r/DIYUK • u/Captain_Hesperus • 15h ago
Advice Oddities in my attic
I bought my maisonette a couple of years ago and I’ve decided to board out the attic, so I finally got up there to measure it and found two apparently plumbed in radiators, four double-gang plug sockets and four what appears to be vents which have been poorly taped over. Could anyone shed some light on what it could be?
Extra background on what I know about the previous owner. He was an elderly man previously involved in the commercial fishing business and sold up when he couldn’t live independently. Just in case anyone thinks it might be the remnants of a grow house.
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u/Appropriate-Year-81 15h ago
Maybe a train room? Or he had a grow room
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u/Soluchyte Tradesman 15h ago
The vents are speaking grow room to me, it's not impossible he just didn't get caught.
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u/HelloLucrehulk 13h ago
Easier to smash into the chimney
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u/Soluchyte Tradesman 13h ago
Some people are a bit less dumb than that. He could have just been growing for himself and his mates as a hobby.
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u/Flyinmanm 14h ago
I'd be concerned about a rad up in the loft leaking/ bursting a pipe in the middle winter personally.
That and just being a massive waste of energy. That insulation's also really thin in the ceiling.
Putting a 200mm layer over would probably save you a lot in heating, that and decomissioning that rad and cutting back those pipes/ making sure they are deep under the insulation.
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u/Captain_Hesperus 10h ago
I am planning on lagging the pipes and wrapping some thermal blankets over the rads until I can do something about them.
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u/idiotsparky 11h ago
Stops your pipes freezing if you get a severely cold night. Spend a few quid on some rolls of foil insulation and a stapler and it'll pay for itself
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u/enchantedspring 7h ago
Just a note that foil insulation primarily reduces radiant heat and wouldn't be the best here (by value)
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u/Davidacious 14h ago
I think what you have there is just the early stages of a long term DIY project to board out the loft, apply some I sulation to the roof, and use it as an attic storage room. If previous owner was getting new heating or wiring in it probably made sense to get the loft bit done at the same time. The vents are probably an old bathroom extractor route that has been rerouted to clear the space. All quite handy really if you are likely to use the space yourself. That's not grow room bodges, it has clearly been done properly at some stage.
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u/AndyFranklin 14h ago
We did the same, in preparation of a loft conversion down the line. We were already redoing full central heating and a full rewire so made sense to make sure we had the pipework routed easily to prevent having to repair any finished rooms below.
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u/Time_Leg_420 15h ago
So I help a friend clear the attic for his dad who had sadly died a couple of years back. The attic was all bare brick and open floor like this, except a few boards here are there, but had heating and electrics and a small hole in the roof. The dad was an amateur radio enthusiast in the 50s or 60s - there was a chair, desk, and a lot of old radio equipment including big ariels to stick through the roof. In the days before the internet and before phones were common, people used to chat with strangers over the radio in the UK. Not sure if that's what you've found, but maybe?
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u/aptsys 14h ago
People still do HAM radio you know? 😩
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u/George_Salt 13h ago
Yup, and if anything happens to my my wife is going to be extremely puzzled about all the wires and antennas in the part of the loft beyond the attic room.
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u/innsyflares 4h ago
I noticed (I think) that the radiator in the pic has no thermostat? I have three like this on my system, they act as heat dumps for the dual fuel system I have (gas and solid fuel). Do you have a similar system?
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u/erbstar 14h ago
If it was used to grow weed, or used for anything really, then at least a section of floor would have to have been boarded.
My guess is that he was having the house updated at some point and got the electric and rad installed up there to make it easier to turn into a loft conversion in the future
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u/erbstar 13h ago
Yes, I know it's plumbed in. My point was that the old owner was possibly having central heating installed and his wiring done. If the rad was drained and turned off the water would bypass it. If not then OP would have had burst pipes already.
It was just an idea. Tbh I'm going with a grow. Maybe his kids or grand kids had a grow there and they removed any obvious signs before it was sold. There's zero need to have extractors that I can think of other than dumping hot air from a grow in the summer
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u/Dependent_Beat4999 15h ago
The vents probably were for extractor fans which might now go through the soffits?
Sockets and rads could be for anything but presumably something they wanted to keep warm like birds perhaps? Definitely odd. No point heating a cold roof as the heat just leaves easily.
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u/harryr9000 7h ago
Your attic looks so much like mine (minus the radiator) I actually did a double take. Ex council per chance? With the little wavy style bricks on the outside?
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u/No-Upstairs-7001 13h ago
Radiator probably to keep damp away with the felt stuff to stop dust and the vet pipe from an old soil stack or fan vent
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u/longassballzz 12h ago
Listening to this may give you the answer...
