Loft insulation in Branksome
Lofts topped up to 270mm, old material cleared, and older roofs kept breathing at the eaves so the timbers stay dry.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
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Most Branksome lofts need bringing up to around 270mm of mineral wool, the new roll crossing the old, without closing the gaps at the eaves that let the roof breathe. In the older houses, where the roof was built without an underlay, that ventilation matters more than the depth, and we check it before anything is laid. Walls and floors are on insulation in Branksome.
Branksome lofts usually turn up in three states. A loft with a thin, grey layer from decades ago, flattened under boxes and missing where the electrician crawled through. A top floor flat in a converted house that is freezing in winter, where nobody is quite sure who owns the loft above it. Or a loft that smells musty, with dark marks on the underside of the roof, and a new owner who wants to know why before they add anything.
Thomas goes into your Branksome loft before pricing anything. He checks the depth in a few bays, looks along the eaves and at the underside of the tiles or slates, finds the hatch and the tank, and photographs anything that needs explaining. You get a written itemised quote.
The work
Old layers, fresh lofts and attic rooms
An old layer can be topped up. In an inter-war semi on the Branksome side streets, the original glass wool is often dry and evenly spread, just thin. It stays, straightened out, with the empty bays between the joists filled, and then a second roll is laid over the joists at right angles, so the timber stops acting as a cold bridge.
Around 270mm in total meets the loft ceiling U value of 0.16 in Approved Document L. You can go to 300mm. The last few centimetres do little, and we say so.
Clearing out and starting again. Insulation in a Branksome loft that is wet, contaminated with droppings, or compressed flat is bagged and taken away. Loose fill that has blown into drifts is vacuumed out. Then the loft is laid fresh in rockwool or glass wool roll, with batts cut in where the bays are awkward. Sheep wool is an option if you prefer a natural material.
Storage. Boards screwed straight onto the joists crush the insulation under them. We fit a raised floor on loft legs so the full depth runs underneath, usually a platform near the hatch rather than the whole loft. A loft ladder and an insulated, draught sealed hatch can go in at the same time.
The things around it. Covers over every recessed light and downlighter so nothing overheats, cables lifted above the insulation, the tank and pipework lagged now that they sit in the cold, and any gap round the soil pipe sealed. This is slow work in a small loft, often done on a crawl, and it is where a cheap quote cuts corners.
Rooms in the roof. Where a Branksome loft is already an attic bedroom with sloping ceilings or a dormer, there is no floor to lay onto. Rigid board such as Celotex PIR goes between and under the rafters, with an air gap kept under the felt or tiles, and a vapour layer on the warm side. The target at the rafters is 0.18. It means new plasterboard, so it suits a room being redecorated anyway.
Blocks, converted houses and rented homes. Four in ten homes in Branksome are flats, in 1960s and 70s blocks behind Poole Road or in older houses divided up. The roof space over them usually belongs to the freeholder, so the managing agent orders the work and we write the quote so it can go straight to them. If you rent a house, the landlord is normally responsible for the structure and roof; we are happy to quote an agent directly and send photographs of the finished depth.
When we would talk you out of it. If your Branksome loft is already at depth and the cold is coming from the walls or the floor, more loft insulation will not change the heating bill, and we will tell you that and leave it.
How it runs
From your call to a written price
One person to ring from the first visit to the last. The quote is itemised, not a figure on the back of a card: the survey, clearing and bagging whatever is up there now, the material and its depth, keeping the eaves clear, the hatch and any pipework, and disposal on separate lines, so you can compare it properly against anyone else's.
Nothing is left open or unusable overnight. The site is swept at the end of each day rather than the end of the job, and what comes out leaves with us. If something turns up once we start that nobody could have seen, you get a photograph and a price before we carry on.
Laying insulation in a loft needs no planning permission or permitted development right, as the Planning Portal guidance on insulation explains. Regulation 23 brings in building control, BCP Council here, only when more than half of a roof is being renovated. Insulation fitted in a home is zero rated for VAT until 31 March 2027 under HMRC VAT Notice 708/6, and as we are not VAT registered there is no VAT on our quote.
Cost
What decides the price of a loft
No rate per square metre, because the floor area is the easy part and the awkward edges are where the time goes.
Getting to it. A roomy loft over a 1930s semi with a hatch on the landing, a low loft over a bungalow worked on a crawl, and the roof space over a top floor flat reached through a shared stairwell are three different jobs before anything is carried up. A hatch on a landing you can stand a ladder under is one job. A hatch over a stairwell, a crawl space you can only move through on your knees, or a loft full of boarding that has to come up and go back, is time before any material is laid.
