Insulation in Oakdale

The loft is usually the first job and often the cheapest per degree of warmth. Mineral wool roll is laid between and over the joists to a depth of around 270mm, the second layer crossing the first, with the eaves kept open with vent trays so the roof can still breathe.

Old wool that has settled under decades of boxes in an Oakdale loft is lifted and straightened. On a pair of semis the party wall in the loft is checked, because on many thirties houses it stops short of the tiles. The tank and pipework are lagged, the hatch gets its own board and seal, and storage goes on a deck raised on legs so the full depth runs beneath it.

Suspended timber floors. Many thirties houses in Oakdale have timber floorboards on joists with a void underneath, ventilated by air bricks. Insulation goes between the joists, held on netting or battens, with the gaps at the skirting sealed. The air bricks stay clear, because the void needs its ventilation to keep the joists dry.

Walls. Most Oakdale homes of this age have a cavity wall, but not every cavity suits a fill, and some have been filled already. The alternatives are internal wall insulation, lining a cold wall with insulated plasterboard, or external wall insulation on a house being re-rendered anyway. We look at what you have and which way it faces before recommending anything.

Rooms in the roof and dormers. Where an Oakdale bungalow has had its loft converted, the sloping ceilings and dormer cheeks lose heat fast. PIR rigid board such as Celotex goes between and under the rafters, keeping an air gap below the roof covering, with a vapour control layer before new plasterboard. This is a warm roof at rafter level, and the target U-value there is different from a cold loft floor.

The flat top of a chalet dormer. The dormer roof on an Oakdale chalet bungalow was usually built cold, with a thin quilt between the joists, and it is where winter mould appears in the corner of the bedroom. It cannot be reached from any loft. The lasting fix is to re-cover it as a warm roof, with the insulation board above the deck, which we price with the rest when both are due.

Draughts and cold bridges. In a thirties house in Oakdale the heat escapes through the gaps: round the loft hatch, at downlighter holes, where pipes pass through the floor, round a blocked-up fireplace and at the eaves. Sealing them is part of the job, because insulation with holes in it does little.

When we would say no. If your loft is already at depth, or the real problem is damp or condensation from poor ventilation rather than heat loss, we tell you, and the quote reflects that.

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 loft with low eaves all round, a semi with a clear loft and a suspended floor, and a converted bungalow with rooms in the roof 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.

We insulate homes across Oakdale and Stanley Green, from Wimborne Road and Darby's Lane to the Canford Heath side, in BH15, from our base in Boscombe, about six miles east. BCP Council is the building control authority.

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 Oakdale, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

Most repairs in Oakdale 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.