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Ceiling for cistern under front porch

5K views 3 replies 2 participants last post by  T-Bar 
#1 ·
Hi everyone,

I have an 80 year old house in Southern Ontario that had fully working cistern at one time. The cistern is no longer used to collect water because at some point a door way through the basement foundation was put in. The cistern sits underneath our front porch that is covered.

Currently the ceiling for the cistern that sits underneath the wood floor of the front porch is basic styrofoam, which has be taken out as it has mold growing on it. We want to finish/insulate the inside of the cistern for additional storage.

My initial plan is to smooth the walls out and glue rigid foam insulation to the walls to allow for maximum usage of the space. But I need to put a ceiling up that would site underneath the floor of the front porch, which is pressure treated wood. I know I would have to insulate the ceiling of the cistern but I do not know what I can use for a ceiling.

Depending on the way the wind is blowing a bit of rain or snow does make its way onto the front porch, so the ceiling needs to be able to get a little wet. It has never gotten wet enough that water has soaked through the styrofoam that is currently up as a ceiling.

Any ideas what I can use for a ceiling?

This is our first house so I am expert DIYer at this point. I do not want to rip up the front porch in order to put a ceiling on, this would be done from the inside of the cistern.

Thanks
 
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#3 ·
Ayuh,... How much space is between the top of concrete, 'n bottom of the floor joists,..??

Maybe heavy roofing paper to shed the water off the concrete under the joists,...
Then framed it wood 'n plywood to hold it up in place,..??

If room allows,...
Sheet metal roofing over top, 'n do whatever ya want under it.....
 
#4 ·
Ayuh,... How much space is between the top of concrete, 'n bottom of the floor joists,..??

Maybe heavy roofing paper to shed the water off the concrete under the joists,...
Then framed it wood 'n plywood to hold it up in place,..??

If room allows,...
Sheet metal roofing over top, 'n do whatever ya want under it.....
Not sure at this point as there is currenly white styrofoam acting as the roof.

So maybe just create a ceiling/roof with plywood and heavy roofing paper? Then glue the rigid foam to the underside of the plywood?
 
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