loft hatch! Are the solar panels too old to get a feed in payments from them?
They had that "no more roof leaks" between rafter insulation/spray foam on a house that we were re-roofing around ten years ago,it was a rosemary tiled roof and that stuff made it a right pain in the bum!
I bet! Is that a caulk type stuff?
@@GosforthHandyman I could be wrong but I think he's talking just about the fact that closed cell foam will stop leaks because it's waterproof. But importantly it won't stop all the wood from rotting when there is water penetration, if the roof wasn't really well waterproofed before the foam went in, lots of programs about botched installs of it chuffing up people's roofs on the news and consumer reports stuff a few years ago. And it also makes any re-roofing a pain as op pointed out.
Yeah your right in the uk it is marketed to stop slate or tile slippage and spouse duly stops leaks and whilst it does these things it's just a gimmick.i don't think that it's cheap either tbh,it would be better to put the money towards having a re-roof but you know what they say about fools being parted with their money lol.
It's a closed cell polyurethane foam,I believe that it's similar to what they use in the US,it's not cheap either!
@@garethheathcote4988 getting roof re-roofed before doing any significant work up there, or as part of work up there just seems sensible to me, and would certainly do it before insulation, but then I think I'd go for polyiso or rockwool rather than spray foam if insulating as I'd prefer to be able to access it all.
Hi
I use to carry out building work in the UK before i Emigrated to Western Australia. It was common practice in at the time your house was built to build light weight non load bearing walls on top of suspended floor floors, using IE Breeze blocks, cinder blocks or timber stud.
I think that continued well into the 1900s as my house is 1952 and has a cinder block wall between the bedrooms. The floor boards carry right on under it into the next room.
Interesting! First time I've seen a solid wall built on floorboards. 👍😁
My house was built in 1972 and all the upstairs walls are concrete block and are built on top of the floor boards. Some built right in between joists. Scary.
Usually with solar you flip the isolater from the panel side and they kick in but all inverters have a minimum power before they kick on. Even a fair day should kick it on. Never worked with an inverter that had a switch on the bottom, could it be an extra isolation measure?
Moving from joist to joist on my knees I'd probably put my foot through the ceiling, so I commend your agility. That house received better-than-average care as evidenced by the clean loft, the ample insulation and the neat rewiring. I didn't realize that the house had solar panels. Hot water tanks like that are not common in the US, though the early 1900s house I grew up in had the toilet flush tank in the attic.
Yeah! Very old solar panels - unfortunately cost prohibitive to replace the inverter as the panels are very old. 👍
@@GosforthHandyman ouch
I'm mainly curious about what wattage the system was originally when it was installed
Spray insulation isn't looking after a 100 year old house. They need to breath.
As long as wooden parts are not totally enclosed should not be a problem.
The "chokes" are either chokes or transformers, part of the power supply inside valve gear (probably radios). The fourth object is a capacitor for the same. And those are valves, though I don't recognise the model/type. All made obsolete by the invention of the transistor in the 1950s, but still used for years afterwards. Probably post-WW2 but that's a SWAG.
Valves ("tubes" in the US) are still used today in a few high power applications, and also in guitar amplifiers where the amp is really part of the instrument.
Cheers! Interesting! 👍
I was born and brought up half a mile away from Feranti Hollinwood my mum worked there in the 60s it was one of the biggest employers in Oldham.
That's awesome! Didn't know they were in Oldham. 👍
Are you going to keep or sell it on once the renovation is complete
You are lucky, the roof looks good. Chances are it just needs resurfacing!
I had a cunning plan to fix a leaking slate roof by spraying some foam insulation onto the backs of the exposed roof....cue the first rainfall the rain pissed in😄
Hi, Andy. As a matter of interest, my late father worked in the transformer division at Ferranti's Hollinwood (Oldham) during the 1950s and '60s. It was a famous company in those long bygone days. They used to make chokes (transformers) for all manner of electrical equipment ranging from huge hydro-electric and coal-fired power stations through to their own makes of Ferranti TVs, radios and even door bells. The factory is still there in Hollinwood although it's now used for printing newspapers. And yes, our similar house had upstairs walls just built on floorboards. We never had a problem with them.
Ferranti's still have a factory in Oldham, producing, amongst other things, components for military use. The factory is just around the corner from my house. It's often being picketed by Extinction Rebellion, blocking the road and causing mayhem.
