Insulation in Sandleheath

Top-ups, done to the finished ceiling. A fifth of the village predates 1919 and most of the rest went up in the post-war decades and the eighties and nineties, insulated to whatever was normal at the time. Decades on it has settled, thinned at the perimeter and parted along the joists.

We lay mineral wool between the joists and then an eco roll straight across the top of them at right angles, so no joist is left as a cold bridge. What is being aimed at is the ceiling and not the bag: a ceiling under a pitched roof is expected to reach a U-value of 0.16, which in ordinary quilt means closer to 270mm than the 250 most people have in mind.

The holes you cannot see. On a lot of Sandleheath houses the draught is worth more than the last 50mm of depth. Air leaves through the loft hatch, round the pipes and cables where they pass through the ceiling, past an open chimney in a room nobody uses, and out of the gaps under a poorly fitted architrave. We seal the ceiling plane, fit a compression seal and insulation to the hatch and close the service penetrations. Then the air has to be put back on purpose: the eaves stay open with vent trays, extract fans get checked to see they discharge outside rather than into the roof space, and where a room has lost every route for air we say so before we make the house tighter.

Where a roof has been converted or a dormer added, the work is at rafter level and becomes board work rather than rolls: PIR rigid board such as Celotex cut between the rafters with a clear air gap above it, a foil faced board across the underside, or a multi-layer quilt like TLX where the headroom is tight. The knee wall voids behind the eaves cupboards are the bit that gets left out and the bit that keeps the room cold.

The later houses have a cavity and a borescope settles in minutes whether it is clear, already filled or slumped. The older brick and flint houses on the lane are solid walled with nothing to fill, so it is internal wall insulation on the coldest rooms in a breathable build-up. Solid ground floors are the one we would talk people out of: taking up a concrete floor means moving out of the room, and on most houses the same money spent on the roof, the draughts and the ventilation does more good.

Nobody can fairly price insulation by the square metre. The loft. A later detached house with a fitted ladder and a boarded floor to clear, an older cottage where the hatch is tiny, and a room in the roof where the insulation sits behind a plasterboard ceiling are three different jobs before any material is opened. Old material to bag and remove comes first.

The walls. The post-war houses, which make up the largest share of Sandleheath, usually have a cavity, and a borescope check confirms it is clear before filling. The pre-1900 cottages have solid walls, which need lining inside with a breathable system or insulating outside, and cost more.

Ventilation. Solid walls and old roofs need to breathe. Insulation that traps moisture moves the damp somewhere else, so trickle vents, eaves vents or extract fans may be needed, which Approved Document F covers.

Access. A cottage loft reached through a tiny hatch, or cavity fill on a two storey gable that needs a tower, adds time before any insulation goes in.

The standard. Approved Document L sets what the finished work must reach.

Ask any quote what depth or thickness is going in, whether the old layer comes out, and how ventilation is handled.

We insulate homes in Sandleheath, Fordingbridge, Rockbourne and Alderholt on SP6, out through Ringwood and down the Avon valley. New Forest District Council handles planning and building control for Sandleheath, which is 14 miles from our Boscombe base.

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

Most repairs in Sandleheath 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.