What's Between Brownstone top floor Ceiling and Roof?

I have a very drafty ceiling on the top floor of a 100 year old brownstone. Cooling the room is a nightmare. There are 11″ between the bottom of this ceiling and the top of the flat rubber roof above. Can anyone lend any insight as to what’s likely between this ceiling and the roof? Ancient insulation? Crawl space?

Here are pictures: http://imgur.com/a/YsdBasf

I’m thinking about using wood putty and caulking to seal the gaps between many of the ceiling boards to reduce the draftiness and improve heating/cooling.

emily.abruzzo

in General Discussion 4 years and 9 months ago

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JohnHancock | 4 years and 9 months ago

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Heating in winter must fly out the ceiling as well. Unless you’re in love with the beam look I personally would insulate the area between the beams with insulation bats then attach at least 1/2″ sheetrock to the beams and seal it tight, and probably roughly skimcoat the bricks between you and your neighbors before that

shahnandersen

in General Discussion 4 years and 9 months ago

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Not really my expertise, but I assume one would use construction adhesive and maybe a few laminating drywall screws to hold it until the adhesive fully sets. I would think 1/4″ drywall would be adequate and would be much easier to work with than thicker sheets. Just be sure to check with someone knowledgeable before you do this.

emily.abruzzo | 4 years and 9 months ago

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bobjbkln- there is no such roof hatch- I suspect there may have been a different layout once upon a time, because the current roof access hatch was clearly put in within the last 20-30 years. I didn’t want to use drywall because I have to do this work on my own for the time being. How would you fasten the drywall to the ceiling boards?

I may go that route next year if I don’t like the look of painted caulk/foam.

emily.abruzzo | 4 years and 9 months ago

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bobjbkln- there is no such roof hatch- I suspect there may have been a different layout once upon a time, because the current roof access hatch was clearly put in within the last 20-30 years. I didn’t want to use drywall because I have to do this work on my own for the time being. How would you fasten the drywall to the ceiling boards?

I may go that route next year if I don’t like the look of painted caulk/foam.

landlord | 4 years and 9 months ago

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had blown insulation installed in my brownstone’s crawl space. made a big difference on heating costs. also installed to vents on the roof.

shahnandersen

in General Discussion 4 years and 9 months ago

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I assume that you don’t have a roof hatch with an entryway that passes through that space that you could look to see what is there. In any case, why don’t you just laminate sheetrock directly to the ceiling boards between the joists. That should stop the drafts as well as the dropped ceiling in the other room.

emily.abruzzo | 4 years and 9 months ago

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Thanks I’ll check out spray sealant in addition to the caulking. I’m optimistic it’ll make a significant difference because the adjacent room is consistently 10 degrees cooler just as a result of its finish. The hot air seems just to come through the cracks in the boards, so I suspect there is some type of (asbestos?) insulation in that space.

I was originally thinking putting white finish thermax between the joists, but it’s impossibly hard to get in the city afaik. Would polyiso be doable on the flat rubber/silver asphalt sealed roof? Is that something a roofer can just add the next time they seal it without creating leaking/drainage risks?

emily.abruzzo | 4 years and 9 months ago

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Thanks I’ll check out spray sealant in addition to the caulking. I’m optimistic it’ll make a significant difference because the adjacent room is consistently 10 degrees cooler just as a result of its finish. The hot air seems just to come through the cracks in the boards, so I suspect there is some type of (asbestos?) insulation in that space.

I was originally thinking putting white finish thermax between the joists, but it’s impossibly hard to get in the city afaik. Would polyiso be doable on the flat rubber/silver asphalt sealed roof? Is that something a roofer can just add the next time they seal it without creating leaking/drainage risks?

GreenThinker | 4 years and 9 months ago

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There usually is a 2+ foot crawl space. It seems to me like this house was either never constructed with this crawl space, and it’s just joists and boards, with god knows what between them, with your roof on top. Or someone in the past removed the crawlspace to raise the ceiling height in the apartment.

I wouldn’t recommend wood putty, it would just crack. Foam spray sealant and caulking is better. But it won’t be a huge improvement, and certainly won’t make the space more comfortable. Best long term solution is putting 4 inches of polyiso foam board on the roof.