@@Beastos Hi., Ste. Ferranti's. Cairo Mill ? ? ? Until a few years ago, my parents lived on Willow Bank off Turner Street. I lived in Austerlands and my passion was/still is the 'Roughyeds'.
@@frankjackson8 Yeah, that's the place. I live in Lees but originally from Moorside. I'm more of a Latics fan... for my sins!
@@Beastos Hi, Ste. It's a small world. As a matter of interest, have a guess who 'Jackson's Place' located between Ashes Lane and Station Road in Springhead, is named after ? ? (genuinely, the clue is in the name) And your season as a Latics supporter can't possibly be worse than ours has been !
Hi, a suggestion, take the little toilet out and make a wardrobe connected to the bedroom. If you can, take the wall with the crack down to size that bedroom. The room leftover make it into a big bathroom with shower and toilet together. Regards from a Swede 🙂.
Cheers and a big welcome to Sweden! Lots of building work happening but won't start for a few months. 👍
That lath and plaster ceilings look in beautiful condition. Hopefully the nails holding the laths on are in good condition as well. A brilliant building system that provides strength as well as the utility of the ceilings. Please do not pull out and fit crappy plasterboard. Within weeks that would flex and all the little plaster circles over the nails will fall out and the finish would look modern and crap.
Lath and plaster is beautiful. Especially lime plaster.
Two alternate ways of finding which flue to which fire, 1: as the flues do not cross measure which hearth is nearer the outside wall Up or down. 2: look at the upstairs fireplace and usually brickwork on one side would be wider that the other to accommodate the downstairs flue.
Looking forward to the remod and great content.👍
Cheers, I've always wondered... what happens to the rain that goes down chimneys? 🤔
@@GosforthHandyman makes Santa get a wet backside😂
Best method is to put a smoke pellet in the fireplace then go out side to see which pot is smoking !
Could the crack in the wall be due to the water tank not being supported well enough as that looks reasonably new
The valves look like old TV valves from around 1960, or a radio se, my grandad had a radio which took valves like that
Those cross timbers with cables clipped on, are they hollow? My 1909 house had similar take off cover, inside were old live and neutral rubber cable.
I'd say all your assumptions of load - bearing walls are correct, and the cracked wall runs in the same direction as the joists so can't be load bearing
Cheers! I'm also now wondering if it's connected with the very heavy hot water tank on the other side of the crack. Perhaps added to the woes of that one joist in that area. Either way all looks fine. 👍
@@GosforthHandyman sister joists to the ones under the water tank would alleviate the pressure on the wall...oh wait... you're taking the water tank out...never mind😬
you're very right, clean attic/loft...Andy, did you forget your knee pads, again? Or were they hiding in your fancy pants...😃
@@GosforthHandyman Possibly. Where masonry walls are built off floor boards, there will often be joist shrinkage and deflection that will result in cracking in the finishes to the unsupported walls. Especially around door apertures.
@@a..d5518 They're built in to my fancy pants 👍
The solar PV is grid tied..this needs to see power from the grid to work..make sure all the isolation switches are on..especially the one at the consumer box..see if it comes to life then
Yup - has grid power. 👍
Thanks for all the great content.
This video made me want to invest in a respirator mask.
Which mask do you use, please?
Ours is 30’s it is solid brick everywhere. Til you get to the box room that is over what would have been the scullery on the ground floor. Then bizarrely the interior walls are cinder block. They just disintegrate when you try to drill or hammer into them.
Hi I would like to know your thoughts on loft foam insulation with these incentives currently. Our house is 1890s, end terrace, has a low pitch slate, sarking underside on to rafters, the ceiling joists look to be 3x2, and so by increasing loft rolls on over joists would reduce storage space with already limited head height. I'm thinking with foam that would lessen the space reduction but I'm reading pros/cons from 'Which' online that foam may affect mortgage or potential sell on. Also the open vs closed cell and potential for condensation with suffocating ventilation. Seems this product a bit up in the air however my options are few.
If I can I understand it correctly, the black switch to the right of the inverter is for the incoming power from the solar panels and the red switch to the left is for the output of of the inverter to the main panel. I guess the installation needs a thorough inspection. 40mm center to center I think is quite dense to support som pieces of 18mm plywood in case you need to move freely up there.
Cheers bud! Yeah, will defo be boarding it out once the extension is done. They'll need to open up the roof for that. 👍
Those ceiling ties also don't sit on the exterior walls. They are mearly ties for the rafters
Seeing that wall built on the floorboards, I thought it was only the people who we bought our place from who did that. What`s even more crazy they built the wall on top of a gypsum and reed upstairs floor.
