Insulation in Milborne St Andrew
Breathable insulation for cob, chalk, flint and thatch, and straightforward loft top-ups on the newer houses.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
In this village the first question is not how much insulation to lay. It is what the building is made of, because cob, chalk, flint and thatch all have to keep drying out, and the wrong material against them causes more trouble than a cold room ever did. We work that out on a free site visit in Milborne St Andrew, and the written quote names the material as well as the depth.
Three things bring people to the phone here. An old cottage that swallows oil and still has a cold end. A ceiling under thatch that somebody has been told to spray foam, wanting a second opinion first. And a post-war house or bungalow on the newer part of the village where the loft has never been touched since it was built.
Those are three different jobs and only one of them is simple. So the survey is a proper look: what the walls are built of and whether there is any cavity in them at all, what is over your head and whether there is a void behind the ceiling, how deep the existing layer really measures, whether the eaves are open, and where the tank and pipe runs sit.
The itemised written quote follows from that with the method on it as well as the figure, and nothing is ordered until you have said yes to it.
The work
Nothing goes against the underside of a thatch
Ceilings under thatch. There are still thatched roofs in this village and they are the job people get wrong most often. Thatch works by holding still air and stays sound because moisture leaves it from both sides. So the insulation goes at ceiling level, in a breathable mineral or sheep's wool quilt, and it stays clear of the thatch itself. We will not spray the underside of a thatch with foam and we would talk you out of anyone who offers to, because it seals the coat and holds damp against the timbers. Downlighters cut into a ceiling under thatch are a fire question rather than a heat one, and the answer is usually to take them out rather than cover them.
Cob, chalk block and brick and flint walls have no cavity wall to fill, no damp proof course and no interest in being sealed. They survive by taking up moisture and giving it back, which is why cement render and plastic backed board do them harm. Where a room genuinely needs it, internal wall insulation is built vapour open, a wood fibre or breathable mineral board with a lime plaster finish, with thought given to the joist ends buried in the wall and the window reveals, because those are the cold bridges that grow mould after the work rather than before it. External wall insulation changes the outside face of the building, which on a cottage like that is a planning conversation first.
The post-war part of the village has ordinary trussed or purlin roofs with nothing more than the original thin layer, settled and stopped short at the wall plate. Those get mineral wool between the joists and an eco roll straight across the top at right angles. A renovated ceiling is expected to reach a U-value of 0.16, which in mineral wool is nearer 270mm than the 250 that used to be the number. Vent trays at the eaves where the roof is felted, a draughtproofed hatch, and a raised deck on legs where storage matters. Where a roof space has become a room in roof it is rigid board between the rafters, PIR with a clear air gap above and a multi-layer quilt such as TLX where a sloping ceiling has no depth to give.
How it runs
From your call to a written price
The quote is itemised, with material, depth, ventilation and disposal on separate lines. Laying quilt in a loft or lining a wall inside is permitted development, and Planning Portal guidance on insulation sets out where that stops. Building control comes in once a thermal element is renovated or the roof space becomes a room. There is no conservation area over Milborne St Andrew, but twenty-five entries are listed, the parish church of St Andrew among them, and listed building consent can reach inside a building as well as outside it, so we check the address before we quote. Dorset Council is the authority. Insulation fitted in an existing home is zero rated for VAT under HMRC Notice 708/6.
Cost
What decides the price of an insulation job
No rate per square metre: the area is the easy part and everything round it is the awkward part. A thatched cottage where the hatch is a square cut through lath and plaster is one day; a post-war bungalow with a clear run across the joists is another. Old material to bag and take away, and boarding to lift and put back, come before anything new goes down. Approved Document L sets what the work has to reach. Ask what depth is being laid, whether the old material comes out, and whether the eaves and hatch are included.
If it is urgent
Damp, condensation or a room you cannot heat
Ring rather than use the form. A loft dripping with condensation, mould that keeps coming back, or a room that will not hold heat gets seen quickly. The first visit settles whether that is insulation, ventilation or both, because insulating a space that cannot breathe makes it worse. Milborne St Andrew is a run out along the A354 for us. Outside Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm is by arrangement.
Worth knowing
Tighten this house up and you have to give the air somewhere to go
This parish sits on ground that the radon maps flag, at the band where a few homes in every hundred come out above the action level. That is a building control matter for a new extension or a conversion, where basic protective measures are designed in. It matters to insulation for a different and less obvious reason.
Radon is dealt with by dilution, and dilution means air changes. Every draught you seal, every gap you close and every airbrick that gets covered over reduces the rate at which the air in the house is replaced. Insulation on its own does not create the problem, but the draughtproofing that usually comes with it can concentrate what is already there.
So the advice is simple and it costs nothing. Keep the sub-floor void ventilated and never build over an airbrick. Where we seal a ceiling, a hatch or a set of downlighters, the replacement ventilation goes in as part of the same job rather than being left to chance: working trickle vents, an extractor in the kitchen and bathroom that discharges outside rather than into the roof, and a roof space that can still breathe at the eaves. Approved Document F sets out what a dwelling needs.
And if you are going to tighten an older house up here, a radon test is cheap, takes a few months of sitting quietly in a corner, and turns a maybe into a fact. Do it before the work rather than after, so any result can change the specification instead of the bill.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
We cover Milborne St Andrew and Milborne Stileham on DT11, out through Bere Regis, Puddletown, Winterborne Kingston, Blandford Forum and Dorchester, and Dorset Council is the planning and building control authority for this address. 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.
Questions
Milborne St Andrew questions we get asked
The village has a lot of listed cottages. What does that mean?
It means the answer turns on the individual address. Milborne St Andrew carries 25 listed entries, including the Parish Church Of Saint Andrew, which is a great many for a village this size, and consent depends on whether your own house is on the list rather than on the street it stands in. There is no conservation area here. On a listed cottage, Dorset Council look at what the work does to historic fabric, so we set that out first.
Would a loft conversion here run into the nutrient rules?
It would, because the village drains into the Poole Harbour catchment. Nutrient neutrality bites only where a scheme adds overnight accommodation, so a conversion that makes a bedroom out of the roof has to answer it while plain loft insulation does not. Milborne St Andrew is eighteen miles out from us, so if a conversion is the plan it pays to get the planning side moving well before any fabric work is booked.
The cottage is cold everywhere. What order do you work in?
Roof first, then draughts, then walls. Heat leaves upwards fastest, so the loft or the roof slope gives the biggest change for the least disturbance to the house. Sealing round doors, floors and chimney breasts comes next, because a sealed room feels warmer at the same temperature on the thermostat. Solid walls come last, since they are the most disruptive and, in an older Milborne St Andrew house, the most likely to need a breathable build up.
Do we have to be in the house while you work?
Somebody needs to let us in, and that is about the size of it. Loft work happens through the hatch, so the landing gets sheeted and the rest of the house carries on as normal, with nobody moving out or losing a day. Milborne St Andrew is a long run out for us, so we book it as a full day rather than dropping in twice. Point out any tank or old wiring before we start.
Is radon a reason to seal the house up tighter?
No, and sealing without thinking it through can make matters worse. Milborne St Andrew sits in an area where an estimated 3 to 5 per cent of homes are affected, which means basic protection is designed into new floors and conversions rather than retrofitted because somebody added loft wool. Insulation over a ceiling does nothing about gas coming through the floor. If you are converting or extending, the floor detail is where it gets handled.
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Get the material right before the depth
A free site visit that starts with what your walls and roof are actually made of, and an itemised written quote naming the material as well as the depth.