ᐅ Insulation of the roof with insulation wool installed between the rafters

Created on: 26 Jan 2016 09:29
R
Robigo
Hello!
We are currently in the process of insulating our roof.
Yesterday, we partially removed the old insulation from the inside to get a better understanding of the structure.
The house is about 50 years old. The roof assembly consists of:
1. Roof tiles
2. Battens
3. Overlapping horizontal bitumen membrane
4. Currently, insulation wool directly attached to the bitumen membrane, without any ventilation gap
5. A vapor barrier foil that was not airtight

While removing the insulation wool, I noticed that the bitumen membranes are damp on the inside (this is called "not vapor-permeable" in technical terms, I believe). The insulation wool is also somewhat damp on the outer side (which is understandable). However, the rafters are still dry.

My question is: in a construction like this, do we need to install a ventilation gap, meaning a space between the bitumen membrane and the insulation wool?

I am planning to use 14 cm (5.5 inches) thick insulation with a thermal resistance of about 0.032 W/m·K. The rafters are also approximately 14 cm (5.5 inches) deep. On top of this, I was thinking of adding battens of about 3 cm (1.2 inches) in thickness to create a ventilation space.

Would this be a suitable approach?

Of course, an airtight vapor barrier foil will be installed on the inside, hopefully more effective than the current one.

Thank you for your advice.

Best regards,
Robert
R
Robigo
26 Jan 2016 12:57
Oh, and which vapor barrier or vapor retarder should be used? Is there a standard for this? I've heard something about a 100-micron (0.1mm) foil...