Cheap loft insulation

Mary_Hartnell

MrBurns wrote: »

Far from getting a grant, our council has hit us with a demand of around £140 for building regs approval, to be allowed to upgrade our loft insullation!! They caught us as they came round to inspect when were recently having our roof re-tiled. Has no-one else falled foul of this, or managed to get around it?

You wicked person you - doing the right thing and not paying the tax.
(Who is the cowboy builder aiding and abetting this malfeasance?)

Seriously though join my club - last week I replaced the little strip light that illuminates the work surface under the row of cupboards in my kitchen. This task involved undoing three little terminal screws and two wood screws to remove the old unit where the transformer was overheating.
The replacement involved buying a German unit at Aldi for about a fiver, cutting off its plug and connecting three wires and inserting two wood screws.
But what I have done is illegal - I should have used a "competent person" Viz a registered electrician - call out rate 100 GBP to ring the door bell?

You have been caught under changes made about half a dozen years ago but which local councils only recently seem to have the realised the revenue generating potential - now that they have staff with not so much to do as the building boom has collapsed with the credit crunch.

I am afraid the nanny state expects everything to be done by a registered "competent person" for obvious 'elf, safety, carbon saving and jobs for the boys reasons and the gifted amateur will soon need a permit to buy a box of tools.

Thinking of a conservatory? Get it done quick, more regulations are on the way plus checks to make sure you don't jamb the door into the rest of the house open

Q: Do I need to make an application for re-roofing and renovation of thermal elements?
A: A thermal element is described as a roof, wall or floor which separates a thermally conditioned (heated or cooled) space from any of the following:

• The outside (including the ground), or
• An unheated part of the same building, or
• A structure exempt from the building regulations, such as a porch or conservatory, or
• Part of the same building heated or cooled to a different temperature.

Renovation of a thermal element means adding a new layer to a thermal element or the replacement of an existing layer. When the renovation is more than 25% of the element concerned, Building Regulations approval will be required for carrying out the work and the thermal element may require upgrading to provide more insulation. If you intend to carry out any of the following works, you will require Building Regulation approval:

• Renewal of roof covering (e.g. re-tiling, re-slating, replacing felt)
• Renewal of cladding to external walls, or dormer cheeks
• Replacement internal or external finishes to walls (e.g. re-plastering, dry lining, external render)
• Renovation or replacement floors (involving the replacement of screed or timber deck floor)
• Re-plastering of a wall
• Renewal of a ceiling below a cold loft space.

Reenyroo

I got some rolls for £1.00 each at the end of last year through a scheme being run by Npower - think it was mentioned on these boards at the time - it may be worth checking again.

Also, I ordered too much! but the delivery guy said that it wasn't worth it for them to collect any returns, etc. so.. Not sure if this is the right place to post it (or if there is a correct place!) but I now have about 15 spare rolls for free if anyone wants them! But they would have to collect from Ilford.

malc_b

Mary_Hartnell wrote: »

Can anyone recommend a web site that specialises in doing these calculations.

The two programs I have on my PC are Potterton Myson Heatloss Manager 98 and Heat Loss Calculator (Barlo Ltd). The myson site doesn't have it anymore. I think this may be the barlo one. They were win98 but still work on XP and I'd guess on Win7. I did find some online calculators here and here but software is better as you can save the results. Another place for software is here or here and there is an excel spreadsheet at dimplex.

skiTTish

We also had the £1 rolls form Npower and have looooads left over if anyone wants them.

WARNING!!!
Please make sure your loft has adequate ventilation or else solving the problem of heat loss could cause an even worse problem of condensation an needing a new roof in extreme cases!!
We are having to have roof tile vents put in as already our loft space is dripping wet with mould growth on the rafters ,after only a few month with insulation

Mary_Hartnell

I would be a bit worried about how all that moisture is getting out of you home and into the loft.
You don't have something like an extractor fan going directly into the loft ?
Have you sealed all cracks and put draught strip round the hatch?
Presumably the hatch is not actually lifting as the shape of the roof acts as an aircraft wing?

How is your home constructed? Most traditional houses of brick "breath"; it is only modern "Code L" houses that are airtight and the ventilation actually has to be engineered in, preferably complete with a heat exchanger.

bullinn1

Hi - as an aside I have moved into a new house and the previous owner left some old carpet off-cuts in the loft, I was going to drag them down and take them to the tip but wondered if I could spread them out as an added bit of insulation ? or is it not worth it ? Regards Roger

Mary_Hartnell

Are they a fire and moth risk?

http://www.rusfa.com/downloads.htm
It is a pity that these heat calculators are not really free; but the wolsey one will probably do for my purposes combined with the values of fuels etc from the Nottingham web site (and a wet towel to wrap round my head).

My interest is in the rapidly expanding area of "microrenewables" but you have to get that technology right - there is not the scope for turning up the thermostat and hoping the difference will be achieved before tomorrow!

projexe

nPower (online) WERE doing (DIY) loft insulation at £2 per roll but now when I have logged on to buy some its gone up to 3 times as much!
So I'm not going to bother.
It would be good to know whether they are going to have a similar offer again in the future, and for that matter why they've seen fit to increase the price 3-fold.

Mary_Hartnell

National Power have the highest CO2 producing old coal power stations - Government legislation forces them to take action of compensate.
The regulations changed at the end of last year - so year on year N Power could cover its backside by having a last minute "give away" of insulation. The same thing happened with their "give away" of low energy light bulbs.

This year we have the introduction of the "Feed in Tariff" (FiT) Now if you cover your south facing roof with Photo Voltaic (PV) panels and thus make electricity, your electricity supplier has to pay you 0.413 GBP per unit (kWh) produced by your roof. Do it right and you will get a cheque at the end of the year to wipe out your electricity bill for the year. This rate of FiT is so high that you should have no problem borrowing the money to put the PV panels on your roof and more than covering the extra interest on the extra size of your mortgage.

Theoretically the electricity company pays BUT does anyone think it will be the customers, who do not have these PV panels on their roof, will be paying?

malc_b

41p a unit! That is madness. Electric is sold for ~10p so that is a 300% loss. Where is the sense in that? This is as stupid as bankers lending to sub-primes. In the end it will be the rest of us that pays the price.