Redoing insulation

bretts

Hi

I have insulation in the loft that was laid in 1990's, not only is it lot lower than the current requirements, its just very very old. I am thinking of just taking out all the insulation from the loft and just laying a new one.
Can you please advise if this is the right step, just take everything out and start fresh?
Also should I go for the traditional insulation or should I go for something like a celotex or something similar.
Is it equally effective or is any one better than the other in terms of insulation and cost
I also want to then board it up, i also have downlights coming from the floor below so would have to make provision for them if i plan to use celotex insulation.

bretts

Any suggestions please.

phoenix_w

Rigid insulation like celotex is a lot more expensive than mineral wool you can usually find offers on. Getting rid of that itchy nasty insulation you have laid down is also going to be a 'mare. Unless you need the loft space for some purpose, I'd just top up the existing insulation.

If it's not up to current standards, have you contacted one of the free providers like British Gas to see if they'll do the job for you for free?

ed110220

bretts wrote: »

Hi

I have insulation in the loft that was laid in 1990's, not only is it lot lower than the current requirements, its just very very old. I am thinking of just taking out all the insulation from the loft and just laying a new one.
Can you please advise if this is the right step, just take everything out and start fresh?
Also should I go for the traditional insulation or should I go for something like a celotex or something similar.
Is it equally effective or is any one better than the other in terms of insulation and cost
I also want to then board it up, i also have downlights coming from the floor below so would have to make provision for them if i plan to use celotex insulation.

Hi the reason to use Celotex or similar rigid insulation board is if there is not enough room to use roll insulation, because you can use less thickness of board for the same insulation value. It is more expensive though.

The other reason to use it is if you want to put chipboard loft boards down on top of it to make a floor. I did this with Knauf Spaceboard. I think it's a type of dense polystyrene board, without the foil facing. It comes in boards small enough to fit through the average loft hatch.

Otherwise, just top up with more roll insulation. It will be cheaper and easier to do.

zaax

No, just add more to take it up to 30cm
http://www.which.co.uk/energy/creating-an-energy-saving-home/guides/how-to-buy-loft-insulation/loft-insulation-costs-and-savings/

Le_Kirk

If your existing insulation is lower than it used to be, it means it has flattened and no longer has air pockets within, which is what is used as insulation. Just laying new on top of old will have some effect but not as much as removing and installing new. I know it is a pain as I had to do it once for an elderly neighbour who was having new insulation laid under a grant scheme but the new installers would not lay new until the old had been removed.

27col

phoenix_w wrote: »

Rigid insulation like celotex is a lot more expensive than mineral wool you can usually find offers on. Getting rid of that itchy nasty insulation you have laid down is also going to be a 'mare. Unless you need the loft space for some purpose, I'd just top up the existing insulation.

If it's not up to current standards, have you contacted one of the free providers like British Gas to see if they'll do the job for you for free?

I couldn't agree more. When I demolished a large old bungalow to build my house, there was a huge amount of filthy insulation to dispose of. So I just stored it and put it back into the roof of the new house. Then covered it with enough new insulation to get up to current regs. By far the easiest way of dealing with it. Apart from any other considerations fibre glass insulation does not seem to rot or burn, so not a good thing for landfill.

FreeBear

27col wrote: »

Apart from any other considerations fibre glass insulation does not seem to rot or burn, so not a good thing for landfill.

However, fibreglass & rockwool insulation can be recycled so it doesn't have to end up in landfill.

bretts

Hi Thank you so much for your replies, I called british gas and Npower and they both said no to put new insulation as they said it does not meet there criteria, they never told me what they were but one guy mentioned that it was just a little more than 100 mm so they might reject it.
The reason I really want to take the old one out is that the downlights i have in the bedrooms below, they are probably not fitted well and when I change the lights the insulation starts to fall, I am just thinking that with a kid in home is it safe that way. I could just get rid of the old more harmful insulation and get new one, I am sure it will be safer to use that what it was about 20 years ago, I dont really know if the composition of what they use in insulation has changed since then.
Secondly I wanted to board the loft, not for anything else but just storage.

bretts

Could I be cheeky and remove all the insulation and call british gas again to do a survey?

phoenix_w

bretts wrote: »

when I change the lights the insulation starts to fall, I am just thinking that with a kid in home is it safe that way. I could just get rid of the old more harmful insulation and get new one, I am sure it will be safer to use that what it was about 20 years ago, I dont really know if the composition of what they use in insulation has changed since then.
Secondly I wanted to board the loft, not for anything else but just storage.

Your property might have a layer of loose insulation beneath the blanket of insulation. Having some bits of it fall through the ceiling isn't much of a bother to be honest.

If you want to board out your loft you have a couple of choices... You can buy rigid insulation (celotex/kingspan) between the joists then board out, you can get the boards with the insulation already installed, or you can use loft legs to put a storage platform above the blanket insulation. Loft legs are pretty pricey, but so is rigid insulation - so might be worth having a bash at a calculator and working out what's cheapest.