Loft insulation in Milford on Sea

Insulating a ceiling does not just warm the rooms underneath. It takes the roof space out of the heated house and leaves it colder than it has ever been, and everything already up there has to be dealt with on the same visit. The cold water tank and its pipework get lagging before we leave, because an unlagged tank in a loft that has just been properly insulated is a burst waiting for the first hard frost. Cables and wiring are lifted onto the insulation rather than buried beneath it. Recessed lights and downlighters in the ceiling below take fire rated covers so each fitting keeps its air gap instead of having wool heaped over it.

Then the depth itself, which is the straightforward part. Wool goes between the joists, then a second layer is cross laid over the joists so no timber is left showing to carry cold into the room below, and the two finish at about 270mm. Approved Document L sets that figure for a renovated loft. The open ground takes rolls, mineral wool in the form of glass wool or of rockwool. Batts fit the bays that truss bracing creates, loose fill reaches a shallow pitch, and sheep wool is there for anyone who wants it. The point of the whole exercise is the U value across your ceiling, since more heat leaves a house that way than by any other route, and it turns up on the heating bill long before it turns up on an EPC.

The eaves are left alone on purpose. Insulation stops on the wall plate and the air gap above it stays open, held there by vent trays clipped between the rafters. Air enters at that gap and leaves under the ridge, faster where a ridge vent has been fitted. That crossing movement is the whole ventilation system on a roof whose underlay is bitumen felt rather than a breathable membrane. Warm a ceiling and the dew point moves up into the space above it, so a loft that was coping perfectly well can show condensation, wet material and black mould on the timbers within a season once the edges are stuffed.

Anything already laid up there gets judged before anything new goes down. Wool contaminated where birds have got in and left droppings, wool missing for the last foot before the wall, wool settled to half its thickness or compressed under a deck, or wool gone patchy round old wiring, is bagged at the hatch and taken away with us instead of being sealed under the new work where interstitial damp gathers. Access is a single hatch, so crawl boards go down before anyone puts weight on a ceiling, and the job counts as work at height from the first rung of the ladder.

Last comes the way in and the way you use the space. Where things are stored, the deck is raised on legs so the depth beneath it is left alone and the loft ladder still reaches the platform. A rigid board and a seal on the hatch stop the last draught. Where a room has been built into the roof there is nothing to work on at floor level and the job goes in at the rafters instead. Board is fitted between them, the air path over it is kept open, a second layer runs beneath, and taped vapour control closes the room side. Multi-foil quilt is reserved for a sloping ceiling or a dormer cheek with no depth to give. Where the covering is coming off anyway, a warm roof over the deck is the better answer.

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 seafront flat with the hatch on a shared landing, a post-war bungalow with a wide open loft, and a detached house with a fully boarded loft are three different mornings before any material is opened. 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 Milford on Sea, Keyhaven, Hordle and the SO41 addresses towards Lymington, 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.