Wow! Yeah, it was a new one on me. 🤣
Photofloods were used for indoor photography. Very bright (and a very short lifetime).
My dad had some photofloods in a cupboard, ridiculously bright but as you say v short life!
Interesting! Not sure if it's worth keeping those. 👍
Wow, that was not the fiberglass-cloud dust-storm, flock-of-pigeons-scattering, old Victrola next to the abandoned rocking chair scenario I expected to see in that attic!
I was recently in my attic, (see above description) which is even tighter as far as headroom, threading some L.E.D. lighting down through the ceiling for a recess-lighting project for the fireplace. So much fun belly-crawling into position, then squeezing into the wedge, with the roofing nails scraping my head to get to the place of insertion over the fireplace. LOL...I'm jealous of your attic! And the only treasures I found were mouse turds and a long-ago deceased squirrel.
Thanks, GH...I know that house is gonna be primo when finished
Cheers bud! Yeah I was very pleasantly surprised! 👍😁
You may need a load on the solor control for it to register anything it looks like there are no load wires comming out
But the meter "lit up"!
Most of the solar in the UK is "grid tied" so needs a mains voltage to latch on to. Having said that I would have expected the panel to show information not just be blank! You could try putting some load on and see if the main meter is showing the use or if the solar is!
@@totherarf Yeah you could be right
There were sockets etc. switched on in the house so there would have been a small load. Looking on eBay there's a lot of these units "Parts only, not working". 🙄👍
Those are old radio tubes. That is what ran radios before transistors. Could be for early television. They could be valuable if they are still good.
What LED light is it you used in the loft? couldn't find it on your site! @6:30
I would make the bathroom a hallway into new part of the house, and move the bathroom to the small bedroom next to the bathroom and stairs. Than the old toilet id make into a cupboard
How does that insulation in the loft not cause damp? Surely it's blocked ventilation from between the tiles?
Looks like it's been vacuumed out when they did the insulation to me, nice to have one that clean, mine has 140 years of soot, horrible. Took one ceiling down and it was horrendous, I'd recommend anyone doing that vacuum above first, soot is yucky! Those valves used to be in old radios, my dad insists on using that type still because he says they sound better lol
Yup, I've worked in many sooty lofts and it's not pleasant. This was weirdly clean. 👍😁
That's what WE did (Central California) before we had the house required. Just over $2000 US. Then we put in Rockwool. Very tidy.
And doing this let us see if there was ANY damage. None. No damage, no "old fire," no termites. And a TON of space.
@@wendya1580 Rockwool is the cat's meow
@@thebigmacd Yes! And they had a “give a review” contest. I won $200 from Rockwool!! Not bad.
My husband said, “You wrote it, the money is yours.” I put it toward us celebrating.
Is it not a bad idea to insulate the loft and the roof? I was told doing this can result in moisture being trapped in the loft.
I assume this loft is okay as there was no sign of mould (?)
How were you touching that insulation with bare hands?? Wowza!
Ha ha, very used to it. Been in some truly awful lofts. 👍
This was what I was going to say! I got itchy hands just watching you do it
Andy - really enjoyed the video. All very positive. Although that sprayed insulation (leaving aside the controversial views) does not appear to have been executed very well and should be full depth of the rafters and consistently so. If executed well then the warm boundary is moved to the roof and the fibreglass on the loft floor is not required. I believe there is an issue of that foam being in contact with pvc cables.😳
It looks like the solar inverter is tits - but it maybe worth investigating if you have inherited the feed in tariff - if you have it could be very valuable.
BTW - I do not think those mouse droppings have been their 100 years - not unless they can migrate upwards through fibre glass batts.😂
Hi, those last 2 items were old TV valves from when you could remove a valve and replace it if your TV died on you, as a youngster I would buy old TV’s and Radios from jumble sales (the equivalent to auctions nowadays) and take them home to get all the valves out and test each one to see if they were working or not and then get good ones and sell them to get pocket money, I did alright in those days. I am surprised to see blocks in that house as my house is not as old as yours but all the walls except the bathroom are all brick. The bathroom is some sort of block made out of concrete and has voids running up and down, I am not sure that propose they had as the walls downstairs are solid brick and the blocks are all closed off in the loft
Cheers John! Fantastic stuff! 👍
Thanks, Andy.
