Loft insulation

alex_the_great_2

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The house we have moved into has quite a large loft space which has not been touched for many years. The previous owners put boards on top of the insulation so that you can walk around.

I checked what depth the insulation was and found that it is only 150mm or so. I have seen that the government recommends about 300mm.

The problem is that the space between the floor and the boards is only 150mm so I can't physically cram in 300mm worth of insulation.

I thought there was be some kind of "thin" insulation that is only 150mm thick but has the same qualities as the 300mm stuff. I have seen the "space bag" from various DIY outlets but I'm not sure if this does what I need.

I would like to undertake this myself so any outlets or on-line stores that anyone knows of would be a great help.

cattie

When I had my loft insulated last year prior to it being boarded, the guy doing the job used a product called Artec double which he ordered from Screwfix.

It was very quick & easy for him to lay.

Wig

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=202226

I wouldn't worry too much about what the gov say. It used to be 100mm then 150mm then 8year ago it was 200, now its 300. but it's not always practical to have 300mm because you can't store anything up there.

Coveredinbees!!!!

I put loads of thick stuff around the edges and up the end of my loft I can't get to easily (chimneys in the way), then 150 mm in the middle and put 8X2 chip board on top of that. For extra insulation on the boarded area I used old carpet then stored all my old rubbish on the carpet. All that old junk must provided some insulation I should think.

If you wanted to put even more insulation up you could put some between the roof joists then cover it in hardboard.

Just a tip the loft boards sold in DIY shops are normally 4x1 but as I'm tight I used 8 X 2 boards as they were cheaper but I nearly hung myself in the process of getting them up into the loft when I got my head trapped between the board and the loft hatch. My advice is buy the loft boards.

ScoobieGirl

Coveredinbees!!!! wrote:

If you wanted to put even more insulation up you could put some between the roof joists then cover it in hardboard.

Yes, some DIY shops will do the solid rectangular sections which are a lot easier to fit. Although if your loft is vented this approach might not be so useful.

The space bags are I believe just normal insulation covered in foil primarily to stop any skin irritation during insulation I don't think they are significantly more effective.

BenL

Cheers Cattie, found the stuff on screwfix.

Its Airtec though.

Ben

Mikeyorks

alex_the_great wrote:

The problem is that the space between the floor and the boards is only 150mm so I can't physically cram in 300mm worth of insulation.

You can lift the boarding - put additional timbers across the joints - add more insulation and then re-board across the new 'joists'! But is it worth it? And bear in mind the boarding must contribute to the insulation - although others always seem to argue that.

Isn't the boarding only in the good headroom bit? So can't you beef up the insulation in the other areas. 'Tis what I've done, when faced with the same problem.

Post #2 mentioned a thin insulation. Screwfix sell this :-

http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/sea/searchresults.jsp?_dyncharset=UTF-8&howMany=5&searchText=loft+insulation

....... and you could put it under the 150mm under the boards? But it isn't cheap - and it's going to get a trifle messy lifting the boards and insulation, first. Not to say itchy!!

Mikeyorks

BenL wrote:

Cheers Cattie, found the stuff on screwfix.

Its Airtec though.

Ben

Wouldn't it be less confusing for all of us - and particularly for you - if you used the same username as for the OP ????:rolleyes:

alex_the_great_2

Thanks to you all for your comments, I'm just about to go to the screwfix website.