Loft insulation in Fordingbridge

Most people ring for one of three reasons. The upstairs is cold and stays cold. The loft has been looked at for the first time in years and there is barely anything in it. Or damp has shown up on a bedroom ceiling and nobody can say whether it is the roof, the ventilation or the insulation.

We go up before we quote. That means seeing what is there, pushing a rule into it rather than guessing, checking which way the joists run, looking at the wall plate and the eaves, and finding out whether the roof is felted at all. The site visit and the written itemised quote are both free, and if the answer is that your ceiling is fine we will say so.

Clearing out first. Old material has usually settled, been compressed under boards, gone patchy round cables and stopped a good way short of the edges. In an older roof it is often contaminated as well, with droppings and years of grit blown in under the tiles. That comes out in bags and leaves with us the same day. Anything sound and dry is straightened, its gaps closed, and kept underneath the new work.

Depth in two layers. About 270mm finished, and the way it is laid decides whether you get it. First layer of mineral wool roll between the joists, pushed to a friction fit so nothing is missing at the sides. Second layer cross laid over the joists at right angles, so the timber stops being a cold bridge running through your ceiling. Glass wool roll for the long runs, rockwool batts where an old cut roof has bays of every width, and loose fill for the corners. Approved Document L sets the U value the finished ceiling is meant to reach under Part L.

Ventilation, which is not optional. Insulate the ceiling and the roof above it gets colder. The dew point moves up into the timbers, and vapour leaking out of the house condenses on whatever cold surface it finds. So the insulation stops on the wall plate, vent trays hold it off so the air gap at the eaves stays open, and cross ventilation runs from one side to the other. Where the eaves are boxed in, a ridge vent or vent tiles do the same work at the top. Approved Document F is the standard, and blocking the eaves is the quickest way to turn a warm bedroom into a wet roof.

Services and the hatch. Recessed lights get proper covers. Cables are lifted out of the wool and clipped to the joists rather than buried, because buried wiring runs hot. In an older house the cold water tank and its pipework are suddenly on the cold side of the insulation, so lagging and a jacket go on at the same time. The hatch is insulated on its back and draught sealed, and the loft ladder reset if it fouls the new depth.

Storage and roof slopes. Boards laid on the joists crush the insulation flat, so where you want the loft usable we build a raised floor on loft legs and board the platform you actually walk on. Where there is a room in roof, a dormer or a sloping ceiling over the stairs, the job moves to rafter level. Rigid PIR board cut tight between the rafters, a clear gap kept above it under the underlay, another layer under the rafters and the joints taped, so the warm roof build up keeps interstitial condensation out of the timber.

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 a roof space is not development, so it uses none of your permitted development rights and there is nothing to apply for, which Planning Portal guidance on insulation sets out plainly. Building control still applies, because regulation 23 brings a whole element up to current standard once more than half of it is renovated. There is no conservation area over the town, but there are a great many listed entries in and around the old streets, and on a listed building consent covers internal work as well, so we check that at the visit. The VAT rules for energy saving materials are worth reading before you order anything.

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. Fordingbridge is a straight run up the Avon valley for us, so a wet roof space does not sit waiting. The phone is answered 24 hours for emergencies; scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.

Call now: 07435 839745

About a fifth of the houses in Fordingbridge went up before 1919, and a roof of that age was built without any underlay. Tiles or slates were hung straight on the battens, and if you stand in one of those lofts on a bright day you can see daylight through the joints. That roof has always ventilated itself, which is why it has stayed dry for a century with almost nothing in the ceiling below it.

Insulate it properly and two things change. Wind now blows across the top of the insulation instead of through a loft that was warm anyway, so the edges need holding down and the roll needs to sit tight rather than loose. And fine grit and dust drive in through the same joints and settle on the new material. Neither is a reason not to do it. It is a reason not to treat the roof like a modern one: we would rather add a breathable membrane or sarking when the covering is next off than seal an old roof up from underneath with something that traps vapour in the timbers. If a quote for an old Fordingbridge roof says nothing about how air moves through it, it was written from the doorway.

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