DIYbanter - attic?

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hello
I am investigating a possible slight leak in the roof , how do I get in the
attic to investigate I can get a ladder and climb up but there is no
flooring and just insulation. Do I put boards on so I can stand while
looking , otherwise I will fall through the ceiling below.
any suggestions?
thanks

"Chucky D" writes:
hello
I am investigating a possible slight leak in the roof , how do I get in the
attic to investigate I can get a ladder and climb up but there is no
flooring and just insulation. Do I put boards on so I can stand while
looking , otherwise I will fall through the ceiling below.
any suggestions?

It's scary the first time if you've never worked an attic before, but
before long you'll be fine.

First, you don't need boards, although if you're up there for an
extended amount of time in a given location installing a celing fan
box or something, they might be helpful.

If you have a well insulated home, take a wood handled broom with ya
to sweep the insulation away, and also to put it back when yer done.

I also find Rubber knee protectors quite handy, and essential if there
isn't enough room to stand (watch out for roofing nails protruding
from the roof decking!).

Just stay on the rafters, and travel in a direction perpendicular to
the rafters. Hands and knees... the rafter spacing you might find is
conveniently such that your knee can be on one rafter, and the top of
your foot will be alongside the one behind it, and your hands in front
of ya, and you can crawl quite comfortably without freaking out.
Standing, just keep your feet on separate rafters and keep a hand on
something and you'll feel quite secure, and get the hang of it
assuming you have no medical problems with balance. If you're on your
hands and knees, it becomes pretty darned hard to fall through a
ceiling unless you're under 16" tall.

By all means be careful, but it's really not that bad. You just have
to get yer "attic legs" and stop thinking so much about there not
being any weight bearing surface between the rafters.

Best Regards,
--
Todd H.
http://www.toddh.net/

In alt.home.repair on Sun, 31 Jul 2005 22:27:49 -0400 "Chucky D"
posted:

hello
I am investigating a possible slight leak in the roof , how do I get in the
attic to investigate I can get a ladder and climb up but there is no
flooring and just insulation. Do I put boards on so I can stand while
looking , otherwise I will fall through the ceiling below.
any suggestions?
thanks

I think boards are a good idea.

Although one can stand on the joists, and even steady himself with his
hand up on a rafter, it gets tiring pretty quickly, and I personally
know one guy who fell through his ceiling. Not all the way, but
still. And I have a place where the tape between two pieces of
ceiling sheetrock is bulging. I once lost my footing. Didn't think I
put my weight on the sheetrock, but I guess I must have.

And if you're going to go up there again, you might as well make it
easy as soon as possible.

My maximum width through the trapdoor was 18 inches, so I took 4x8
sheets and cut them in thirds lengthwise, 16 inches wide. I think I
started with 2 sheets, 6 boards. That gave me 4 for the center and 2
to move around. Plus I've used some scrap wood from me and my
neighbor. (None of my neighbors use their attic at all afaik. I use it
for storage, although it got cold and my lava lamp broke. :) If I'd
realized it was filled with water and not lava I might not have put it
up there. :) )

Also watch where you put your head. The roofing nails come through.
When I had my roof replaced, he used longer nails yet, and I think
they may go past my natural limit on how close I let my head get to a
ceiling, so I'm thinking of wearing a hard hat up there. or at least
some sort of hat for early warning if not protection. Scalp wounds
really bleed, I hear. (Haven't been out of the center since then,
where it is higher than my head)

You can investigate, and if you do it when it's raining, I'm pretty
sure you'll find the leak. Even when not raining, you may find a
water stain. Darker wood? But I think it has to be repaired from the
outside.

The guy who sold me my house tried putting silicone up in the cone
surrounding the stovepipe chimney, but he didn't get it in far enough,
let alone stop all the paths the water could have taken. No one could
have. It made it easy for me, however, to know I had to recaulk (or
what do you call the black stuff that goes around a chimney) the base
of the chimney. It was also missing the collar that most of my
neighbors chimney's had, and that my own furnace chimney had.
Probably not your problem but ftr, that was hard to find. No one sold
one as big as my pipe (12 inches iirc) and I found only two places in
all of Baltimore and surrounding towns that sold a universal one. One
furnace supply store and one fireplace retail store, with a parts
departement. Only ~ten dollars and takes very little storage space.
Did other places have this but didn't want to sell to me? Had to be
trimmed a lot with tin snips before it would fit my pipe.

Meirman
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