Insulation in Longham

A second layer over the original loft. Three in five homes in Longham went up between 1945 and 1982, and the layer that went down when they were built is an inch or two of quilt pushed between the joists, with decades of settling taking the rest.

It is rarely worth removing. It goes in between and over: fresh mineral wool eco roll between the timbers, then a second run at right angles across the top so the joists stop acting as cold bridges through the layer. Around 270mm all in brings a ceiling to the u-value of about 0.16 that Approved Document L asks of a renovated roof, and on most ceilings in Longham that is one day.

Bungalow lofts, which are the big ones. More than a third of the housing here is bungalows. A bungalow has the same floor area as a house and roughly twice the ceiling under the roof, so the loft is where a big share of its heat loss goes. The catch is the shape: a hipped roof closes down to nothing on all four sides, so the perimeter is tight and the eaves are easy to block by accident. Vent trays go in first, the quilt stops clear of the wall plate, and the corners get filled properly rather than being left as the gap nobody can reach.

Anything built here from the mid sixties onward is likely to have a trussed roof: shallow timbers with diagonal webs criss-crossing the space at ankle height. You cannot walk it, you cannot board it as it stands, and a second layer means working around every web rather than rolling out in straight runs. It is slower, and it is why a trussed loft and a cut roof of the same area are not the same job. Boarding straight onto the joists compresses the quilt to the depth of the timber, so we raise the deck on legs above the full depth and board the part you actually use.

Houses of this age were built with a cavity wall, and whether it was ever filled is a question for a borescope and not for a guess. Some were done decades ago with material that has slumped, some were never done, and some should not be. Where a wall turns out to be solid, an internal wall lining built to breathe is the honest answer, since external wall insulation changes the look of the house. A chalet bungalow or a converted attic is a room in roof: rigid board rather than roll, PIR between the rafters with an air gap kept clear above, a multi-layer quilt such as TLX under a sloping ceiling with no depth to give, a vapour control layer on the warm side and the dormer cheeks done at the same time. The flat roofed garages and rear extensions of this era have next to nothing in them, and the time to turn one into a warm roof is when the covering is being replaced.

Which job it is. Topping up a loft, checking a cavity and lining a solid wall are three different jobs. On most houses in Longham it is one of the first two, and the survey tells you which gives you more back.

The loft itself. A hipped bungalow roof slopes down on all sides, so the edges are low and awkward to reach, and that is where the depth usually runs thin. A chalet bungalow with rooms in the roof has sloping ceilings and knee walls instead of an open loft, which is slower work. A detached house with a loft ladder and clear joists is quickest.

What is up there already. Thin old mineral wool can often stay and be topped up across the joists. Wet, crushed or fouled quilt has to come out first. Stored boxes and loft boards that must be lifted and relaid add hours.

Ventilation. The eaves must stay open. On a hipped roof that means fitting eaves trays or vents all round, and that is a line on the quote. Approved Document L sets what the work is expected to reach.

The hatch and tank. Insulating and draught-stripping the hatch, and lagging a tank and pipes left in the cold, are small jobs that make a real difference.

Before you choose, ask each quote: what finished depth is being laid? Is the old material staying or going? Are the hatch, tank and pipes included?

From our base in Boscombe it is 4.7 miles to Longham. We cover the village with Ferndown, West Parley and Hampreston, down through Bearwood and across to Wimborne. Dorset Council is the building control authority for your address.

The company is Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, incorporated in England and Wales, number 15471719. Thomas Hannen owns it and goes up into your loft himself to price the job. We have a verified 10 out of 10 from a customer on Checkatrade. No charge is made for the survey, and the written quote listing every item is free too. Before you book a visit in Longham, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

Most repairs in Longham 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.