Spray Foam insulated lofts

[SolarCity]

Has anyone had any experience of these? They look a bit of a nightmare to me. Is it even possible to remove the tiles on these jobs?

 

[JulianC]

Got one booked in for next week. Our roofers aren't looking forward to it but are reasonably happy that it can be done. The foam has to be cut away from behind the tiles though, thus ruining any insulating properties. Our customer was happy for this to be done.

 

[SolarCity]

Sounds like a nightmare. Hangar bolts aren't an option either. Frustratingly, the customer wouldn't let us put a ladder up to the roof to try and move the tiles so I'm pricing this one in the dark.

Any idea how the roofers plan on cutting the foam away?

 

[edexlab]

We've done one of these and our roof guy used Hanger bolts , Why are'nt they an option ?,Also sounds like customer might be difficult

 

[JulianC]

Any idea how the roofers plan on cutting the foam away?

No idea, but I'm on a job with them on Thursday so will try and remember to ask them. It is unlikely you'd be able to move the tiles as this stuff just glues them together into one solid mass.

Hanger bolts aren't an option for us either - at work, opportunities to discuss, think about and try alternatives are few and far between these days. We've got hooks, so we're using hooks :-(

 

[SolarCity]

We've done one of these and our roof guy used Hanger bolts , Why are'nt they an option ?,Also sounds like customer might be difficult

Most of the roof isn't accessible from the loft. I couldn't think of a way of ensuring I hit the timber in the centre without drilling out from the loft first.

 

[edexlab]

Ive been thinking of the same problem and had a look for a drill hole locator this is a gadget which one person could hold in loft against rafters and another person on roof uses the other part to mark out joists i did find one 25 quid and will work thru stone to 200mm
just have to order one and try it out

 

[SolarCity]

Couldn't the person in the loft just drill straight through the timber and through the tile? Not a possibility in this case as access to the loft is very limited.

 

[noidea]

I have fitted thermal panels on rooves with spray foam insulation and let me tell you it takes as long to remove the insulation as it does to do virtually the rest of the roof. It is possible to remove the tiles by basically digging away at the insulation with a chisel or something similar. It needs to be agreed with the customer 1st of course. If I ever get another job with it on then I will add another £200 for my trouble. Horrible stuff

 

[SolarCity]

Thanks for the info, fellas. I think I'm going to have to put a little bit on this job.....

 

[JulianC]

Righty, first day on this job today. Roofers chiselled away at the foam and managed to get it off the back of the tiles reasonably easily. However, the stuff has seeped into all the gaps and joins between tiles (pantiles) and they still won't budge - the bloody things are glued in solid. Nightmare. The result is that after 2-3 hours of wrestling with the stuff and still not being able to get a tile out, we are having a load of hanger bolts delivered to site in the morning!

 

[SolarCity]

Jesus... that does sound like a nightmare. I've sent the price off for ours now. I think I'll pay him a visit if we win the job and try and work out a solution.

 

[JulianC]

You might get lucky. The stuff we were up against was like that expanding foam you can buy in an aerosol - very good adhesive properties!! Apparently there are other types of spray-on loft insulation with different consistencies. Hopefully, if you come up against one of these, they might be less glue-like.

On the plus side, our first use of hanger bolts was a great success and we've finished the job a day early. Since the first course of roof tiles overhung the eaves slightly they escaped the spray foam attack in the loft, so we were able to slide them up and identify the run of the rafters easily without having to drill any pilot holes from within the loft.

 

[SolarCity]

Glad it went ok in the end. I'm not looking forward to doing our install, if we win the job. Locating the joists for hangar bolts would be a nightmare.