Loft insulation in Walhampton and Portmore

The survey starts outside. We count the roof planes from the garden, then work out from inside which of them has a void behind it, which has a hatch and which needs one formed. In a Walhampton and Portmore house that has grown over a century that is rarely obvious from the landing.

Some voids are reached through a cupboard, some through a panel nobody has opened, some only on your knees from the main loft. Access is settled here rather than later, because it is still work at height even indoors.

The main loft, done properly. Whatever is between the joists of a Walhampton and Portmore loft gets teased apart, straightened and topped with a second layer of roll, cross laid across the joists so the timber stops working as a cold bridge. Two layers, around 270mm finished, is the U value a renovated ceiling is expected to reach under Part L. Mineral wool roll for most of it, glass wool or rockwool depending, batts where hand cut joists wander, loose fill only where a roll cannot reach, sheep wool if you want it. Anything compressed, damp, contaminated with droppings or drifted into a corner comes out and is bagged at the hatch first.

The lower voids, which is where the cold rooms are. A back addition or an outshot in Walhampton and Portmore usually has its own shallow space at its own level, often with no ventilation of its own and no material in it at all. That is a crawl and it is slow, but it is why the bedroom over the back of the house has never been warm. Where a void genuinely cannot be reached, the honest answer is rafter level from below when that ceiling is next opened up, with PIR rigid board such as Celotex between and under the rafters, a taped vapour control layer and a multi-foil quilt where the depth is short.

Air, then everything else. Insulation stops at the wall plate, a vent tray at each rafter keeps the gap open above it, and the cross ventilation runs soffit to soffit in every void, not just the big one. Old bitumen felt over boxed in soffits, or a breathable membrane fitted when the roof was last done, both change what is possible, and condensation on the felt with black mould on the timbers is what a choked void looks like. Then fire rated covers over downlighters and any other recessed light, wiring clipped above the new layer rather than buried, lagging on the cold water tank and its pipework, loft legs and a raised floor where you want storage, a platform boarded where you use one, and the hatch insulated and draught sealed with the loft ladder checked against the new floor.

The floor area is simple, so we do not quote per square metre. It is the edges and the way in that take the time.

Getting in. A main loft you can stand up in, a low void over a back addition and a flat whose hatch opens off a shared landing are different jobs. A crawl space, or a loft boarded out for storage, adds hours before any wool goes down.

What is up there now. Old, flattened or damp insulation has to be bagged and removed, and so does anything stored up there, which then goes back.

How the roof is built. A traditional cut roof with joists at close centres is a different job from a modern trussed roof full of bracing, and older joists are often shallow, so the top layer runs across them.

Air at the eaves. Older roofs in Walhampton and Portmore often have bitumen felt or no membrane at all. Keeping the eaves open, lagging tanks and pipes and boxing over downlighters is most of the work, and Approved Document L sets the standard.

Ask other quotes what depth they will lay and in how many layers, whether old material comes out or is covered, how the eaves stay clear, what happens to your stored things, and whether the hatch and pipework are included.

We insulate lofts across Walhampton, Portmore, Boldre, Pilley, Lymington and the SO41 addresses around them. Our base in Boscombe is 13.7 miles off, and the New Forest National Park Authority is the planning body. Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd is registered in England and Wales, company number 15471719. Before you book a visit in Walhampton and Portmore, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

Thomas Hannen, who owns it, goes up the ladder and prices your loft himself. There is a verified customer’s score of 10 out of 10 on Checkatrade. The survey visit is free, as is the written quote with each item set out.

Most repairs in Walhampton and Portmore 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.