Insulation for existing loft hatch

barker77

Im looking to insulate an existing wooden loft hatch but unsure what to use.

Many of the new plastic loft hatches appear to use polystyrene as insulation. This seems quite easy but thought that loft insulation had to be fire proof? I cant seem to find any polystyrene insulation that is rated as fire proof in any way or doesn't this matter?!

Owain_Moneysaver

Modern polystyrene has a fire retardent, and on a draughtproof loft hatch by the time fire has got into the loft the house is a goner anyway (and so would anyone still in it be).

However you can use ordinary glass-fibre insulation enclosed in a strong plastic bag/sheet stapled to the hatch cover.

barker77

So something like?

http://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-50mm-T+G-Polystyrene-Insulation-Board-450x1200mm/p/210030

Owain_Moneysaver

It would do if you want to use it; if you must use an insulation board I'd use one of the Celotex foam boards (shown on that page as 'other items')

kerri_gt

I don't know how much good it does but I have thick bubble wrap on my hatch ATM, also have some sheep wool insulation (from an Able & Cole food delivery) which I'm going to add this year....figure if wool works for the sheep it should help with the loft hatch.

I did have terrible condensation in some parts of the loft last winter, dripping down from the roof onto the floor / hatch below (thankfully nothing in the loft got damaged) it wasn't the entire roof, just part of it. I noticed that when I added just the bubble wrap it seemed to clear up, now that might have been a total coincidence and a change in the weather im not sure.

wymondham

cut off some normal insulation, pop it into a black bin bag and staple it to the hatch - jobs a goodun!

Gloomendoom

wymondham wrote: »

cut off some normal insulation, pop it into a black bin bag and staple it to the hatch - jobs a goodun!

Exactly what a loft insulation firm did to mine. Looks like a big black shiny pillow stapled to the back of the hatch. They did use a heavy duty bag, by-the-way.

rich13348

My loft hatch and doors to the eves have the same just mineral wool insulation in a black bag stapled to the doors. Think about a weather sealing strip too like the use on doors to keep draughts out too.

lucywillow

I used the polystyrene board you linked from Wickes last winter.

I just cut it to size with a bread knife & attached it with double sided tape to the inside of the loft hatch. I haven't had any condensation in the loft since.

Ectophile

lucywillow wrote: »

I used the polystyrene board you linked from Wickes last winter.

I just cut it to size with a bread knife & attached it with double sided tape to the inside of the loft hatch. I haven't had any condensation in the loft since.

That's the same way as I did mine. However, the boards kept falling off the double-sided tape, so it's now got a load of parcel tape holding it down as well now.

smudger1964

I just got one of the celotex boards cut it slightly smaller than my drop down loft hatch and used no more nails on the underside of the board and glued it to the hatch job done took 2 minutes