What is up there now, and what it is sitting on. Old material that has to come out, be bagged and taken away is a cost before anything new goes down, and so is a loft full of boxes that has to be emptied and put back. Joists at 400 centres with a flat run across them is a different afternoon from a trussed roof full of bracing.
Ventilation, and the edges nobody reaches. Insulation stops at the wall plate and the eaves have to stay clear, or you trade a warm bedroom for a wet roof. Getting depth right into the corners and around the hatch, boxing over downlighters and lagging anything that now sits in the cold, is most of the labour. Approved Document L sets what the work is expected to reach.
Comparing quotes? Ask what depth is actually being laid and in how many layers, whether the old material is coming out or being covered over, whether the eaves are being kept clear, what happens to anything you store up there, and whether the hatch and the pipework are included.
If the loft is wet
Water running off the felt, or mould on the underside
Ring rather than use the form. Droplets on the underside of the felt, black mould spreading across the roof timbers, or insulation that is visibly damp are all telling you the same thing: warm wet air is getting into a space that cannot breathe.
That does not wait, because it is the timbers that pay for it. We look before anything is added, because putting more insulation into a loft that cannot ventilate makes it worse. In a converted house the loft is often shared with the flat next door, so tell us if the damp is over your ceiling only or runs across the whole roof. Scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm. For anything urgent, ring rather than use the form, and if we cannot pick up we ring you back as soon as we can.
The one local thing
Older roofs that breathe through the tiles
A lot of Branksome's houses went up around 1900, before roofing felt was in general use. On many of those roofs the slates or tiles sit straight on the battens with nothing underneath, or with a later felt added when the roof was redone. A bare roof like that is draughty, but the draught is doing a job: it carries away the moisture that rises from the house, so the timbers stay dry.
Pack the loft full of insulation, block the eaves, or staple a membrane under the tiles, and that air stops moving. Warm damp air from below then reaches a cold roof and condenses, and the first sign is dark mould on the rafters and damp insulation. So on these roofs we keep a clear air path at every eave, fit vent trays, and never add an underlay from inside. Where a later felt has been laid tight, we check whether it is a breathable membrane; if it is not, extra vents at the eaves or ridge are part of the quote, because without cross ventilation the dew point ends up inside the roof. That check comes before any depth is laid.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
We insulate lofts across Branksome, BH12, from Poole Road and the station up to Alder Road, and in Westbourne, Parkstone and Branksome Park next door. Building control is BCP Council.
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 Branksome, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.
Planning at a glance
Do you need planning permission in Branksome?
Most repairs in Branksome 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.
| Question | In Branksome |
|---|---|
| Who decides | BCP Council is the planning authority for Branksome. BCP Council's heritage pages set out what it controls. |
| Conservation area | Yes: Brunstead Road Conservation Area. Check whether your street is inside the boundary before changing anything visible. |
| Listed buildings | Yes, there are listed buildings in and around Branksome. If yours is one, work can need listed building consent. |
| Protected landscape | No National Park or National Landscape covers Branksome. |
Questions
Questions about loft insulation in Branksome
How much insulation should an inter-war Branksome loft have?
Around 270mm, with the upper roll running across the joists. In a roof with no felt, that depth is laid loose and kept back from the eaves so the roof still breathes.
Our roof has no felt. Can it still be insulated?
Yes. The insulation goes on the loft floor as normal, and the eaves are kept clear so the roof keeps breathing. We never staple a membrane under the tiles from inside.
Will there be VAT on the bill?
No, we are not VAT registered, so we add none. Registered firms charge insulation fitted in a home at zero rate until 31 March 2027.
I live in a top floor flat. Can I insulate the loft?
Check your lease first: the roof space often belongs to the freeholder, so they may need to agree or order the work. We can quote whoever is responsible.
How long does a loft take?
A typical house is a day, sometimes two if old material has to come out or the eaves are tight. The quote gives the programme.
Nearby, and next door
Loft insulation near Branksome
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Loft insulation guides
Part L: do you have to insulate when you re-roof? Loft condensation or a roof leak: how to tell PIR board vs mineral wool: which insulation?Everything we do in Branksome Loft insulation, all areas Every area we cover
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Want to know what is in your loft?
Thomas goes up, measures what is there, checks the eaves and the underside of the roof, and prices it in writing. The visit and the quote are free.