Saturday, December 6, 2014

What's hiding in the attic?

Finally got back in the attic on Friday. It's conveniently wired with several light bulbs controlled by a switch near the hatch, but the rock wool insulation is really dirty and there are millions of cobwebs.

Looking south. Black pipe is vent for Master Bathroom
Calculating based on the 62" clearance from top of 2x6 joists to the bottom of the 1x8 ridge board, the roof slope seems to be 4-1/2 in 12.

John Lasswell, the home inspector, noted that the bathroom fans, like the silver box in the center of the Looking South photo, just vent into the attic. 

Looking northwest, at the kitchen. The insulation has been removed where they installed recessed can lights.
Lasswell said that the kitchen insulation was apparently removed for the remodel (who knows when) and put in garbage bags (seen at the left of the Looking South photo). The pipe at the left in the northwest photo is the vent for the Bath #2 shower.

Looking north toward the porch. The white oval is my flashlight beam.
The north photo shows the short 2x6 ceiling joists. I say short, because they lap at the beams on either side of the dining room, meaning that either those beams remain or we do some expensive reworking of the framing. The north photo also shows that the porch ceiling is framed with 2x4s running north-south. Given that 2x6s are 5.5 inches tall, how much rock wool do you think we have...3 inches on average?

The chimney when no one's looking. The brick is narrow "Norman" brick above the roof and below the mantel.
The roof framing is 2x4 rafters at 24" on center. 1x4 boards, self-spaced, are nailers for the original wood shingles. At some point, these were removed, and OSB sheathing was laid on the 1x4s.

Final fun fact: the attic access is only 19" x 21" so its no wonder I feel claustrophobic climbing up there.





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