Your insulation makes me jealous. Was -6 last night.. ugggg
Ooh! Chilly! Starting to get cold here - had a bit of frost but not that cold. This rental never gets warm though - heating bills are through the roof. 😁
@@GosforthHandyman yeah I keep the house at 19. Wind whistles through though not as bad since I built crawl space vent covers! Floors are Nordic all winter.
I'd expect a chimney sweep to get on the roof and run a heavy steel ball on a rope down each flue to see where it comes out. That way they can spot any blockages too and possibly remove them.
I'd always thought that spray foam insulation on the roof like that was not a good idea as is stops the loft space 'breathing' and can cause dampness and condensation?
You would have 250-300mm of fiber glass insulation if there wasn't closed cell insulation blown into the roof rafters. Closed cell gives two benefits, higher insulation values for the same depth of insulation and structural sheer strength, it's honestly surprising it's not used in the UK more often. You may actually find you don't need the fiber glass insulation anymore and that it was only left there as sound deadening due to the cold water tank filling.
The block wall is breeze block - it would be recycled Ash from coal fired power plants and portland cement, not really load bearing more just quick and keep to build. The lamps you found are from old radios by the look of them.
Cheers! That's good news about the insulation and makes life easier for boarding it out. 👍
@@GosforthHandyman Also as there was a lack of dust and debris up there you may find you don't have vented sofets which will help with maintaining an ambient temp in the roof space. However it would be advisable to check the construction of the roof outside (probably had a survey done before the solar was installed - hopefully you have a copy) to make sure the roof doesn't require venting. It probably doesn't as it looks like it was done after the Solar installation but always wise to check.
It was hard to figure out but is the weight of the water tank or part of it over the cracked wall? It seemed to be but was hard to figure. Might be good to show its location on the plan at some point for viewers. Really enjoying this series and exploring the house with you. Thanks for taking the time to post the content.
Cheers! And yes, the hot water tank is directly on the other side of that wall - could certainly have contributed to the settling over time. 👍
@@GosforthHandyman Thanks for taking the time to reply.
The two chokes as a pair may be worth something. Don't pull then apart! The valve audio guys love pairs for their amplifiers. My guess would be about £50. I know there is a muppet on Ebay trying to sell for more - good luck to him. The Pen41 is a pentode, reasonably common, you may get £5-£10 for it. The PA1 is a rather rare triode and could be worth over a £100. The problem is the most likely reason the valves are in the loft in the first place is they were pulled from equipment because they no longer worked. Still there may be some life left in them and people are willing to pay. Don't sell them all together. Sell the two chokes together as one lot, and then the two valves separately. The other metal box is a 2uF capacitor and not really worth anything.
A lot of these houses had cinder block walls built on the floor boards that finish in the loft and are not load bearing
Actually old style radio amplifiers are still being built because of their better sound
Yup think you're spot on. 👍
My 1930’s place was certainly built that way. Cinder blocks on wooden floors. Had 5m long 19mm floor boards. Had to cut all the boards if you wanted to take any up for any reason. All very solid though
My house was built in the 70s and all the upstairs block walls are built on the floors there's a 4inch thick joist under 1 wall though
I find these tours very interesting but I really have to ask - Surely you do these types of inspections *before* you buy the property, right?
Lol unfortunately not an option with a purchase like this. 20 minute open viewing before it went to bids. 👍
@@GosforthHandyman Interesting! Gutted you can't do a loft conversion, that's my idea gone for a burton!
I have a late 1920s semi and also have an upstairs wall built onto the floorboards. The problem I have is that a plumber has cut all the boards parallel to the wall about 30cm away from it, so instead of the weight being spread over several joists, it is only really being put on two of them and the floor is now quite uneven. Even worse is that it has come away from the outside wall at the end. Someone suggested hacking the plaster off and putting some corner ties in, but I am wondering if this is necessary and I should just fill in the gap with cement. The gap is about 10mm so it is significant.
No id go back to ur plumber and demand he fix it for his screw up
The discovery of the concrete in the cracked wall is an indication to me that the bathroom is a later rebuild to the house, originally there would have been just a single dividing wall between the two bedrooms resting on top of the wall underneath.
Maybe proof of this will appear when taking the flooring of the bathroom out, if there is a divide in the floor planks this was the case.
Copying the ground floor plan to the upper story of a house was very common in the period when it was built, it's done that way in my 1932 house.
