Loft insulation in Swanage

The hatch. In the older streets the hatch is often a small square over a stairwell, cut when nobody expected a person to get through it with rolls of insulation. That decides the shape of the day. Where a ladder can stand on a landing it is straightforward. Over a stairwell it is staging first and material second, and access like that is work at height in the proper sense, so it gets set up rather than improvised. Once we are through, crawl boards go down before anybody puts weight anywhere, because the ceiling below is frequently lath and plaster and will not carry a knee.

Out before in. Whatever is up there gets judged honestly. Wool compressed under a deck, thinned by years of settling, gone from the last foot before the wall, or contaminated where birds have been in and left droppings is bagged at the hatch and taken away with us. Anything patchy round old wiring goes the same way. Laying good material over bad hides the fault in the middle of the build up, where interstitial damp can sit unseen for years.

Depth in two layers. The first thickness drops in between the joists. The second is cross laid over the joists the other way, so no timber is left proud to run cold through into the room below. The pair finish at about 270mm, the figure Approved Document L sets for a loft being renovated. Mineral wool covers most of it, whether it is sold as glass wool or as rockwool. Batts go where bracing chops the space up, loose fill reaches into a low pitch that will not take a roll, and sheep wool is there if you would rather. All of it is aimed at the U value across the ceiling, because that is the biggest single piece of heat loss in the house and the one you notice on the heating bill and on an EPC.

Air at the wall plate. Insulation finishes on the wall plate and the air gap over it is left alone. Vent trays hold it there. Cross ventilation enters low, works up the slope and leaves under the ridge, and a ridge vent gives it a proper exit. A roof with breathable membrane behind the tiles has a second route out. One with bitumen felt underlay has none. This close to the sea the air is damp to start with, so a roof that cannot dry itself never catches up between one wet week and the next. Warm the ceiling and the dew point rises into the roof space with it, so eaves that get packed give you condensation, wet material and black mould on the timbers.

Then everything else up there. The cold water tank is lagged on the same visit, and its pipework with it, because the loft has just become a colder place than it has ever been. Wiring and cables are lifted onto the wool rather than buried beneath it. Fire rated covers go over recessed lights and downlighters. A used loft keeps its floor: the boards come off, legs go onto the joists, and the deck goes back at a height that leaves the wool alone, with the loft ladder adjusted to reach the platform. Rigid board and a draught seal on the hatch finish the day, since a bare one leaks heat all winter and pulls damp air up after it.

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 stone cottage with a hatch over a narrow stair, a top floor flat with the hatch on a shared landing, and a house up the hill 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 Swanage, Herston, Durlston, Langton Matravers and the BH19 addresses around them, with Dorset 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.