Anyone put in their own loft insulation and boarded out their loft?

Mutton_Geoff

bigpappa said:

pramsay13 said:

A slight compression of 0.5cm won't make a massive difference although you can get insulation that is 20cm thick.
Basically the more the merrier. 
Removing the old stuff is a bit of a pain as it will irritate so you need gloves and masks etc. 
Most people would just lay new stuff on top of the old stuff, at right angles.

Do I need some extra height under the loftboards for ventilation. If I compress the loft insulation that means there is no air circulation?

You don't want any air circulation through the insulation, that's it's purpose, to stop heat exchanging just above the ceiling plasterboard. Compressing a lot turns it into a conductor, hence why the advice is not to, but it's normal function is to lock bubbles of air into place over the top of your ceiling so any heat rise isn't conducted/convected away thus meaning heat loss through the ceiling.

As others say, don't even attempt to take the old stuff away, just lay over the top of it. Measure roughly how much you can add on top of the old in line with the joists (they sell 100mm/170mm and 200mm thickness). Then lay another 200mm across the joists (thus hiding them). Leave a gap at the eaves so the loft space can ventilate.

bigpappa

Aghh. Too late. The other half has taken out some of the insulation already. What a bloody mess.

Plan is as follows - hope it works.

Going with 10cm + 17cm insulation - the 17cm at right angles to the 10cm.

Going with the 17.5cm loft legs giving me about 26.5cm clearance - this leaves enough head height so I don't have to duck down to walk up there.

Total loft floor area is about 50sqm and plan to board the central 20sqm using 2.4.m x 0.6m boards from Wickes.

Fortunately I have a large loft opening.

stator

Why not scrap the loft lefts and use PIR board for the central boarded section. You can achieve the required insulation levels without the loft legs if you use PIR board. It's not too expensive and you can DIY.

Then use the loft legs in the eaves, and you can use normal insulation with some shelves on top of the loft legs.

Davesnave

bigpappa said:

Ganga said:

Check that you can not get loft insulation fitted for free ,google free insulation and check .

I am not on benefits - so its going to have to be the DIY method.

Neither am I. When I renovated my property at a cost north of £100k I was delighted to find I could get its 3 lofts insulated for free without me lifting a finger. That was in 2016, but I understand money has recently been promised for more energy efficiency measures. Always check.

missile

stator said:

Why not scrap the loft lefts and use PIR board for the central boarded section. You can achieve the required insulation levels without the loft legs if you use PIR board. It's not too expensive and you can DIY.

Then use the loft legs in the eaves, and you can use normal insulation with some shelves on top of the loft legs.

I enquired to the insulation board manufacturer and they stated board was not suitable for walking on.
I wonder whether simply flooring over existing insulation would provide the additional insulation OP wants?

Davesnave

missile said:

stator said:

Why not scrap the loft lefts and use PIR board for the central boarded section. You can achieve the required insulation levels without the loft legs if you use PIR board. It's not too expensive and you can DIY.

Then use the loft legs in the eaves, and you can use normal insulation with some shelves on top of the loft legs.

I enquired to the insulation board manufacturer and they stated board was not suitable for walking on.

I think you are missing the point that PIR, being  more thermally efficient, would allow someone to fit it between the joists at a lesser thickness and then board over. That's what I did in our loft in the area I wanted to use as a walkway. I have storage on plywood shelving fitted in the 'V' of the roof trusses rather than over the insulation. My property hasn't the minimalist roof trusses one sees nowadays on new builds.

stator

missile said:

stator said:

Why not scrap the loft lefts and use PIR board for the central boarded section. You can achieve the required insulation levels without the loft legs if you use PIR board. It's not too expensive and you can DIY.

Then use the loft legs in the eaves, and you can use normal insulation with some shelves on top of the loft legs.

I enquired to the insulation board manufacturer and they stated board was not suitable for walking on.
I wonder whether simply flooring over existing insulation would provide the additional insulation OP wants?

I meant you put the PIR board between the joists and then some standard cheap chipboard flooring over the top of the joists. No need for loft legs because PIR board is more effective than the wool type insulation

missile

stator said:

missile said:

stator said:

Why not scrap the loft lefts and use PIR board for the central boarded section. You can achieve the required insulation levels without the loft legs if you use PIR board. It's not too expensive and you can DIY.

Then use the loft legs in the eaves, and you can use normal insulation with some shelves on top of the loft legs.

I enquired to the insulation board manufacturer and they stated board was not suitable for walking on.
I wonder whether simply flooring over existing insulation would provide the additional insulation OP wants?

I meant you put the PIR board between the joists and then some standard cheap chipboard flooring over the top of the joists. No need for loft legs because PIR board is more effective than the wool type insulation

My bad, thanks for the clarification