Hello PPUK,
Apologies in advance for this extended post, but...
I was hoping to get some advice as to the best way to insulate above the ceiling of our bay window. It is a two storey timber bay at the front of the house, which two years ago we naively thought its restoration would simply be a matter of stripping off the 150 years of paint and repainting. Unfortunately, this mere decorating job morphed into a complete rebuild of sections of the bay's exterior and major structural work inside to stop it falling off of the house. Two years and not an inconsiderable amount of money and stress later the bay is fixed to a shiny new RSJ instead of a completely rotten and structurally compromised timber plate.
The good news is that the ceilings are now back up and plastered and the room now looks much more like a room that could one day actually serve as a bedroom instead of the inside of a small derelict barn. Unfortunately the original T&G panelling had to be removed because much of the brickwork on either side of the bay had to be rebuilt and at any rate much of it was riddled with rot and wood worm holes. I've attached some photos in happier times and those which were less happy.
The walls on either side of the bay have been boarded with wood wool boards and plastered in lime. The section of the walls that were previously covered with panelling we plan on re-panelling. This brings me to my first question - what do people think about what type of panelling we should install?
As shown in the photos this first floor room had T&G panelling but the floor below which will be the lounge room has different panelling (I don't know what its called). Mrs. M would like to recreate the panelling from downstairs in the bedroom bay window. I'm unsure about whether I agree or whether to replace the T&G panelling like-for-like. What are your thoughts on this? This is obviously very much a subjective thing - I'd just like to hear folks' opinions.
We're also now in the position where we can properly insulate the bay. I'm just not completely sure about how I should go about this. I've attached a photo that shows the underside of the roof of the bay. We will rebuild the ceiling in whichever form of panelling that Mrs. M and I can agree on. There is probably enough room up there for 20cm of loft insulation, some space for an air gap and then taping a breather membrane around the inside of the bay's perimeter. Is this a good idea or am I way off base? We would need to work out a way to vent the roof space, correct?
We would also like to be able to insulate the space under the windows. We're thinking that we can do this by building a space into a bay window bench that can hold the insulation and breather membrane. We're thinking of firstly fixing 18mm plywood under the window, then battening and taping a breather membrane, leaving 30mm or so of an air gap and then 100mm of Rockwool RW45 (this will also help with sound). Does this make sense?
Again, apologies for the long post. I've been thinking about this a lot lately and want to make sure that we get this right. Now that we've stopped the bay window from rotting and collapsing we don't want to introduce condensation problems by adding insulation in the incorrect way.
Many thanks,
Scott
Apologies in advance for this extended post, but...
I was hoping to get some advice as to the best way to insulate above the ceiling of our bay window. It is a two storey timber bay at the front of the house, which two years ago we naively thought its restoration would simply be a matter of stripping off the 150 years of paint and repainting. Unfortunately, this mere decorating job morphed into a complete rebuild of sections of the bay's exterior and major structural work inside to stop it falling off of the house. Two years and not an inconsiderable amount of money and stress later the bay is fixed to a shiny new RSJ instead of a completely rotten and structurally compromised timber plate.
The good news is that the ceilings are now back up and plastered and the room now looks much more like a room that could one day actually serve as a bedroom instead of the inside of a small derelict barn. Unfortunately the original T&G panelling had to be removed because much of the brickwork on either side of the bay had to be rebuilt and at any rate much of it was riddled with rot and wood worm holes. I've attached some photos in happier times and those which were less happy.
The walls on either side of the bay have been boarded with wood wool boards and plastered in lime. The section of the walls that were previously covered with panelling we plan on re-panelling. This brings me to my first question - what do people think about what type of panelling we should install?
As shown in the photos this first floor room had T&G panelling but the floor below which will be the lounge room has different panelling (I don't know what its called). Mrs. M would like to recreate the panelling from downstairs in the bedroom bay window. I'm unsure about whether I agree or whether to replace the T&G panelling like-for-like. What are your thoughts on this? This is obviously very much a subjective thing - I'd just like to hear folks' opinions.
We're also now in the position where we can properly insulate the bay. I'm just not completely sure about how I should go about this. I've attached a photo that shows the underside of the roof of the bay. We will rebuild the ceiling in whichever form of panelling that Mrs. M and I can agree on. There is probably enough room up there for 20cm of loft insulation, some space for an air gap and then taping a breather membrane around the inside of the bay's perimeter. Is this a good idea or am I way off base? We would need to work out a way to vent the roof space, correct?
We would also like to be able to insulate the space under the windows. We're thinking that we can do this by building a space into a bay window bench that can hold the insulation and breather membrane. We're thinking of firstly fixing 18mm plywood under the window, then battening and taping a breather membrane, leaving 30mm or so of an air gap and then 100mm of Rockwool RW45 (this will also help with sound). Does this make sense?
Again, apologies for the long post. I've been thinking about this a lot lately and want to make sure that we get this right. Now that we've stopped the bay window from rotting and collapsing we don't want to introduce condensation problems by adding insulation in the incorrect way.
Many thanks,
Scott