Loft insulation in Everton
Loft top-ups, cleared roof spaces, boarded storage on legs and rafter level work across Everton and SO41, measured first and priced in writing.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
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An Everton loft is usually a top-up to around 270mm of mineral wool, and the part that decides whether it was worth doing is the last metre at the eaves. Carry the depth out over the wall plate, keep the air path open, put storage on raised boards, and lag the tank and pipes. Then the rooms below stop feeling cold at the edges. Walls and floors are on insulation in Everton.
Loft trouble in Everton starts at the outside walls of a bungalow, under old boards or on a first look with a torch. A bungalow that is comfortable in the middle and cold along the outside walls. A loft that was boarded years ago, with the wool underneath squashed flat. Or somebody who has finally been up with a torch and found the material grey, thin and stopping well short of the edge.
We look properly at an Everton loft before quoting anything. The site visit is free, and it means going in through the hatch and out to the wall plate rather than judging depth from the top of the ladder. Depth gets measured at three or four points, because the reading over the landing is never the reading at the corner, and everything gets photographed, including the eaves and the tank. The written quote is itemised, so the clearing, the material, the edges, the hatch and the pipework are separate lines you can compare.
The work
Two layers, open eaves and a hatch that shuts properly
Adding the layer that is missing. The common find in an Everton loft is one thickness of mineral wool between the joists, level with the top of them. That leaves the timber bare, and a joist is a straight cold path through the middle of the ceiling.
Sound material stays where it is, the gaps where it has settled get filled, and a new roll goes over the joists at right angles. Cross laid like that, two layers reach about 270mm and the timber disappears. Glass wool roll suits an open floor and batts are quicker where bracing chops it up.
Taking out what is finished. Wool that is wet, compressed under old boarding, patchy or contaminated with droppings does not get covered over. It is bagged in the loft and carried out, along with the loose fill you still find drifting into the eaves in older houses. That is a separate line on the quote, and it is the line that most often explains why one price is lower than another.
The eaves, tucked rather than stuffed. In an Everton roof, material runs out over the wall plate and stops there, with the air gap above it kept open by a vent tray in each bay so cross ventilation still works from one side of the roof to the other. It is tucked in at the edge rather than left loose, and never pushed into the ventilation path. Fill the eaves and the roof space stops drying: you get condensation on the underside of the felt, damp along the rafters and black mould by the end of the winter.
What lives up there. Recessed lights get fire rated covers so nothing is smothered, cable and wiring are lifted and clipped over the new layer, and the cold water tank and its pipework are lagged with a lid fitted, because the loft is a colder place once the ceiling below it works properly. The hatch gets an insulated board and a draught seal, since an open hatch undoes a surprising amount of what you have just paid for.
Storage and roof rooms. Where an Everton loft is used, we build a raised floor on loft legs so the boarding sits clear above the full depth, with a platform at the top of the loft ladder and the boarded area set where you actually need it. Chalet bungalows with a room in the roof, a dormer or a sloping ceiling are a different piece of work: rigid board such as Celotex cut between the rafters with the air gap held open above, PIR beneath and the vapour control taped through, which is a warm roof rather than a cold loft.
How it runs
Topping up a loft, from the hatch to the last roll
Thomas puts his head up through the hatch into your Everton loft, measures what insulation is there now, and checks the eaves vents, the cold water tank, the pipes and any downlighters. His written price lists the survey, clearing and bagging the old material, the new material and the depth it goes to, keeping the eaves open, insulating the hatch, dealing with pipework, and disposal. Every one of those lines sits under one written quote.
On most Everton bungalows the hatch is in the hall ceiling. We put dust sheets along the hall, lay mineral wool between the joists, then a second layer across them, and fit eaves trays so air can still get in at the edges. The hatch is insulated and draught-stripped, and exposed pipes are lagged. Bags of old material leave with us, and the hall is hoovered before we go. If we find a wet patch of underlay or a cracked joist, you get a photo and a price first, and nothing extra goes ahead without your say.
Insulating an existing loft is permitted development, with nothing to apply for, as Planning Portal guidance on insulation sets out. Building control can apply, because regulation 23 covers a renovated thermal element and Approved Document L sets the U value. The council for building control is New Forest District, and no conservation area applies. HMRC's VAT notice on energy saving materials covers how the VAT works.
Cost
Why two lofts the same size cost different amounts
Nobody should quote a loft by the square metre. Measuring the floor takes a minute; the awkward edges take the time.
The way in. A hall hatch on a bungalow is simple. On a chalet bungalow the opening may be a small square off an upstairs landing, and some houses have the hatch over the stairwell, or a low space you crawl across. Each adds time.
