Loft insulation verses boarding

ic

Insulation to the level of the joists will mean a total thickness of 4 inches - the standard now is 10 inches. Chipboard and any items stored on top of it will provide negligible additional insulation.

googler

What do you folks suggest at the eaves, at the slope where the roof meets the loft joists?

I currently have an overlapping eave and soffit, that goes out about 0.5 beyond the wall of the house, and has an air grille running along the full length of the perimeter.

If I board out on my joists to where the joists meet the sloping roof timbers, that leaves a 4" vertical gap at the end of each joist where the insulation is open to the air grille at the eaves. If I put stilts in and 10" insulation, I can't go out as far as where the roof slope meets the joists, and will be left with a 10" gap open to the air grille.

This may differ for other houses, but in my case, this, again, would be a compromising factor, wouldn't it?

sunshinetours

You shouldn't be covering your air grills anyway should you? Obviously if you go higher than the existing joists you simply will lose some fllor space (and some head room don't forget).
If you are using the mineral wool you need space as mentioned above to get optimal level, otherwise choose another type of insulation

googler

andrew-b wrote: »

The eaves space isn't useful storage space and you can't walk in that space so it's pointless boarding right to the edge.

Well, I can store small stuff right up to the point where the sloped timbers meet the joists and boarding, so it's usable space for me......

googler

...but don't you agree that having a 10" edge of insulation at the eaves compromises it more than a 4" ???

If retaining the air in the insulation's air pockets is key, and more of the edge of the insulation is exposed to colder air, doesn't that compromise it?

grizzly1911

womble12345 wrote: »

Are you sure?
I spent a few hours last weekend insulating the pipes in my loft, can you explain why we shouldnt lag the pipes in our lofts? This website says you do need to lag pipes in your loft:
http://www.thinkinsulation.co.uk/diy-installation.htm
.

Hot water pipes should be insulated.

All pipes in my loft were insulated by the "builders". When I fully insulated the roof space I left a scant layer of insulation underneath the tanks where most of the pipework is located. It sits above the airing cupboard:)

Even if the frozen pipes don't burst/leak they can still stop water flow in freezing conditions impacting supply.

womble12345

Call me a cynic but the more I look at freezefree.co.uk the more it sets alarm bells ringing….. they have designed a system that they are licensing to others but they don’t give any information on it. Then they use some scare tactics (and no doubt high powered salesmen) to tell you how bad it is when pipes burst and how they guarantee protection against frozen pipes, there is no information about this guarantee on the website though. They then claim your pipes wont freeze and you can command a higher value for your home when you sell it.

I can only assume that the guarantee will pay for my losses if my pipes do freeze after they do their stuff, but wouldn’t my home insurance pay out in that instance anyway? So what am I actually getting for my money, a couple of blokes banging round in my loft for a few days and a certificate that offers no more protection than my existing home insurance?

Maybe I am a cynic, it would be interesting to know what they would actually do though.