Tom Wrigglesworth's Hang-Ups S3E2 Madman in the Attic (BBC Radio 4, 2015)
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u/autofill-name 15h ago
I've got one of those pipes going out the roof. I think it's from an old boiler. Maybe they planned to convert it at some point, but never got around to finishing.
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u/Global-Piece3736 6h ago
We have similar in our roof with an old asbestos pipe coming from the boiler cupboard that used to be in the middle of the house.
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u/ilms 14h ago
I have a couple of those vents in my roof for actual ventilation, they drip sometimes so that's probably why someone sealed it up.
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u/EventualContender 12h ago
Can also have birds drop moss and branches into them. Might be just to catch dirt.
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u/Slow_Animator_7241 14h ago
How long have you been living there? A customer had simular when she moved into her new home, The old tenants had illegally used the loft as a bedroom, I just removed the rad for her left the electrics as they come in handy for lights
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u/Captain_Hesperus 14h ago
Lived here two years, only half the loft has boards which I’m going to lift to replace the insulation
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u/dorset_is_beautiful 11h ago
You've lived there two years and this is the first time you've looked in the attic?! 😲
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u/Captain_Hesperus 10h ago
No, this is the first time I’ve had the time and funds to clear the previous owner’s leftover crap in the attic. He left lots of junk up there.
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u/dorset_is_beautiful 9h ago
Fair enough, a friend had something similar, the loft was rammed to the rafters with the previous people's crap, I'm not sure if they ever fully cleared it or left it all up there for the next person!
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u/Captain_Hesperus 9h ago
Yes, I bought it as is and the estate agent said they’d not got a loft ladder (complete lie, they just couldn’t find the loft hook to go up there). I’ve already cleared out a ton of old junk cluttering the space.
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u/robbieshaft 13h ago
What’s directly under the vents on the floor? Vent from bathroom maybe but I doubt it
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u/Captain_Hesperus 10h ago
No, there’s no connection between the bathroom and the attic. The bathroom has its own through-wall vent
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u/alexisappling 7h ago
Maybe it was already boarded once? Who on earth puts a radiator in a room which doesn’t have a floor?
Also, what is a maisonette? Is it just a nice name for a flat?
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u/BarryGetsAbout 6h ago
Maisonette is an older term given to a flat with it's own external front door. They were typically either converted from a house or built alongside existing houses, generally originally council / social housing back in the day.
You'd typically get an upstairs maisonette or a downstairs maisonette - in some cases a property with more than one level but above a shop would be called a maisonette as well (split-level maisonette)
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u/Solid_Half2141 5h ago
Oddly enough, for some unfathomable reason, commercial Trawlers have been involved in drug smuggling forra verra long time ... 😉
In reality ...
The model train layout idea is actually pretty convincing ...
And ... it may have simply been a future proofing excercise, with unfulfilled plans to utilise the space.
I agree that the insulation looks poor, and ensure that the radiators are isolated, possibly need drained (I'm really not sure what you'd do in a freeze!) Thermal blankets may be a good idea until you find out
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u/it00 14h ago
Do you have a jacketed log burner or coal fire with a back boiler?
These are usually connected to vented hot water cylinders with a thermostat to switch on the heating pump. This dumps heat to prevent it boiling over.
T
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u/Captain_Hesperus 14h ago
Nothing like that, I have a combi-boiler in the kitchen.
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u/Even-Translator-335 12h ago
Some setups require an always on radiator even with a combi, might have been placed there for that purpose
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u/Virtual_Pay_6108 14h ago
The brown sack on the loft is meant to look a wasp nest to stop other wasps makeing nests .
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u/Eastern_Cow_6810 5h ago
This is the dumbest thing I’ve read all week. Not even actual wasps nests prevent new ones from being started, so how is the presence of something brown supposed to do this?
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u/DickensCide-r 15h ago
Could it be that the boiler used to be up there and they've moved it (and for some reason replaced it with a radiator)?
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u/Hovawhat 13h ago
I would just be aware that the vent from what could have been a gas fire may be an asbestos flue. As long as it is fine staying there then it’s all good, but just could be a possibility.
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u/Striking_Ad1630 3h ago
Solar thermal (water heating) systems need a heat dump to avoid boiling on very sunny days. It's common to achieve this with a radiator in the loft. Is your rad actually connected to the boiler circuit?
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u/Altruistic_Form_9808 12h ago
He had a hobby he liked doing up there, like model trains would be my guess. He needed the power. It was stifling hot in summer so he had a portable air con which he routed through that vent. And cold in winter, so he plumbed in the rads (waste of money as the heat will go straight through the roof). I have a loft space and I’ve done similar things (not trains) except for the rads but I have considered insulating the roof.
it’s a nice space. Grow house, bollocks.