Insulation in Ridge

The metre nobody finishes. On an open site the wind does not stop at the tiles. It works in under the eaves and moves across the top of an open mineral wool quilt, and that takes the value out of the first metre or so around the whole perimeter, which is the same metre most installers cannot be bothered to crawl to.

We lay between and over, an eco roll across the joists at right angles, then work the edge properly: full depth carried out over the wall plate, a vent tray holding the airway open above it, and a denser rigid board over the perimeter where exposure calls for it. A ceiling under a renovated pitched roof is expected to reach a U-value of 0.16, nearer 270mm than the 250 people remember, and that depth is wanted at the edge as well as the middle.

Older roofs out in Ridge were felted with bitumen that has gone brittle, and some have no underlay at all. In driven rain off the south west, or in dry snow, water and spindrift get in over the tile lap and land on top of the insulation, which then holds it. If we find water tracks, daylight or a felt that has torn along every rafter, we will tell you the roof comes first, because a deep new quilt under a covering that is letting weather through is money spent on a sponge.

Where the roof is already lived in the work moves to rafter level, PIR between the rafters with a multi-layer quilt such as TLX under the sloping ceiling where the depth is not there, and the knee wall voids and dormer cheeks are where the draught comes from on a windy site. Wind pressure pushes air through every gap it can find, and warm wet air leaving the rooms is what makes a cold loft damp, so the hatch gets a compression seal, holes where pipes and cables come through the ceiling get closed, the tank and the pipe runs get lagged, downlighters get fire rated covers, and we check the bathroom fan discharges outside rather than into the roof space. There is no cavity wall to fill in the older cottages in Ridge, so a cold wall means an internal wall lining built to breathe.

Nobody can honestly price this by the square metre, because the floor and wall area are the simple bit. Getting into the loft. A low eaved roof that pitches down a short way from the hatch, a hatch over a stairwell, or a boarded loft full of boxes all take time before anything new is laid. Old material to bag and take away comes first.

Which walls you have. A cavity that is clear can be filled from outside. Solid brick has no cavity to fill, so the choice is an internal lining or an external system, and that is priced as its own job. One drilled hole and a borescope settle which you have.

Exposure and damp. Walls facing south west here take driven rain. Cavity fill on an elevation that stays wet can carry that water across to the inside, so the exposed faces are checked first. On low, damp ground, the ventilation and the floor junction matter as much as the insulation.

The standard. Approved Document L sets what the finished work has to reach, and that decides the thickness.

When you compare quotes, ask what depth or thickness is going in, whether the old material comes out, whether the eaves and hatch are included, and whether anyone has actually checked the walls.

We insulate homes in Ridge, Stoborough, Arne and Wareham, and further out through Sandford and Wool and across to Poole. Dorset Council handles planning and building control at Ridge, which is 11.9 miles from our Boscombe base.

Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd is the company, registered in England and Wales with the number 15471719. Its owner, Thomas Hannen, goes into your loft and looks at your walls before pricing anything. We hold a verified customer's 10 out of 10 on Checkatrade. The home visit costs nothing, and the written quote with its itemised lines is free as well. Before you book a visit in Ridge, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

Most repairs in Ridge 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.