Insulation in Burley

Clearing the loft out first. Houses out here tend to have lofts that have been used: boxes, old water tanks, cable runs, and material laid decades ago that has settled to half its depth. Full depth is 270mm of ordinary eco roll worked in two directions, one roll between the joists and a second across them so the timber is not a cold bridge and a straight line of heat loss, with an even 250mm taken right out over the wall plate rather than stopping where the roof gets low, which is what brings a ceiling to the 0.16 u-value expected of a renovated element. Anything compressed, sooty or damp comes out, is bagged in the loft and leaves with us.

Bats stop the job that day. One thing is specific to this part of the Forest: if we find bats or signs of a roost, work stops there and then. They are protected and disturbing a roost is an offence, so it becomes a conversation about advice rather than a job we press on with.

Where the roof space is already a room there is no floor to insulate and the work goes to rafter level: rigid board, PIR and foil faced, cut between the rafters with a ventilation gap kept open above, then a layer under the rafters to kill the cold bridge, and the small voids behind any knee walls treated at the same time. Where a ceiling has no depth to spare a foil faced multi-layer quilt such as TLX gets part of the way, and it will not match a full board build-up.

There are a lot of buildings around Burley that were never meant to be heated and now are: a stable block turned into an office, a garage made into a room, an annexe on the end of the house. They usually have no insulation anywhere, single skin walls or a thin flat roof, and they lose heat faster than the house does. Where a wall is solid there is nothing to fill, so it is internal wall insulation or external wall insulation, EWI on a quote, which is a planning conversation in the National Park before it is a building one. A cavity wall gets a borescope check first so nobody pumps material in on top of fill that has already slumped.

Then vent trays so the eaves stay open once the depth goes up, an insulated hatch with draughtstripping that actually seals, the tank and pipework lagged once the loft above them turns cold, fire rated covers over the downlighters, and raised loft legs so boarding for storage sits clear of a full depth rather than flattening what is underneath.

A cottage with a small hatch on a narrow landing, a bungalow with a clear loft and room for a ladder, and a converted stable block with no loft at all are three different days before any material is unwrapped. Old material to bag and take away, storage to move and put back, eaves kept clear and depth into the corners rather than across the middle all come first, and Approved Document L sets what the work has to reach. Comparing quotes, ask what depth is being laid, whether the old material is removed or covered, and whether the hatch and pipework are included.

We cover Burley, Bransgore, Thorney Hill, Crow, Ringwood and the lanes across the open Forest, and most of BH24. Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 15471719, which you can look up in a minute. Thomas Hannen's business, and he is the one who comes out to price the job, not a salesman. A verified customer's 10 out of 10 on Checkatrade. The visit and the written quote are both free.