What is up there already. Old insulation that has settled to a thin layer is often lifted and bagged before the new goes in. Stored boxes come down and go back, or the boards get raised on loft legs so the full depth fits underneath.
How the roof is built. A post-war roof with open joists and purlins is easier to work in than a modern trussed roof with bracing everywhere.
The margins. The insulation has to stop short at the wall plate so air can still move at the eaves; block that and you trade a warmer bedroom for a damp roof. Filling the corners, boxing round downlighters and wrapping pipes takes most of the labour. Approved Document L sets the standard to reach.
Put the same questions to anyone else: how deep, how many layers, does the old stuff come out, how will the eaves stay open, and is the hatch included.
If the loft is wet
Wet felt, dripping nails or mould on the roof timbers
Ring instead of using the form. Droplets on the underside of the felt, rusty nail tips, black mould on the rafters, or insulation that feels damp all mean the same thing: warm, moist air from the house is reaching a cold roof space that cannot breathe.
That needs dealing with, because the timbers suffer. Keep bathroom and kitchen doors shut and use the extractor fans. On the first visit we check where the moist air is getting in and whether the eaves are blocked, before adding anything. More insulation in a loft that cannot ventilate makes it worse. Loft work is booked 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, and if we miss you we ring back as soon as we can.
Worth knowing
The wind finds the edges long before it finds the middle
The exposed side of a house here faces south west, with open ground between the village and the water, so the weather arrives with nothing much in its way. In a loft that shows up at the eaves rather than in the middle of the floor.
Air moving in over the wall plate travels across the surface of loose laid wool and strips its performance exactly where the ceiling meets the outside wall, which is the coldest part of the room below anyway.
So the edge detail is done deliberately. The top layer is tucked down at the eaves rather than left with a loose end flapping about, trays hold the air gap open while baffling the direct draught, and nothing is left where wind can lift it. In roofs with no underlay, which are common enough in older properties around Everton, this matters more, because the space is genuinely breezy and light material will move about in it over a winter. It also matters at the gable end, where wind gets in around the verge. None of it costs much. It is a question of whether whoever laid it went out to the edge and finished it, or stopped where the crawl got uncomfortable.
Who you are dealing with
The person who goes up into your Everton loft
Everton is 10.8 miles from where we are based in Boscombe. We insulate lofts there and in Hordle, Milford on Sea, New Milton and Lymington, and building control sits with New Forest District Council.
Your quote comes from Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, which is registered in England and Wales, company number 15471719. The business belongs to Thomas Hannen, and he climbs into the loft and prices it himself. We have a 10 out of 10 on Checkatrade from one verified customer. The survey costs you nothing, and neither does the written, itemised quote. Before you book a visit in Everton, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.
Planning at a glance
Do you need planning permission in Everton?
Most repairs in Everton 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 Everton |
|---|---|
| Who decides | New Forest District Council is the planning authority for Everton. The National Park boundary runs close by, and the Park's property map shows which side an address falls. |
| Conservation area | None covers Everton, so a like-for-like repair is ordinary maintenance. |
| Listed buildings | Yes, there are listed buildings in and around Everton. If yours is one, work can need listed building consent. |
| Protected landscape | No National Park or National Landscape covers Everton. |
Questions
Questions about loft insulation in Everton
What depth should we actually end up with?
About 270mm in two layers, the second one cross laid over the joists. One thick layer squeezed between the joists is not the same thing, because the timber is left uncovered. Approved Document L sets the standard the work is expected to reach, and the depth is what an assessor measures for an EPC.
Can we still store things in the loft?
Yes, on a raised floor. Boarding laid flat on the joists compresses the wool underneath and throws away most of the depth you have paid for. Loft legs lift the boards clear so the full thickness stays intact, and you get a platform at the hatch and boarded storage where you want it, not across the whole loft.
Will it make the loft damp?
Only if the ventilation is ignored, which is why the eaves come first. A better insulated ceiling means a colder roof space, so any warm damp air escaping from the house condenses more readily up there. Keeping the eaves clear, sealing the hatch and closing the gaps around pipes and cables is what stops that.
How much difference does it make to the heating?
Enough to feel in the rooms below, particularly upstairs and along the outside walls. Heat loss through the ceiling is one of the larger things left to fix in most houses in Everton, and it runs every hour the heating is on, so it shows on the bill through the whole of the winter, not in one go. Sealing the hatch deals with the draught that usually comes with it.
Nearby, and next door
Loft insulation near Everton
Nearby places we also cover for loft insulation, with straight-line distances from Everton, and the other trades we offer in Everton itself.
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Our other trades in Everton
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 Lymington Loft insulation, all areas Every area we cover
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Want the depth measured properly?
We will come out, get into the loft, measure at the middle and the edges, check the eaves and the tank, and give you an itemised written price. The visit and the quote are free.