Taking off an entire roof might sound like a nightmare situation, but with every cloud comes a silver lining. I replaced the insulation in my roof from the loft last year, but some areas of the house were inaccessible without raising roof tiles – such as the dining room and back bedroom. Lifting the tiles here meant I could get to those parts I couldn’t reach last year, making the house warmer and the heating bills a little smaller. But the bonuses didn’t end there. Unbeknownst to most people, there are a few components underneath roof tiles, which despite lasting a long time reach the end of their useful lives well before a clay roof tile. The most obvious example is underlay. I still have bituminous underlay up there, but I’ll replace it with modern breathable underlay that won’t only last longer, but will perform better too. By allowing the roof the breathe, this underlay reduces condensation and means you need less ventilation (and can therefore insulate much more effectively).

 

 

With the roof off – it also meant I could check for what the experts call ‘nail fatigue’ – ‘rust’ to you and I. Modern standards require aluminium nails that don’t rust, or even plastic clips, but many roofs will still have rusting nails up there. It’s worth a look because a rust problem can be the source of a whole heap of issues in the future.