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.
A loft here is usually a top-up, and the part that decides whether it was worth doing is the last metre at the eaves. Get the depth out over the wall plate and hold it there, and the rooms below stop feeling cold at the edges of the ceiling.
Most calls start in one of three ways. 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 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 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. 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 the 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
From your call to a written price
Same team from first visit to last, one person to ring, and no sub-contracting your work out to somebody you have never met. 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.
Insulating an existing roof space is not development, so it sits inside permitted development and there is nothing to apply for, as Planning Portal guidance on insulation sets out. Building control is the part that can apply, because regulation 23 brings a renovated thermal element up to current standard and Approved Document L sets the U value that means. New Forest District Council is the authority here. There are 15 listed entries near here and no conservation area over the housing, so an ordinary Everton house needs no consent, and HMRC VAT Notice 708/6 covers how the VAT on energy saving materials works.
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 bungalow with a hatch on the hall ceiling, a chalet where the only opening is on a small upper landing, and a house with a loft already boarded and full of boxes are three different starts before any material is laid. 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.
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. Everton is a straight run down for us, so a roof space that is running with water gets seen within a day or two rather than left. The phone is answered 24 hours for emergencies; scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.
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 here, 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
A local firm you can check
We cover Everton, Hordle, Milford on Sea, New Milton, Lymington and the SO41 addresses around them, with New Forest District Council for planning and building control. 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.
Questions
Everton questions we get asked
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 the largest single thing left in most houses here, and it runs every hour the heating is on, so it shows on the bill through the whole of the winter rather than in one go. Sealing the hatch deals with the draught that usually comes with it.
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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.