In tonight's episode of "what other surprises have we discovered?" I bring you the following.
Lifted some of the remaining boards and discovered some more mould underneath, I wasn't expecting it here.
This is above a different bathroom which doesn't have an extractor installed. That's a later job.....
Questionable wiring aside, here's where the moisture was getting in - through a small hole in the ceiling above the light fitting. It's amazing that so much moisture could permeate through the insulation but stands to reason as warm does move to cold air.
This is a bit of an odd find - an old box of matches with it's corner a bit chewed, still quite a few matches inside too.
Lift the insulation around it to reveal a lair.
The little critters have been stealing the insulation from the pipes and dragging it here to chew and break up for bedding. The matches might have been a bit extreme to get warm though.
Maybe removing the pipe insulation was part of their plan - to make the pipes freeze and burst thus putting out any fire. Mice are smart. And stupid. And soon dead.
Also note the lack of insulation here - the previous owners only laid two layers of what looks to be 50mm insulation. This is different from the stuff elsewhere oddly as well as foil backed plasterboard.
Cleaned that side up only to find the the side next to it was just as bad, plus had other things such as the ends of copper pipes, nails and crap.
I believe this has been here a long time. There's only one water pipe in the loft and it's such a short run plus it's insulation is intact, so I think this was from when there was a header tank in the loft which is long gone.
Needless to say I'll be setting up some traps just in case there's any more mice thinking about taking up winter residence in the loft.
