Loft insulation in Minstead

The first thickness goes down between the joists and finishes level with the timber. On its own that is only half a job, because every joist is then a strip of cold running the full width of the ceiling. The second thickness is laid across them at right angles, the joists disappear underneath it, and the pair come to roughly 270mm. That is the depth Approved Document L expects of a loft being renovated, and the reason for it is a lower U value across the ceiling. More heat loss goes that way than any other, which is why you feel it in the rooms and see it on the heating bill long before an EPC catches up.

What goes down depends on the roof. Rolls of mineral wool, glass wool or rockwool, cover open ground. Batts suit a roof cut into small bays. Loose fill is what gets into a shallow pitch, and sheep wool suits anyone who would sooner keep mineral fibre out of the house. Rigid board such as PIR or Celotex belongs at rafter level rather than on a floor. So does taped vapour control, and so does multi-foil quilt, which is what you reach for when a sloping ceiling or a dormer cheek cannot give up any depth at all.

Then the eaves, which is where the care goes. The wool finishes on the wall plate and the strip of air above it is not touched, because that is how the roof takes its air. Vent trays hold it open. Cross ventilation begins at the eaves, travels the slope and escapes under the ridge, and a ridge vent gives it a wider door. A breathable membrane offers another way out. Bitumen felt underlay offers none at all. Warm the ceiling and the dew point rises with it, so a loft that coped for decades can show condensation, wet material and black mould on the timbers in one winter once the edges are packed.

Anything already up there is looked at before it is buried. Thin where it has settled, crushed and compressed under boarding, patchy round old wiring, contaminated with droppings or simply missing at the wall, and it goes into bags at the hatch and comes out with us rather than sealing interstitial damp into the middle of the build up. Access is that hatch and nothing else, so crawl boards go down first, nobody trusts a lath and plaster ceiling, and the ladder work counts from the first rung.

What is left is the things that live in a loft. The cold water tank is lagged and so is its pipework, because the space above your ceiling is colder the day after than the day before. Wiring and cables go on top of the insulation rather than under it. Fire rated covers go over recessed lights and downlighters. If the loft is used, the boarding is put back on legs at a height that leaves the depth untouched, the loft ladder is reset to reach the platform, and the hatch is finished with rigid board and a draught seal.

Roof construction decides how the day goes. A cut roof, made on site from rafters and purlins, gives head room to work in and often has no underlay at all behind the tiles, so it breathes well and lets the wind through, and material has to be fixed rather than simply unrolled. A trussed roof gives none of that: it is a lattice of braced timbers, everything is fed in from the hatch, and the corners are reached one length at a time. Either way we would rather tell you at the quote which of the two you have than surprise you with it on the day.

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 cottage where the hatch is a trap in a cupboard, a house with a loft you can walk about in, and a chalet with rooms already in the roof are three different jobs. 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 Minstead, Lyndhurst, Emery Down, Bartley, Cadnam and the SO43 lanes around them, with the New Forest National Park Authority for planning. 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.