Insulation for an attic ceiling – not exposed roof

specktor

Hi all, hope there are some suggestions out there.

I have a Victorian house which has always had a room in the attic – it is not a conversion. In the summer the sun beats on the slates and the heat comes straight into the bedroom, as there is precious little insulation between the slates and the internal ceiling: the room is then like an oven – not so much the heat of the house rising into it, but it is being heated from the outside.

I know that the best way to fix this would be to strip back to the slates and re do with modern materials – but is there a quick and cheap DIY option to hold back some of the heat from getting in?

• Could I just glue polystyrene tiles to the ceiling?
• I have heard of rubberised wall paper – does this work?
• The insulated boards with foam and foil – Celotex etc – are these better?
• Will just sticking an insulation layer (and filling any holes) help stop the heat coming in in the summer and the heat out in the winter?

Any help appreciated

Cheers

ormus

what are the walls/ceiling constructed of?
i would strip it off, fill the void with say rockwool, and make good with new plasterboard.

specktor

Hi - by peeking into the inspection hole I made it looks like the tiles sit on battens which are then just covered over with laths / plaster and painted.
There may be some old blanket type material in there too - basically there is very little:(

But like I say: stripping back and redoing I know about - are there any simpler DIY options, even if temporary

dander

Do you have enough head height to add battons and a sort of false ceiling so you could add insulation from inside?

I'm prepared to be corrected on this, because I'm just guessing, but my feeling would be that because you're problem is the heat coming down from above, you might find the thinner, foil insulations are pretty helpful and if you used something like that you wouldn't have to add the new ceiling very far from the original.