Rigid foam retrofit on 85 y.o. House? Also, confused about attic moisture.
Hi All,
Question below, info first.
I’m in an 85 y.o. house 1/4 miles or so from the Pacific (4c) with a slightly sloped 1200 s.f. effectively flat roof. We expect to go another 40-50 years. Relative humidity is rarely less than 70%. Roof is at least 40 or 50 y.o. tar over roofing felt, solid sheathing. I moved in six years ago and covered a lot with roofing cement as a stopgap.
The sheathing feels solid, fingers crossed. So now I’m finally doing a torchdown re-roofing.
1. INSULATION: Assuming the sheathing is not removed, I would like to insulate under the new roof, presumably with rigid foam. Code for rigid foam insulation is 1/2” gap from sheathing, then OSB. 4” to 6” rigid foam on top seems like the minimum to get enough R value to bother with.
Is this a pipe dream from the cost perspective given a $5k to $10k cost for 1 or two layers of roofing? It is starting to sound like a major carpentry job, and maybe a more expensive roofer familiar with the rigid foam system retrofit.
2. ONE OR TWO LAYERS: I understand I can apply one smooth layer now with a second gritty layer later. Good idea or bad idea?
3. ATTIC MOISTURE. I’m confused by all the discussion of damage from attic moisture — does it matter with/without the insulation system? Roofer plans a couple of vents in the roof – code required I think. To date there have been two very undersized attic vents.
I’m sorry this is long but I’d appreciate any advice or comments.
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