Hi,

I have a 1885 house in PA which has a converted attic. There's a small covered hole in a closet, when opened reveals the uppermost area of the house which is a flat roof. I'd say the area is about 3 to 4 feet high and roughly 25-30 feet long with what looks to be blown in gray insulation and no vapor barrier. It gets really hot in the summer and fairly cold in the winter. I had a roofer put a couple of 2 inch diameter vents in the knee wall area of the room and a fan on the pitched part of the roof - which ended up not being located in the top more open section.
i am torn between just spreading more loose insulation in this area OR putting in a radiant barrier - but am concerned about moisture problems and if it is beneficial for this area's (pa) weather - or if it's a waste of $.

does anyone have opinions or suggestions??

Also - i am considering maybe adding another fan - possibly a solar powered one for the flat roof area, as i have little options for venting (the front area where you'd put a gable vent is covered by decorative tin)

anyway - thanks for any info or opinions. sometimes i wish i had a newer house with plain old drywall adn 2x4 studs...!

Raidant barriers do work, You just have to be sure that it has the ability of allowing vapor to transfer. Most do. Also this material needs to be placed on the rafters not directly on to the insulation. When you do this be careful that you do not block your ventilation.

thanks for the response!
That's the whole problem... there is hardly any ventilation. the roofer put a fan in the sloped rafter area (sorry - i don't know exact terms) so it's only connected to the top more open area by that one channel.
do you have any thoughts on adding a solar powered fan on the top flat roof?
thanks in advance!

while i'm on this topic...

i have another room up on the top floor which has no attic space. the room BTW is an A shape with a very steep pitch - and one side faces south.

when it was re-shingled, i got up and saw that it was basically large pieces of wood and under that, about a 5-6 inch space and then the plaster and lathe. on the inside, someone has put (on the south side) tongue and groove wood on the slanted ceiling and down the wall. There also seems to be a small amount of space in between the ceiling and wood - maybe an inch.

so here's my question... if i removed the tongue & groove paneling and laid a vapor barrier or perhaps the foam insulated panels w/ a vapor barrier attached, and then replace the tongue & groove wood, - would it do anything to help keep this room cooler - or since there's not a ton of room between wood and wall, would it defeat the purpose?

thanks for any info - - i've contacted some of the radiant barrier dealers, but feel like they are giving me one-sided info!