Loft insulation in Cadnam and Bartley

Over the ceiling, where there is still a loft. Under a cold roof everything goes above the ceiling and the space over it stays cold deliberately. What we usually lift is one settled layer pressed down between the joists with nothing at all on top of them. The fix is a second run of roll turned square to the first and laid across the joists, so the timber ends up covered rather than left proud. Get to about 270mm and the ceiling sits at the u value Approved Document L expects after a renovation. Glass wool roll for the long clear runs, rockwool batts where the spacing is untidy, loose fill in corners the bracing has closed off, sheep wool if you would prefer it.

Up against the rafters, where the roof is a room. Once a loft has become a room the floor under your feet is no longer the surface losing your heat. Sloping ceilings, dormer cheeks and the flat top all want rigid board. PIR such as Celotex is cut tight to each rafter bay with an air gap kept above it, a second layer goes under the rafters to kill the bridge through the timber, and a taped vapour control layer closes the lot so warm air never travels far enough into the build up to find its dew point. Where depth has run out altogether, multi-foil quilt is what fits.

The eaves decide whether either of them works. New material is taken out over the wall plate and stopped there, and a vent tray in every rafter bay holds the gap open above it, so ventilation still runs the width of the roof and the felt stays dry. Old bitumen underlay with the soffits boxed in under it is a choked roof already, and the first sign of that is condensation on the underside of the felt with black mould spreading behind it. Where the eaves cannot be opened back up, a ridge vent goes on first. Approved Document F carries the standard, and what you are avoiding is interstitial condensation, which does its damage where nobody is looking.

The things that get left off other quotes. Recessed lights get a fire rated hood apiece, never wool tucked round the fitting. Wiring comes up out of the layer and is clipped above it, since cable buried in insulation runs warm. The cold water tank and every run of pipework by it are suddenly outside the warm part of the house, so lagging goes on the same day. If the loft carries the suitcases, the boarding comes up and goes back on loft legs high enough to leave the depth uncrushed, and the loft ladder is checked so it still swings under the raised floor. The hatch takes a board on its back and a seal, because an open hatch undoes a good deal of what has just been laid. How we get up there is agreed at the survey, since it is work at height indoors as much as out.

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 period cottage with the hatch on a half landing, a sixties detached house with a trussed roof, and a chalet with rooms already in the roof are three different jobs. 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. Two quotes for the same job are usually two different jobs.

We cover Cadnam, Bartley, Copythorne, Netley Marsh, Ashurst and the SO40 lanes around them, with the New Forest National Park Authority for planning. 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.