Insulation in Wool

The second layer over the joists. The standard job here and the one we do most. Eco roll mineral wool laid across the existing quilt at right angles, so that every joist is covered rather than left conducting as a cold bridge through the ceiling, taking the whole thing to around 270mm. Over half the houses in Wool went up between the war and the early eighties, the peak falling in the 1970s, so the original layer is usually thin but sound; it stays where it is unless it is wet, spoiled or nested in, in which case it is bagged and leaves with us. Where it has settled, been compressed under boarding or been pulled aside for a cable run, we make the gaps good first.

Half the homes here are terraced or semi-detached. A mid terrace only loses heat through two walls, so the money is far better spent on the ceiling than on the walls, and it is the end of terrace and corner houses that genuinely need wall work. Worth checking in a terrace is what happens at the top of the party wall: on some runs of houses the wall stops short of the underside of the roof, so the roof space is shared with next door. That changes how the insulation is finished at the boundary, and it is a fire separation question as well as a heat one. We look at it while we are up there rather than leaving you to find out.

Cavity walls that were filled once already. Most walls here have a cavity, and a fair number were injected years ago. Old fill settles, and a settled fill leaves a void at the top of the wall and a packed, sometimes wet mass at the bottom, which is worse than an empty cavity. We drill a small hole in a mortar joint and put a camera through it before anything is quoted, to see what is in there, how far up the wall it still is and whether the wall ties are bridged with mortar. Where extraction is needed the material comes out through the lowest course and the wall goes back before a new fill goes in.

Where the roof space is communal rather than yours the work is the freeholder's decision and not the individual flat's, and where the building is leasehold a major works consultation under section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 can apply before anything is committed. Inside your own flat, a sealed and insulated hatch and the draughts round the service risers are usually the quick wins. Where a room in the roof or a dormer has been put in, the sloping ceiling takes rigid board, PIR such as Celotex, cut between and under the rafters with a vapour control layer and a clear air gap kept above, which is how a warm roof reaches the 0.16 figure expected of a renovated element. Vent trays at the eaves, lagging on the tank and pipework, fire rated covers over downlighters and a raised deck if the loft is your storage all belong on the same quote.

No rate per square metre. A mid terrace with the hatch on a small landing, an end of terrace with a gable to deal with, and a bungalow with the hatch straight off the hall are three different jobs. Old material to bag and take away, and storage to move and put back, come before anything new goes down, and Approved Document L sets what the work has to reach. Comparing quotes, ask what depth is being laid, whether the old material is removed or covered, and whether the hatch and pipework are included.

We cover Wool, East Burton, Winfrith Newburgh, West Lulworth and the BH20 addresses along the Frome valley, with Dorset Council for planning and building control. Send the postcode if you want to be certain. 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.