Insulation in Kinson
Finding out what has already been done, then insulating the roof space, walls and cold rooms of Kinson houses.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
Last updated
Insulating a house in Kinson usually means a post-war semi or bungalow with a thin old layer in the roof, cavity walls that may or may not have been filled, and a few cold rooms. We find out what has already been done, then deal with the roof space, the draughts and the awkward rooms first.
The reasons a Kinson house needs insulating are fairly plain. A bungalow that loses its heat as fast as the boiler puts it in. A back bedroom that never warms up. Condensation running down the windows and mould in the corners of the ceiling. Or an EPC that needs to go up before a house is sold or let.
We go into the loft, look at the walls, the floors and the ventilation, and tell you which of them is worth doing first. You get a free written quote with each part on its own line. For the detail on each, see loft insulation in Kinson and wall insulation in Kinson.
The work
Roofs, walls, floors and the rooms in between
The roof space gives the biggest single saving in most houses in Kinson, and the biggest of all in a bungalow, where the whole footprint is under the loft.
In a Kinson loft, old mineral wool that has settled or been compressed is evened out, and a second roll laid between and over the joists brings the depth to about 270mm, which is what it takes for a ceiling to reach the 0.16 U-value that Approved Document L sets when a roof is upgraded. The hatch is insulated and draught stripped, the tank and pipework lagged, and any downlighter gets a cover rather than being buried.
Keeping the roof breathing. Once the ceiling is insulated the loft runs colder, so the air has to keep moving. A vent tray in each bay at the eaves holds the insulation back from the felt and keeps the ventilation path open. Skip that and condensation ends up dripping on the new insulation.
Storage. Boarding screwed straight onto the joists squashes the insulation flat. We lift it, lay the full depth, then fit a raised storage platform on loft legs above it.
Rooms in the roof. Where a bungalow has had a room built into the roof with a dormer, the sloping ceiling is insulated at the rafters, usually with a rigid board such as Celotex or another PIR, with a vapour control layer on the warm side, aiming at 0.18. Where headroom is tight, a thin multi-layer foil can save depth.
Walls. Most Kinson houses of this age are built with a cavity. We check it with a borescope through a mortar joint and tell you whether it is empty, already filled, or not suitable. A cavity fill is done by a registered installer, not by us; where a wall cannot be filled, internal lining with insulated board is the other route, and a plain post-war block can take external wall insulation.
Floors and draughts. Where a Kinson house has a suspended timber floor, insulation between the joists from below and a sealed skirting stop a lot of cold air. Draughts round old doors and loft hatches are cheap to stop and noticeable straight away.
When we would talk you out of it. If the mould is from a bathroom with no extract fan, more insulation will not fix it. We sort the ventilation first.
How it runs
From your call to a written price
One person to ring from the first visit to the last. The quote is itemised, not a figure on the back of a card: the survey, clearing what is there, the material and its depth, ventilation works and disposal on separate lines, so you can compare it properly against anyone else's.
Nothing is left open or unusable overnight. The site is swept at the end of each day rather than the end of the job, and what comes out leaves with us. If something turns up once we start that nobody could have seen, you get a photograph and a price before we carry on.
Insulating a loft or lining a wall inside is permitted development and needs no planning application, as the Planning Portal guidance on insulation explains, but work to the walls is building control work under regulation 23. Installing energy saving materials in a home is zero-rated for VAT until 31 March 2027 under HMRC VAT Notice 708/6, and we are not VAT registered, so there is no VAT on our quote either way.
Cost
What decides the price of an insulation job
No rate per square metre, because the area is the easy part and the awkward part is everything around it.
Getting to it. A bungalow with a low, wide loft and eaves all round, a semi with a hatch over the stairwell, and a top floor flat in a council-built block with the hatch on a communal landing take three different kinds of kit to reach. A loft hatch you can stand a ladder under is one job, a crawl space or a room in the roof is another. Where boarding has to come up and go back, that is time before any material is laid.
What is already up there. Old material that has to come out, and be bagged and taken away, is a cost before anything new goes down. So is anything stored in the loft that has to be moved and put back.
