Roof and wall insulation dilema

last year

Hi Houzzers

I have a house built 1958 with a Terracotta roof, with no sarking or insulation directly under the tiles, only insulation over ceiling. Its a 3 bedroom single brick with no insulation in the walls. Approx floor area 135m square.

I live in south east NSW, Very cold winters! I want to insulate my roof and wall cavity which i hope will help improve the overall warmth of my house in winter.

What are my options for insulating a terracotta tile roof? I have been told that Terracotta Tiles don't need insulation because they are the "best", all i need to do is turn up my heating (and heating bill) Although no details were provided as to why they are the "Best" and every time I look at a new subdivision all I see are Colorbond roofs and maybe 1 in 10 are tile roofs. Which would indicate colorbond is either the best or most cost effective.

What are everyone's thoughts on:

1 - retrofitting insulation to the existing roof. Which I imagine would be tedious and labor intensive.

2 - complete new colorbond roof with sarking and insulation. probably expensive considering cost of steel.

3 - any other cost effective options to increase warmth.

What are my options for insulating the wall cavity, it is single brick, hardwood timber frame.

1 - Ive heard insulation (little Styrofoam balls )that is pumped into wall cavity can negatively effect wiring run through wall cavity.

2 - Or do i just rip the plaster board off the wall and put in insulation bats/ foil board?

3 - is there any other way to do it?

I've seen a lot of discussions about color schemes and aesthetics of tile vs colorbond. However I'm more interested in structural integrity/longevity/insulation R values, and factual discussions as to why one material is superior to the other.

Thanks for your help

Dom

Comments (4)

Kate
last year
For the roof you just need to lay bats between the ceiling joists. Look at your windows. They prob Loose more heat than the walls and check all drafts Take a smoking torch around for that.
Not sure about blowing into walls.
Kate
last year
Check out this website

https://www.yourhome.gov.au/passive-design/insulation
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bigreader
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Colorbond is popular due to labour costs so don’t base your decision on new housing estates.

I have a 1950s weatherboard. It was a totally new house when I added roof insulation, decent window coverings and blocked all gaps.

You will need to investigate adding wall insulation as my preliminary info shows just pulling off the plaster and adding batts without allowing for an air gap may cause moisture problems.
oklouise
last year
start with checking all your ceiling bats and adding double glazed windows in the main living areas and add insulated curtains (double layered not rubber backed) to all windows and zone inside heating areas with solid doors (that are kept closed) across hallways so that you only heat the rooms that you're using....we replaced a 60 year old damaged tile roof with steel as it was impossible to match old tiles for an extension and steel was cheaper than new tiles and painting and repairing the tiles was not much more cost effective but, unless you have leaks or broken tiles, there should be no need to swap tiles for steel and adding best rated bats over the ceiling should make a huge difference and is a simple job for an insulation company (or a tedious job for a homeowner) but i would first have all ceiling wiring checked and any rubbish cleaned out of the ceiling cavity and as already suggested check yourhome.gov.au for advice for retrofitting insulation and other ideas to improve your existing home with passive solar design

Roof and wall insulation dilema

Comments (4)

Kate

Kate

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bigreader

oklouise

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