# Damp and Mould on Cathedral Ceiling



## LeRouret (Dec 28, 2021)

Hello.
We bought a house in France and clearly have condensation problems in the lounge/roof.

The lounge is big - 7m X 6m - and has what the Frogs call a "Cathedral Ceiling".

There is no "loft" space in the lounge, just plasterboard, minimal insulation in places and then "roman" tiles.

Note - the way roofs are done here a somewhat different to the UK - our roman tiles/roof is very typical in the south of France. House built 1970.

Attached are various pictures and a graphic of how the tiles are put together on the roof - only the first row and last row of tiles are fixed...the remaining are just placed with no fixation.

The slope of the roof is fairly steep...see piccy with Christmas tree










You can see the minimal insulation with the inspection camera image - this is by the windows where the condensation is worse - presumably because warm air meeting the cold plasterboard and this is where the minimal/none insulation is.

Our heating is reversible air-con so not sure how this helps with lounge humidity and condensation.

Some advice on how to remedy this ?

I can take all the tiles off for access - as stated, they are not fixed - except first and last row.

I want to keep the existing plasterboard.

And can't even lower the ceiling for more insulation as it will fail building regs.

Between tiles and plasterboard the gap is approx. 10 cm.

Thanks in advance.


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## RooferE (Jan 10, 2022)

I know this might not be a proper fix but just an idea, perhaps purchase a dehumidifier to condition the small space somehow. Overall it seems like a minor mold issue, if you recently bought the house its possible for a couple weeks or months it wasn't being air conditioned which allowed the mold to accumulate. Some of the paint that is chipping seems to not really be a mold issue as much as it is a failure of the paint. A good latex paint is less likely to do that. I would say spray some mold remediation spray over it and paint over it with a mold resistant latex paint or something. I'm no building scientist however. 

If after remediating the problem returns I would then consider finding a better solution such as removing some tiles and installing insulation.


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