Insulation for under the floor boards on 1st floor

jig

I am decorating one of the rooms in the house and lifting off the carpet to reveal the floor boards. At the same time Im hoping to lift some of the boards and place some insulation underneath.

What is the best type of insulation to do this?Where from? How expensive?

To make this even more challenging im hoping to push the insulation accross under the floor to the next room hence insulating under both rooms.

How easy is this to do?

Under the room next door is the kitchen which has halogen lighting fitted. Is there a special type of insualtion for this?How do I avoid covering the hot lamps?

Thanks in advance

jig

Forgot to add I want to add the insualtion not just for heat saving purpose but to acting as a sound barrier as currently when people wlak above sounds like they are stamping there feet!

lush_walrus

100mm of mineral wool will do the job for both acoustic and thermal. With acoustic insulation the thing to remember is that sound passes through whichever point is of the least resistance, so making sure that all joints in plasterboard etc are sealed is key.

Try Kingspan, thats who I normally specify.

grumbler

For sume ideas regarding noise insulation look here: http://www.soundservice.co.uk/Soundproofing%20Materials.htm

With regard to lights read this recent thread: Do i need fire hood with 12v down lighters? ...

lush_walrus

Oh forgot to add earlier, another solution may be to get acoustic boarding which you can place ontop of the floor boards, but under the carpet / flooring. This is very good for impact sound (which reading again sounds like your problem) rather than airborne.

tomstickland

Polystyrene sheets are slightly better than mineral wool at insultating (aka insulating) and much less of a health hazard, though you can buy the wool sealed into "sleeping bags" now.

Poppycat

Kingsspan is good, I sue it for insulation between the roof slates and the beams in the lofs, its light. This site may give you some ideas

http://www.soundreduction.co.uk/9.html