I'd say the inner 2 pots are the downstairs. I say this as my inner pot is my living room while the other 3 pots have been removed as the the rest of the fireplaces have been bricked up.
Yup, think you're right. 👍
Smells lush!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
would u stain the attic timbers while work is being done just for future comforts ?
Might consider wood treatment but all looks fine so tempted to leave it. 👍
Personally I’d never buy a house hat I hadn’t had a good root around in the loft first.
The spray PU foam around he rafters isn’t great as it traps moisture around the timber and leads to beetle/decay.
I second this, causes the tops of the joists to rot as they stay permanently damp. This would get picked up on a home builders survey (with warning). There is unlikely to be any felt between the foam making the long term damp and rot worse.
@@MrKarlPrince So glad I’m live in the desert. Dry air year round. We do get snow. Humidity bothers me.
Thirded. I backed out of a house that I'd had surveyed as I managed to get into the loft and found wood beetle. The house I bought.....on first viewing I was straight into the loft before I put the offer in 😊 experience is a marvellous thing
@@suelawson7273 A roof structure is one thing that scares me. I can deal with most things but would avoid that or dry rot.
@@chrisb4009 yes! It was a £300 lesson worth learning. That and how to spot a dodgy car 😆
Fascinating vid regarding your findings in the loftspace. Although I also like the way you suggested people get advice from a structural engineer before knocking down walls.
I wonder if it might be an idea to put a disclaimer at the start of your renovation videos to suggest that any advice in the videos should not be deemed as recommendations and that people should seek professional advice before doing any similar work.
I can't help feeling that spray foam can/is hiding problems with the roof/tiles.
Checked the roof from above - it's fine. If there were any major issues you'd see dampness on the rafters. My only concern is taking the solar panels out. 👍
@@GosforthHandyman The concern isn't now... it is five or ten years time.
@@rjrfletcher2355 Just clip the new double effciency ones over them.
concrete block okay but they have metal frames in the walls and if they get damp they rust hence your crack
Looks like that inverter is a Sunmaster XS2000. Mastervolt is an excellent company making quality products but you're correct that this is an old unit and also it's only 2kW. It has a value of just a few hundred pounds if it's in working order. No display means that it's not seeing a sufficient PV input to do anything, so as you had that DC switch on, assuming the sun was shining, then either the panels or the cabling are faulty. Or it's faulty. Here's the manual: manualzz.com/doc/14221024/mastervolt-sunmaster-xs3200 and here's an 8 year old shiny brochure: www.kewsolar.co.uk/datasheets/Mastervolt%20XS_Inverters.pdf
My house built in the early 60s is the same.Upstairs bedroom walls made of Cinder blocks built on top of floor boards on top of a lenght of 2x4. No joists directly below. I have had no problems with any cracking. So far 😁. Would be concerned about the loft being over insulated without vents as this could cause condensation. Hopefully there is some ventilation through the eaves.
These aren't even on a 2x4! I was amazed. No sign of condensation in the loft but I still need to take a closer look at the eaves. 👍
The spray foam infill makes a 'warm roof' which should be sealed and not ventilated, (conditioned as the US call it). Airtight, and VERY toasty. The interim fibreglass overlay may not need adding to, the U value will have to be totted up to include the foam.
As long as rafters have a face uncovered for moisture exchange should be no risk of rot.
Cold roofs (traditional UK) do not work the same. Separating the warm house from these types of breezy cold lofts is done by deep insulation over the joists, and draught proofing.
However - there is a question mark over spray foam emerging from mortgage and insurance surveyors citing fire risk. I personally believe this is a Grenfell over-reaction, BUT I would not have a solar inverter in any roofspace without additional fire protection, especially with foam.
@@safetyladysilver8988 This roof wasn't built as a warm roof though. There is no vapour control layer and likely no breathable underlay between the insulation and the roof tiles. ANY leak in the roof will lead to trapped moisture and rotten rafters, not to mention the ongoing risk of rot due to condensation as warm, moisture laden air from the house rises and meets the cold underside of the roof. The previous owner probably got away with it by living by himself and due to the fact the work was done quite recently so problems haven't yet appeared (it takes a few years for the rot to set in) but I wouldn't count on that luck holding out once a family moves in. Unless proper ventilation to the roof space is restored and the spray foam coated tiles replaced I predict that the roof will need to come down and be completely renewed (rafters and all) within 10-15 years.
