Insulating the loft

PhilDS

Mornin' all.

I called Powergen on Monday to arrange to have my loft insulated on their grant scheme. It should cost around £200 for our 3 bed semi and I was told that it would take 3 weeks (not counting Christams) for someone to call me. I didn't know these things would take so long, presumably the work wouldn't be done for at least another 3 weeks after that...it'll be summer before it's done! :rotfl:

Anyway, I'm not complaining, but I've decided to have a go at doing it myself so we can have a warm and comfortable Christmas. So, if anyone has done it before, I have a few question:

1. Is it worth it (money wise) to do it yourself, or should I just wait for the grant men?
2. Are there any special tricks or is it just lay the stuff down in between the joists?
3. Should I leave the old insulation (about 2-3 inches I reckon) down and put more on top or replace the whole lot?

I'm sure I'll think of some more questions later, but they should be enough for now :rolleyes: .

Thanks in advance...

escroooge

whack it ontop nice and thick, do ensure you leave some room at he eaves for air to circulate through the loft, a loft needs ventilation to evaporate any moisture...

WestonDave

I've just done ours - first round anyway. When we moved in there was little more than a token gesture between the rafters so I've started with 100mm as that will fill to the top of the rafters nicely. Got the insulation from Wickes - can fit two rolls in the back of the car - they were doing two rolls for £30 which made them the cheapest and probably still are (watch out for the actual lengths of the rolls as different makes are shorter or longer). Their rolls can be divided either into 60cm or 40cm wide strips depending on how far apart the rafters are.

I'd say its taken about 4 hours to install five rolls of insulation - the Wickes rolls divide into 3 rolls of 40cm by 9metres long approx so that should give you an idea of how much I've done.

Tips - get a face mask - insulation is not something you want to be breathing in - I got one from Wickes for about £2.50 (don't get the really cheap ones). Get some gloves - preferably the rubber coated ones as insulation really itches if it gets in your skin. Wear some clothes that you can bin when you've done.

Start at the furthest points of the loft and work inwards - ours was a pig as there is a section that you can barely crawl down - get some boards to lay across the rafters are it gives you a base to go to and fro when you are reaching into the eaves. The boards only need to be loose so you can move them as you go to tuck the insulation underneath.

Watch out for wires - ideally these need to be above the insulation to avoid them getting warm. We're about to have ours rewired hence only putting in the minimum so far - once the wires are rerouted I'm going to dump another 170mm on the top but with the restricted space it would be really nasty to send an electrician down there lying on a full bed of insulation - at least now he can still crawl on the rafters and use boards.

Don't insulate under your water tank as it'll freeze!

Don't try and do it all in one go unless you are very fit - you use all sorts of strange muscles balancing on the rafters and reaching etc - 2 hours maximum at a time - also with a full set of clothes on plus gloves and mask it can get surprisingly sweaty! Do do it in winter as its unbearable to do in summer!

As above leave room at the eaves - if you have a stick or broom handle you can use it to press down the far flung bits which saves so much crawling into the eaves.

Once you've filled between the rafters I would get the big rolls of 170mm and not bother splitting them and roll out the top up insulation the other way across the rafters avoiding as many joints. Obviously if you want a boarded area you'll probably need to leave that with just 100mm unless you build up supports for the boards.

If you have 60cm spacing be careful about weight as you have less support - spreading your weight on boards is more important and you probably need to avoid storing weight in the loft long term. With 40cm you have a bit more tolerance.

Its probably going to be cheaper to wait for the grant people to do it, but be warned if its anything like the cavity wall scheme, you can wait at least 3 weeks for a call to arrange a surveyor, another few weeks for him to come and give a proper quote and measure up and then longer still for the contractors to come and do it. I've paid £180 for a big three bed detached so far and will probably have to pay another £60-£90 to get it to where I want it allowing for leaving a boarded area. I'm guessing my grant price would be higher than yours again based on having it measured for the cavity scheme - it was off their standard three bed price due to being too big.

Hope that gives you some ideas!