Loft insulation in Ferndown

What is over the ceiling now. Nearly every loft in Ferndown has something. It has settled, gone patchy, been pulled back around cables and stops short of the wall plate, and there is often a bare ring right round the outside where the roof gets low. Anything wet, crushed or contaminated with droppings comes out in bags and leaves with us. What is dry and sound gets straightened and kept.

Two layers, and the depth that counts. Mineral wool, glass wool or rockwool in a roll, friction fitted between the joists first, then a second layer laid across them at right angles to a finished 270mm. The cross laid layer is the one that does the real work, because it covers the joists and stops the timber carrying heat through the ceiling. Batts suit uneven spacings, loose fill suits a loft nobody can crawl in, and rigid board such as PIR or Celotex goes where headroom will not take a roll.

The low edges are the whole game on a bungalow. A single storey roof in Ferndown has a long eaves run relative to its floor area, and the last metre before the wall plate is where depth gets given up. It is also where the ventilation lives. We hold the air gap with vent trays so cross ventilation still works, get depth right into the corner behind them, and never push wool out over the plate. Cover the eaves and you have swapped a warm bedroom for a wet roof.

The hatch, the tank and the boarding. The hatch is the biggest hole in a Ferndown bungalow ceiling and it is usually straight above the hall, so it gets insulated on the back and draught sealed. A cold water tank and its pipework need lagging once the loft is cold. Cables are clipped over the top rather than buried and recessed lights get fire rated covers. Where you store things, a raised floor on loft legs keeps full depth under the boards and the loft ladder usable.

Chalets and rooms in the roof. Plenty of bungalows in Ferndown have had the roof space partly taken in, so half the job is a flat ceiling and half is a sloping one. On the slopes the work follows the rafters: rigid board cut between them with a clear gap kept to the underlay, a second layer under, joints taped. A dormer cheek is small and loses a lot, so it is worth doing at the same time.

A loft is not priced by the square metre here. The way in and the edges take the hours. Hatch and headroom. A hall hatch in a bungalow is quick to work through. A chalet with bedrooms in the roof needs the sloping ceilings and the little voids behind the knee walls done instead. A top floor flat reached from a shared landing takes more care, and the agent's say-so.

Old material and storage. Decades-old insulation, squashed thin, often has to be lifted and bagged. If you store things up there, they come down and go back, and boards may need raising on loft legs so the new depth fits.

Trusses. Many roofs of this age are trussed, and the diagonal bracing slows down rolling out the cross layer.

Air at the edges. The wool must stop at the wall plate so air still reaches the eaves; otherwise the bedroom is warmer but the roof gets wet. Packing the corners, boxing downlighters and wrapping pipes is where most of the hours go, and Approved Document L sets the target.

Keeping storage. Raised boarding is a separate line if you want to keep using the loft.

Compare quotes on the depth laid, the number of layers, removal of old material, eaves ventilation, and whether hatch and pipework are covered.

We insulate lofts in Ferndown, Longham, West Moors, West Parley, Bearwood and Merley. Ferndown sits 5.9 miles inland from our Boscombe base, and building control there is Dorset Council's.

You would be dealing with Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, which is registered in England and Wales, company number 15471719, and it is Thomas Hannen's own business; he goes up into the loft and prices it himself. A verified customer gave the firm 10 out of 10 on Checkatrade. Neither the survey nor the itemised written quote carries a charge. Before you book a visit in Ferndown, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

Most repairs in Ferndown 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.