Insulation, Radiant and Vapor Barriers - Insulation of Roof

Good Day to everybody. The top floor of my 3 storey building has an earth tile roof which is very hot in summers and very cold in winters.The local professionals are a bit out of my range. I wonder if someone could tell me how to do it myself. The roof also leaks sometimes in heavy rains.

Well, my first suggestion is you will probably need to fix all leaks before you go and insulate.

Secondly, is why do you wanna insulate your attic space?? Is it b/c you wanna put a room up there??

Third, do you have soffit vents, ridge vents, gable vents??? Also what size are your rafters? 2x4, 2x6, 2x8??

This is some info people will need to help you out and tell you how to do it. To start out, you will probably need rafter vents. They are styrofoam and they get stapled in between your rafters to allow air to flow between the roof and the rafter vents.

Hi Noorullah, The insulation thread doesn't get a lot of attention this time of year. Comes september they will start to worry about the cold.

Let's see if I can help. Pictures would help a lot as I am not familiar with your style of construction. Post them at photobucket.com and them post the link over here.

An earth tile roof, may be what I call a clay tile roof. And as DIYplank stated, you should solve the leak problem first. Describe, or pictures, what you have for space below the roof to add insulation. Add describe/pictures what you have or can install for ventillation. From what I found on your weather, snow is not a problem, just a little cool, but heat must be a real issue.

What do you have for materials? any rigid foam panels?
What you are going to want to do is seperate the solar heat on the roof from the living space below. Then provide some form of ventillation to exhaust that heat to the outside and replace it with average outdide air. Then provide some form of insulation to slow the heat transfer down through that barrier. Do you air condition. If not, there are some innovative ways to reduce the temperatures. I'll go into those if you are interested.

Let me know,
Bud

Hi diyplank and Bud9051. Thanks for replies. The roof in reference is a flat one. Along the width of the roof, iron girders have been used and along the length, iron angles have been used. The clay tiles have been seated resting on the angles with cement plaster on top. As such no vents or ridges have been employed. The strong sunlight in our region hits the cement surface on top and heat is conducted and disseminated in the room below. The house is lying vacant for sometime and I would like to make it habitable, renovate and offer for rent. Ofcourse I am going to stop the leakage first before going ahead with the insulation. I am trying to post pics of the roof both from inside and fromn the top.

Hi Noorullah, pictures will help, from the outside as well. Reducing the heat transfer in a hot climate starts on the outside. Shading and reflective surfaces re-direct the solar heat before you have to deal with it on the inside. Of course I haven't seen your building so I'm not sure what can or cannot be accomplished, just going through the steps.

Once the roof heats up, it will transfer the heat by way of radiant energy, conduction, and convection of hot air. Once we see what you have for space, and budget, we can suggest options. They will range from massive amounts of insulation, $$$, to multiple layers of reflective material combined with some ventilation. But venting can only move you towards the outside temperature. To get cooler than that, you will need insulation and a source of cold/cool air.

If water is abundant, evaporative cooling towers can help to reduce the surrounding area temps.

I'll wait for pictures.

Bud