@@AWellesley you make good points. It's hard to see the roof make-up detail. I would invest in at least one thermometer with humidity readout, and see what the readings are over winter. Curious to know if open or closed cell. Watching and learning!
Interesting video and very interesting comments. You can write a book now: Treasure Loft.
The loft is the most suitable place for your shop. It's perfectly accessible, has endless working height, a lot of natural light and exceptional ventilation.
The only problem is that 100 year old (Mickey) mouse. LOL
Ha ha yeah, the family would love having me so nearby too. 😁👍
Very new here... but is it possible the water tank/ heater has caused the crack in the wall due to excess weight?
Yup! Could defo be a factor. 👍
Here in Australia, we put solar inverters outside, as they're a slight fire risk. Of course, we're a nation of criminals, so they get stolen sometimes. So..pluses and minuses to both :)
28.12 maybe a TV valve?
I've read that that spray insulation is bad - makes it difficult to mend slates, and if there is a little leak there's no ventilation to dry it out, so slowly it will rot the top of the roof timbers. Have they blocked the ventilation at the eaves? if so you could get mould, if not then what's the point of insulating the roof? I'm insulating the ceiling layer in my old house - there's less surface area!
Those are tubes to process the telephone signal over wire. Before chip technology, they used tubes.
Got a bit of a hybrid on your hands with that insulation! Seems like it was originally a ventilated cold roof space, but all that squirty stuff is probably blocking the eaves and ridge vents? Beware of condensation issues if there is no ventilation. Are you converting the roof space?
No, not converting the roof space. Bear in mind the eaves are below ceiling level so wouldn't be insulated down there, but I'll know more once I get up on some ladders. 👍👍
That’s called a hot roof assembly. You don’t vent them. The building’s thermal envelope is now at the roof, not the attic floor, so those fiberglass batts aren’t needed. Admittedly, I’ve never seen one done in the UK, so I have no idea what their standards are.
The previous video shows some condensation / damp stains in the upstairs rooms at ceiling level
Is that a work lamp your using? Looks impressive
It's for video / photography really but works fine as a work lamp - just a cheapy thing from Amazon. 👍
my fave job was sometimes i had to help the council contractors house clearance people ,find all sorts of fun stuff u can sneakily keep, and be a nosey bastard ( some houses were full and not even moved out from because people fled the country etc )
Honestly, this whole house was full of stuff before we bought it. Poor guy died and had no family. Everything went to landfill apparently. 🙄😬
I think those "concrete" blocks are referred to as "Cinder" blocks.... at least I'm sure I heard my dad refer to them as that when were renovating properties in the past
Cheers Paul! Think you're right. 👍
I am not 100% sure but I think it's a mains solar tracking inverter. thus needs mains electric to sync to in order to work.
Otherwise it wont put out any power
It has mains power. 👍
@@GosforthHandyman ah something a bit more serious then
Hi bud, Just a quick tip for you, have a look at wireless endoscopes, I've just picked one up from Amazon prices go from £20 up they are mint for looking in small places like under your floorboards or into places that are really hard to reach, worth every penny if you want i'll drop a link for the one i just picked up??
I'd defn be interested in a link to the one you have lol
@@BenCos2018 here's the one I got it was £60 because I wanted the monitor and the extra tools www.amazon.co.uk/YINAMA-Industrial-Inspection-Chargeable-Waterproof/dp/B088W93J97/ref=pd_ybh_a_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=07T8ZHT2RPATK1B5AQEA
here is the cheaper version that just wifi's to your phone , www.amazon.co.uk/DEPSTECH-Rechargeable-Inspection-Smartphone-Tablet-11-5ft/dp/B07R3BRHTR/ref=pd_ybh_a_4?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=GZWTQF6HF0Y7R9W8Y20B
have a dig about there are loads on amazon, really handy bit of kit.
Cheers bud! It's on my list! 👍😁
I bought one from LIDL. Excellent quality, LED light on the end etc.
Perfect for dropping down a cavity to prevent any arguments that there was insulation present :).
Feranti b1 chokes. Over £200 on eBay.
Wow, that would go towards an unleaded water supply! 👍😁
@@GosforthHandyman lol
yeah
@@GosforthHandyman Just had our lead pipe replaced Andy.
@@GosforthHandyman But the. You would not have any ‘lead in your pencil’🥴
Is the switch with the 1 on it not the On switch?
Nope - doesn't have an on switch apparently. 👍
We called them breeze blocks in our 1930s council house
Yup! 👍