Ventilation and the awkward edges. Eaves that must stay clear, downlighters that need covers, a tank and pipework that still need lagging, and getting depth right into the corners rather than just across the middle. Approved Document L sets what the work is expected to reach.
Comparing quotes? Ask what depth is actually being laid, whether the old material is being removed or covered, whether the eaves are being kept clear, and whether the hatch and the pipework are included.
If it is urgent
Damp, condensation or a room you cannot heat
Ring rather than use the form. Insulation is rarely an emergency, but a loft dripping with condensation, black mould coming back faster than you can wash it off, or a room that will not hold heat before a cold snap all get looked at quickly.
The first visit is about finding out whether the problem is insulation, ventilation or both, because insulating a roof space that cannot breathe makes it worse. In a Kinson bungalow, look at the ceiling along the outside walls first, because dark patches there usually mean the eaves are blocked or the insulation stops short. Scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm. For anything urgent, ring rather than use the form, and if we cannot pick up we ring you back as soon as we can.
Worth knowing
Check what was done before you pay for it twice
Much of Kinson was built as council housing after the war, and a lot of it has changed hands since. Council-owned homes up and down the country went through insulation programmes over the years, and so did houses under various energy company schemes. So when you buy an ex-council house here, or have lived in one for thirty years, there may already be a filled cavity or a loft top-up that nobody mentioned, or there may be nothing at all.
It is worth finding out before spending money. Look through the paperwork from the purchase for a CIGA certificate from a cavity fill, and check the EPC register, which often records what insulation the assessor found. We then confirm it on the visit: the depth in the loft, and a borescope in the wall to see whether the cavity is empty or full, and whether an old fill has slumped or got wet. If the job has already been done well, we will say so and point you at whatever is actually causing the cold.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
We insulate houses across Kinson in BH10 and BH11, around Wimborne Road, Kinson Road and Pelhams Park and out to Bear Cross and West Howe, 3.7 miles from our base in Boscombe. BCP Council handles building control.
You are dealing with Bournemouth Roofing & Building, the trading name of 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. Before you book a visit in Kinson, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.
Planning at a glance
Do you need planning permission in Kinson?
Most repairs in Kinson need no application at all. What decides whether a change to the outside of your house does is who the council is, whether a conservation area or a listing applies, and whether the place sits in a protected landscape.
| Question | In Kinson |
|---|---|
| Who decides | BCP Council is the planning authority for Kinson. BCP Council's heritage pages set out what it controls. |
| Conservation area | None covers Kinson, so a like-for-like repair is ordinary maintenance. |
| Listed buildings | Yes, there are listed buildings in and around Kinson. If yours is one, work can need listed building consent. |
| Protected landscape | No National Park or National Landscape covers Kinson. |
Questions
Questions about insulation in Kinson
Where should I start with insulating my house?
Usually the roof space, especially in a bungalow. It is the cheapest saving for the money. Walls and floors come after, once we know what is already there.
How do I know if my cavity has already been filled?
Look for a CIGA certificate in the purchase papers and check the EPC register. We confirm it with a borescope through one mortar joint at the free visit.
Do you fill cavity walls?
No, we check the wall and tell you whether it suits a fill. The fill itself is done by a registered cavity wall installer, and we deal with the inside of the house.
Is there VAT on insulation?
Installing energy saving materials in a home is zero-rated until 31 March 2027, and we are not VAT registered, so our price has no VAT on it.
How long does it take?
A loft top-up in a semi is usually a day, a bungalow sometimes two. Wall lining is done a room at a time and takes a few days per room.
Nearby, and next door
Insulation near Kinson
Nearby places we also cover for insulation, with straight-line distances from Kinson, and the other trades we offer in Kinson itself.
Insulation nearby
Our other trades in Kinson
Insulation guides
Part L: do you have to insulate when you re-roof? Black mould on walls: what causes it and what stops it PIR board vs mineral wool: which insulation?Everything we do in Kinson Insulation, all areas Every area we cover
Free quote
Find out where your house is losing heat
Thomas goes into the loft, checks the walls and gives you a written itemised quote. The visit and the quote are both free.