Insulation: leaks through the roof, analyzes sleet

[Christophe]

Making a simple photo of your snow-covered roof after a few days of continuous snow allows you to do a simple analysis of the thermal leaks in your roof. Especially if there were a few days of good weather after the snowfall. Which is the case here!

Ideally the roof to be analyzed should be oriented North otherwise the analysis of the slush is difficult (solar gains more than thermal leaks).

I just made a very beautiful photo highlighting this phenomenon on our North roof facade:



We can see very well:

a) The 2 floor levels (full height lost at the top): floor 1er floor and attic (nothing to do to optimize on that side)

b) On the left on the 1st floor, the only heated room in "direct" contact with the north roof (the rest = unheated shed or lost attic)

c) Vertically at 1er floor: a wall and a support beam (not much to do)

d) On the left (East) and especially on the right (West), we can see that the snow melted on the edges of the gables: direct consequences of the sun that heats the gables (East in the morning but mostly in the afternoon)

Small note: before I do itinsulation of our lost attics the part of the roofs lost remained dark!

[Lietseu]

And here is a beautiful demonstration of common sense in our Ardennes (Belgian and French)

Thank you for the demo, XTophe is very educational and interesting


When you say

Vertically at the 1er floor: a wall and a beam of support (not much to do)

what do you mean by: "not much to do"?

A: that you can not do anything about it ...
B: that the insulation level is very simple ...

[Christophe]

Yes, it is often with the simplest and most common methods that we can move forward!

No need for 7000 € thermal analysis for a roof analysis but it takes snow but the method is limited to the north roof ... well it's already good!

When I say: not much to do it was in terms of improvements ... I can well "shutter the beam" but the load-bearing wall not much to do (impossible to reduce conduction: floors to walls then to roof)

For the room against we will make some improvements (not easy because no access and finishes already made).

[Christophe]

To compare here 2 photos of the roofs of direct neighbors (taken at the moment, same climate therefore but the T ° of heating is probably different from us as well as the occupation of spaces under the roof recess).

By cons we can also see the beams of the frame on the 2ieme photo.

These are recent houses built after 2001 (ours in 1981-82).

[Lietseu]

Great as a thermographer and quite accurate after all

[gegyx]

Bouhhh! The nasty polluters of neighbors ...



It is often, that I look at the roofs around my subdivision of sixties houses.

After the snow, but also more often after frosts.

It all depends on the insulation, but also the behavior of the occupants. Elderly people will push the heater.

What surprises me is that in some houses, there was insulation work from the outside of the cinderblock walls.
Ok, that's good! (What I did not do. )

But let their attic roof be completely clear ...

(Mine remains covered for a very long time and evenly except around the fireplace of the gas heater, while there is only one layer of 20cm of old glass wool)

These neighbors would have isolated their walls by forgetting their ceiling?

[Lietseu]

it looks good, yes

But, maybe they're waiting for your wise advice?

It reminds me that we should all mobilize a little more to make known and appreciate econology