Condensation in roof space?

Hector's House

Hi all,
Our landlord has put in extra loft insulation, and I don't know if this is the cause, but now I see a lot of condensation on the inside of the roofing felt, dripping onto the glass fibre insulation and dampening the timbers. There is some ventilation in that at the eaves you can see a bit of day light in two places, and it was certainly cold when I went up there; however, as I understand it condensation means that warm moist air is meeting the cold surface of the underside of the roofing felt. Is this as damaging as it appears to be, and how do you Boarders feel it should be remedied? In the short term, would a load of sillica gel help?

Thanks,
Hector

Sonnenblumen

I wouldn't be too concerned. To alleviate problem you could plug in a hot air heater later for an hour or so. Alternatively during really cold spells, switch on a 60W bulb during nights, you'd be amazed how effective this can be to prevent pipes in roof spaces freezing.

Hector's House

Thanks Sonnenblum, it does strike me as kind of excessive though... never saw anything like it before (albeit in my limited experience)....

muffler

The attic should be vented.

hands of steel

i just moved into our house a year ago which had the attic converted by the previous owners. just recently when up in the attic crawl space i noticed really bad condensation on the felt and the rafters and framing seem to be getting wet too.
This only occurs on one side and the other side is bone dry.
There seems to be plenty of ventilation as there is air vents on the sofits all around the house.
The attic roof is insulated with Xtraterm but not in the crawl space where the problem is occuring.
very worried that the timber rafters are getting too wet can anyone advice or relate.
Does this sound like a leak or just bad condensation?

RKQ

Hands of Steel, it could be condensation, especially if it is on the north facing side of the roof - less sun during these frosty days. I would need more info to be sure!

Is there no insulation in the crawl space or under the wet felt?

RKQ

Hector, inform your landlord.

Adequate ventilation and a plastic sheet / vapour barrier under the insulation will alleviate the problem.

It has been very cold lately with little or no wind.

muffler

Moved to other thread on condensation.

muffler

Sorry the posts are a little jumbled but Im sure you will all make them out.