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Heating & Air Conditioning The Old House Remodeling

unvented flat roof insulation

4 years ago

I'm in San Diego, my older house which I just bought into needs a new roof. I was thinking when that is being done, I could get the sheathing removed and spray a 1" closed cell foam above the living space. Is this acceptable? Does it even matter given the climate? I grew up in in NJ so I'm always very aware of how much heat gets lost through an in insulated roof.

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Comments (4)

User
4 years ago
You don’t remove sheathing. Its structural. An unvented attic with spray foam at the roof line is a superior method for insulation.
Tom Blich
Original Author
4 years ago
Temporarily removing the sheathing (roof deck). Don’t want to remove the plaster and lathe ceiling to coat the underside of the roof deck.
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Charles Ross Homes
4 years ago
Hi, Tom,

In commercial/industrial applications, flat roofs are often insulated on the exterior side of the roof deck prior to the application of a waterproof membrane. Ask your roofer about what they've found to work best in your area.
socalgal_gw Zone USDA 10b Sunset 24
4 years ago
I can”t comment on your proposed method, but we are very happy that we put insulation into our attic space in San Diego.

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