insulating my loft ceiling.

steveowen100

Evening folks, i'm looking to insulate my loft ceiling as suggested. The existing ceiling has no felt, just slates held onto an old lime/plaster backing. During the winter the wind creates a hell of a draft, and of course every time i go up there i get covered in plaster as its coming away in lumps.

I was thinking of boarding it in some fashion, something cheap lile 1/4 inch ply but, i've just read about spray foam and wonder if this might be an optiion, i'd be looking to this myself.

Has anybody used the foam? can it be done as a diy.. i.e hiring the kit ?

any advice or alternatives would be great ...

thanks....

economiser

Years ago I did as you suggest using rockwool and heavy gauge plastic sheeting. Tried with ply initially but its was too difficuly too handle and cut, we have a pyramid shaped roof giving all sorts of horrid angles. Rotten job to do but it was very successful. Getting a bit tatty now and have seen the adverts for the foam so will be interested to see what replies you get.

rosiealice_2

Hi,

I have the same problem and have been advised to use Super Quilt insulation which is a multi-layer insulation blanket which comes on a roll. Strangely enough I started a thread this afternoon asking if anyone knew where I could obtain this at the best possible price.

27col

Why do you want to insulate the loft ceiling. Are you proposing to use the loft? If not, it is pointless to insulate the ceiling. The loft floor,yes!! All you are doing is to add a large volume of space into which heat can rise from the rooms below. If you have a problem with roof slates, and it sounds as if you have, it would seem that the best thing to do would be to use the foam. It is not insulation that you need under the tiles, but some sort of mechanical fixing. The foam would provide this mechanical fixing, and also fill the holes though which the wind is blowing. The real answer is to get the roof re-slated, but presumably the cost rules this out for you.

gfrdl

I have the same situation in my loft - the draughts through the tiles can be considerable at times. I note the comments about insulation below the tiles still allowing heat to rise into the void. I had considered using insulation boards between the joists - something like Kinspan. This would stop the draught, is highly insulating for its thickness and easier to handle than rolls. However it can be expensive - I found it on the well known net auction site this week at much better prices.
Any comments appreciated.

Sponge

What exactly are you trying to achieve here? Removing drafts? Insulation? Reducing debris/dust?

If the loft is frequently used and you want to (attempt to) control the temperature within it, then applying some insulating material inbetween or over the rafters may help. If the floor is already insulated, all you're achieving is insulating the loft-space, as 27col says. If you want to improve insulation for the rooms below, then just increase the amount of insulation on the floor of the loft-space. However, if the floor is (semi)boarded so you can use the area for storage, this will obviously be a problem.

Having a draft in the roof space is not necessarily a problem. In fact, you need air circulation up there to prevent mositure problems, e.g. rot. Assuming your bedroom ceilings are intact, then the only place I can imagine such a draft being an issue is in/around your loft-hatch. This should be straight forward to fix.

If the cement holding the tiles is coming away then I'd suggest you need it looking at and fixing. Simply covering it up is only hiding the problem and potentionally creating more.

If you decide to continue on your path of covering the ceiling of the loft-space, then here are some options:

Foil backed bubble wrap

With the above, if you decide to board over it, e.g. plasterboard, you have to make sure there is an air gap between it and the board. So this will require the fixing of battens over the bubble wrap. The bubble wrap can simply be stapled over the rafters.

A more expensive option, but allowing wood to breathe is:

Breathable Roof Membrane

Another option is to simply staple heavy-duty paper, the sort of stuff you might wrap parcels in, across the rafters. This will prevent dust/debris from falling on your head (it should still drop down to the bottom, open end. You don't want it building up and getting heavier and heavier above the paper) and also redirect the draft away from you. Added to this, if your roof develops a leak, it will instantly be noticeable as a wet patch. You're therefore getting warning there is a problem and it needs fixing. If you cover the area with something else, you might not notice any leak for quite some time and it could get worse and worse, costing more to fix.

gfrdl

I am grateful for your thoughts to clarify exactly what is being done - insulation or preventing draughts. Because we have functional rooms inthe loft we need some of both. The breathable membrane and conventional insulation on the loft floor sounds wise. A friend advised me to use white breathable membrane across joinsts and make the loft space lighter - available at B+Q

tarren

steveowen100 wrote: »

Evening folks, i'm looking to insulate my loft ceiling as suggested. The existing ceiling has no felt, just slates held onto an old lime/plaster backing. During the winter the wind creates a hell of a draft, and of course every time i go up there i get covered in plaster as its coming away in lumps.

I was thinking of boarding it in some fashion, something cheap lile 1/4 inch ply but, i've just read about spray foam and wonder if this might be an optiion, i'd be looking to this myself.

Has anybody used the foam? can it be done as a diy.. i.e hiring the kit ?

any advice or alternatives would be great ...

thanks....

Why don't you fix a rigid insulation between your rafters, it's silver foiled backed and very easy to cut and fix, any buiders merchant will stock it. Todays building regs insist on it, roofs and walls.

kje_2

If you do attach boards to your rafters then make sure that you screw them to the rafters and not nail them. If using a breathable membrane then you could use a large staple gun. Whatever you do just make sure that you aren't bashing the rafters as tiles on older roofs can be dislodged quite easily.

jupiterblue

Anybody insulating the loft must also take a close look at the hatch. Even with a huge 200mm thick insulation, 20% of heat in the landing or bedroom can still be lost through a poorly insulated and leaky loft hatch.

If you have an old timber hatch, fit EPS type door seals and stick insulation on the back. Better still buy a premade one from one of the many manufacturers, for example:

http://www.jupiterblue.co.uk/category/1

http://www.accessbuildingproducts.co.uk/lofthatches.html

Etc

economiser

tarren wrote: »

Why don't you fix a rigid insulation between your rafters, it's silver foiled backed and very easy to cut and fix, any buiders merchant will stock it. Todays building regs insist on it, roofs and walls.

It's very expensive compared with rockwool though.