Loft boarding vs loft insulation

alanobrien · 16 December 2004 at 4:33AM

Probably a really stupid question.... If I boarded my loft out with those MDF plank things would this give me enough insulation to not bother putting loft insulation down?
Any ideas/thoughts welcomed?

No it wouldn't.
Its the air gap in the insualtion material that creates the insulating barrier not the thickness of the material.

I have heard of people putting 200 mm of insulation in a loft then compressing it down and boarding over it which is a waste of time and money.

Funny old world

Ripperoo · 16 December 2004 at 3:10PM

I have heard of people putting 200 mm of insulation in a loft then compressing it down and boarding over it which is a waste of time and money.

What about putting insulation material between the joists and boarding over the top (uncompressed of course) AND putting insulation material between the ratfters and boarding over them?

Would that be any good?

I urgently need some storage and was planning on boarding out the best part of the loft, but now it sounding like a bad idea (too bad I've already bought a heap of loft boards eh?

)

tricky_3 · 16 December 2004 at 3:59PM

It would be better to do just the latter of your two measures.

I would use a combination of rigid and mineral wool insulation. Say for example your rafters are 150mm deep. I would put 100mm mineral wool insualtion between the rafters and approx 50mm (depth depending on the type) rigid board insulation on the underside. Then a polythene vapour barrier then your plasterboard.

One thing you must do is maintain a 50mm air gap above the insulation AND make sure the air can get in it at the eaves. The only way to circumvent this is to remove your sarking felt and install a breathable membrane. However this would be a major job because you would have to entirely strip the roof.

You can then board out the loft and use it for storage (only) in the knowledge that the rubbish in the cardboard boxes wont rot cos its nice and warm.

Have a look at this site...

http://www.knaufinsulation.co.uk/output/solutions/page_216.html

cattie · 16 December 2004 at 9:59PM

I had my loft insulated & fully boarded a few months ago. I was advised to go for an insulation by the name of Airtec double. It's thin, foil backed & equivalent to 55mm of polystyrene insulation. It's available from Screwfix.

It works out a bit more than conventional insulation, but saved me having to have battens on the joists to enable the required airflow, which of course I would have to have paid the guy to do anyway. So I think was cost effective on that point. It was quick, easy & clean for the guy to lay. He was able to lay it over the existing insulation, which was far from adequate anyway.

tricky_3 · 17 December 2004 at 1:49PM

I dont think what you had done is the correct application, but anything is better than nothing i suppose......have a look at this......

http://www.ybsinsulation.com/airteccdryline.htm

cattie · 19 December 2004 at 4:06PM

Ooh, thanks for that Tricky, bloody expensive mistake I've made then. As this is what the carpenter recommended in preference to laying standard fibre insulation before he boarded the loft, I assumed he knew what he was talking about .

Is this going to be of any benefit to me at all insulation wise, or am I faced with the prospect of having to get someone to rip up all the loft boards & starting the whole job over again, but properly this time? It's already cost me over £800 to get done so far! Arggh.

tricky_3 · 20 December 2004 at 3:22PM

dont panic cattie......Although its not the use it was designed for, its still providing you with additional insulation. Further, if your criteria for the job was to:

board out the loft for storage only
not reduce the head room
upgrade the existing insulation
and
not add any significant loading to the existing joists...

then you would probably arrive at a solution similar to the one youve got.

If you want to use the loft for anything more than light storage, then you'd end up with a much bigger job

eilz · 30 August 2006 at 1:54PM

What about if you topped up the loft upto 250mm (recommended amount I belive) then put blocks on the ends to raise the original level and put the floor boards back on, this way you are not squashing the insulation. A friend of mine said I should think about putting a floor board with airholes in it, to help keep the rooms warmer?

Mark_Smith_5 · 27 January 2010 at 4:06PM

I recently did our loft out. I know there can be problems with permission of use but I have lots of friends who utilise their lofts and have not applied to building regs. Having said that, the building regulations are there for a reason and the safety of your home is hugely important. Especially if you use it for a kids playroom shrek101!

We decided to insulate our whole home to try to cut down on heating bills. We had some very dodgy advise too kissmekate! Just because someone is a 'builder' doesn't mean they know their stuff! You're best off with a registered company! It can be an expensive business if you go to the wrong place. We used The Mark Group. They have a scheme where you can apply for grant assisted insulation. We had our cavity walls done and it cut our costs dramatically. I wouldn't like to say how much as it was a year or so ago but our friends used them more recently and managed to get funding with their project too! Worth a look!

wallbash · 27 January 2010 at 5:08PM

Post revived after three years :eek:

Ist time poster recommends a firm :rotfl:

:spam:

Loft boarding vs loft insulation

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