Loft insulation rolls

Furts

Relax wrote: »

You see the thing is ~ Before I posted ~ I did read the instructions

http://www.space-insulation.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Space_Blanket-Installation.pdf


If you have trouble locating it :
The large white words above the planet with rings in the bottom right of the instruction sheet that say



Oh and your vapour barrier nonsense is garbage too . It is glass fibre

Of course there should be a vapour barrier - basic common sense and good building practice on any ordinary house ceiling. Similarly if the foil side up is going to cause damp issues then this is wrong. Which it turn means if a vapour barrier is present foil side up makes sense to an extent. Personally, I would say the product is flawed. I did not install it my lofts!


Davesnave is a wise sage. Instructions can be dangerous things!

Relax

Furts wrote: »

Of course there should be a vapour barrier - basic common sense and good building practice on any ordinary house ceiling. Similarly if the foil side up is going to cause damp issues then this is wrong. Which it turn means if a vapour barrier is present foil side up makes sense to an extent. Personally, I would say the product is flawed. I did not install it my lofts!


Davesnave is a wise sage. Instructions can be dangerous things!

I agree about the vapour barrier ~ Just not to protect glass fibre

If the space blanket product is installed intact or sealed when cut to measure then the amount of vapour getting inside should be next to nothing . The item is essentially a sealed bag holding glass fibre.

There is data that seems to show that the vapour barrier in a loft is a lot more to do with reducing the moisture in the warm air in rooms bellow getting into cold spaces and creating a source for condensation. I kind of accept that, as a loft full of condensation is hard to explain away in any other way.

But silver side up makes sense as a reflector on the bottom or in the middle is losing a great deal of it's effectiveness.

DaftyDuck

Foil on top - foil on bottom.... Irrelevant to the OP. There is no foil. It has been peeled off and disposed of, apparently.....

It would be quite difficult to peel it off, as it's stuck to the wool. Not well, admittedly, but I think it would probably take an hour per roll to peel, and there wouldn't be much roll left at the end. The mess would be... incredible. The foil would be in tatters, as would the layer's lungs... The noise, if this were done in an attic, would sound like antelope breeding with crocodiles, a sound of which I am not familiar.

Money.... Are you sure ALL rolls had foil? Did your bloke, perhaps, have three rolls without, and one with foil? Or maybe you mistook the wrapper (which is shiny paper on Travis Perkins own brand) for foil?

It's just, it would be the work of a lifetime to peel the foil from the stuff I've met. Seriously. You would have to be insane to try it, certifiably so once you'd done the first roll....

Could you, possibly, be mistaken? Could only one roll have (and still have) foil? Or, maybe you misremember, and none did?

Posh loft insulation does have foil. However, I'd hazard a guess that most (85%? ) of rolled insulation does not have it, and most cheap rolls, and all that I've seen grant-aided, does not.

So, silver side removed is the option. I would guess it hasn't been removed and resold on the black market, not even on the silver one.

It could make good tinfoil hats, which could come in handy!

DaftyDuck

Wires on top*! Definitely, reduce fire risk!!! Easy to check if mouse chewed


*Trip hazard alert!!! !!!

Davesnave

DaftyDuck wrote: »

Wires on top*! Definitely, reduce fire risk!!! Easy to check if mouse chewed

*Trip hazard alert!!! !!!

I'm not going there. :A

But I'll confirm that the free 270mm I had installed in 2016 was standard Knauf stuff (sans foil) from Travis.

(Mice evicted, though we do have a mummified shrew somewhere up the back of dot & dab in living room. )

moneyistooshorttomention

Definitely couldnt spot a sign of any foil anywhere - and material was lying around in heaps on top of what was there already lying around in heaps.

I now know because new electrician came down from loft coughing at tickly fibres in throat from this and had me go up and take a look for myself. Cue - I hadnt ever looked up in the loft before now - as there is no loft ladder and previous tradespeople going up into loft have done things like balancing precariously on ladders I definitely didnt fancy trying out personally (and me shorter than any of them ever were - being a little short !!!!). New electrician had proper ladder (better quality than owt I've ever encountered before) and it was the work of a moment to shin up and have a look for myself.

At which point - I apologised to new electrician profusely that it wasnt as I had understood it would be and there shouldnt have been loose fibres hanging around to breathe in....:o

EDIT; definitely wasnt grant-aided. I thought I'd need some more...I told tradesperson of time to get some more and asked him how much I owed him.

moneyistooshorttomention

Quick google - and I wasnt examining it closely at the time.....I just told him what I wanted and said "rolls of loft insulation" and cast a fairly cursory glance at it when he re-emerged with several rolls (having told me that the ones I'd spotted at B & Q werent suitable or suitably-priced or summat when I mentioned them to him).

and the Knauf Space Blanket rolls look somewhat like my (very vague indeed) memory shows on images...and I do remember silver foil...

DaftyDuck

... but foil on every roll? Are you sure some of them aren't foil backed? The far ones in the corner? Was the chap so good, he laid them under the older stuff?

Just, foil removal is virtually impossible. Not utterly, I grant you, but it would take hours......

I just doubt it...

moneyistooshorttomention

Tries to recall how long he was up there for.....and not very sure.

I've bought extra rolls of loft insulation (with the foil type cover stuff on them) many years back in last house myself. Now I could get to that loft easily - as there was loft ladder etc. So I did - and I literally just undid the exterior packaging and threw the rolls (with covering still on) into place between rafters. Like two seconds flat (well not much more.....) and headed back down the ladder - job done as far as I was concerned. All the "fluffy yellowy stuff" (technical term...) was still enclosed.

In this case all the "fluffy yellowy stuff" was not encased and was "any old how" - and it did take him a while...

Furts

When you tidy it all up, remember a couple of points. The first layers are probably parallel to your rafters. The next layer should cover this at right angles. This stops heat loss, but means you must be careful in the roof because it covers the ceiling timbers - you do not want to put your foot through the plasterboard.

Also remember any fascia or soffit ventilation - 1970s properties were often missing this, and this is more a 1980s thing. If you have this then ensure an air flow is maintained