Loft Insulation + Hatch & Ladder + Boarding

fiish

I've had a survey and quote by what seems to be a large and reputable loft company, will be hopefully getting one or two more firms in to quote, but would like to see how it compares more widely too. 

House is a semi-detached, in SE London. The loft was measured about 54 m2, is boarded but has no insulation. Access is with a narrow, fairly wobbly, dangerous feeling ladder. I am fairly keen to at least remedy the lack of insulation.

The quote feels on the high side to me, based on Google searches, but I've not got much to compare with right now. Is this just London pricing?

Helpfully they provided a breakdown:
Remove and dispose of old boarding - £450
Install 270mm Earthwool, 54 m2 at £25 per m2- £1350
LED Batton Light & Switch - £290 (£215 plus adding an RCBO on the circuit in the fusebox)
Reshape loft hatch and make good - £175
Loft hatch and ladder installation - £500
12 m2 of raised loft boarding - £1010
Asbestos survey of loft included in quote

Any thoughts?

Newbie_John

I've done one recently, SE London, my quote was a follow - loft size 40m^2:
a) already had 10mm which they said they would leave and added 20mm on top 
b) small area boarded - under 10m^2 - £600ish
c) insulation to the water tank - £150
d) shelves added between wooden bars holding roof
Total was £1100


They said boarding costs £60-£70 per m^2 - so just on this part I assume they're cheaper than your quote?

This is the company I used:
https://www.checkatrade.com/trades/premiumpropertyservices

BUFF

if you have absolutely no insulation can you not at least get that done (or a contribution to) via a grant of some kind?

fiish

Thank you for sharing, @Newbie_John, I had some answers to the job I posted on Checkatrade, and the firm you used isn't one of them - useful to know your quote. It sounds like the insulation came up to around £10-12 per m^2?

Thanks @BUFF, I've already gone through the Great British Insulation Scheme online tool, my house is council tax band E so isn't eligible

I had another look at the company (Instaloft), London isn't in the list of areas they usually cover, so maybe the quote is inflated because of extra travelling costs. Hopefully the more local companies I'm having come round over the next week or two will give me a better idea.

Newbie_John

@fiish, I was quoted £600 for just insulation - so yes, around £15/m^2 although I needed a 20mm top-up, so your one will be a little more.
But from watching the guys, putting insulation seemed really easy - literally unrolling the rolls and cutting the last one to fit.. the old one that I had was dirty and very unpleasant for hands - so didn't want to do it myself but the wooly one is soft like blanket 🤣 
Also my attic has really easy access and a lot of walking straight-up space.. so wonder if that had a impact on price Vs hard one to access?
All the best 👍

fiish

Picked up a couple more quotes now. One was £15 per square metre of insulation, and another £23.

Interestingly, all 3 loft surveys had differing numbers for the amount of insulation needed, smallest was 58 and largest was 64 m^2. So it was ranging between just under £1k to £1600 just for insulation, depending on the company I picked. 

I guess I know which quote I'm going with, now I just need to make up my mind how much boarding to have.