Hello all, Rich here. I thought I'd have a go at writing a post about my exploits insulating our loft. At this time of year our house was getting quite cold, actually this is an understatement. Recently there have been adverts on the TV for a charity appealing for people to adopt a 'snow leopard' - I imagine if they literally wanted me to adopt one it'd soon get fed up with how bloody cold it is living in this house and leave.
Before undertaking such a task as insulating your roof space or loft you have to ask yourself. Do you like spiders? LARGE spiders? Finding said large spiders on your shoulder? Because if you don't you should run away now. Also unless if you are equally partial to having itchy fibers making their way down your trousers to your bum this may not be a job you wish to do either. That said if you pay someone to do the job you lose the opportunity to inspect closely all the areas of your roof space such as the condition of the woodwork, roofing felt, masonry, the spiders and the odd wasps nest.
In our loft we currently have no flooring laid down, this is another job on the list, however this made it easier to see what I was working with. A word of warning, if your loft has no floor - mind you don't go stepping between the joists as you'll end up in the room below... probably with a spider on your shoulder.. and an itchy bum
Before undertaking such a task as insulating your roof space or loft you have to ask yourself. Do you like spiders? LARGE spiders? Finding said large spiders on your shoulder? Because if you don't you should run away now. Also unless if you are equally partial to having itchy fibers making their way down your trousers to your bum this may not be a job you wish to do either. That said if you pay someone to do the job you lose the opportunity to inspect closely all the areas of your roof space such as the condition of the woodwork, roofing felt, masonry, the spiders and the odd wasps nest.
In our loft we currently have no flooring laid down, this is another job on the list, however this made it easier to see what I was working with. A word of warning, if your loft has no floor - mind you don't go stepping between the joists as you'll end up in the room below... probably with a spider on your shoulder.. and an itchy bum
You may think the red eye thing is the camera, its not, its the bloody insulation fibres worming they way into my unsuspecting eyeballs! Why no goggles as Kat asked, well they steam up the glasses, I either wear the goggles no glasses and cant see anything or wear the glasses no goggles and still cant see anything, I love DIY.
Between our joists, in the void, was a couple of inches of rubble and dust (presumably from when the roof was redone in the 80's) the old insulation was laid on-top of this which in turn was caked in dust and had flattened down quite a bit, providing a limited thermal barrier. The first job was to remove all of the accumulated rubble and set about laying down insulation. The sheer amount of dust meant that it'd probably kill the digital camera, so apologies for the lack of photos, there is also no lighting up there so I made do with a couple of angle poise lamps.
Between our joists, in the void, was a couple of inches of rubble and dust (presumably from when the roof was redone in the 80's) the old insulation was laid on-top of this which in turn was caked in dust and had flattened down quite a bit, providing a limited thermal barrier. The first job was to remove all of the accumulated rubble and set about laying down insulation. The sheer amount of dust meant that it'd probably kill the digital camera, so apologies for the lack of photos, there is also no lighting up there so I made do with a couple of angle poise lamps.
On determining the type of insulation needed we decided to go for rolls of mineral wool, partially made from recycled glass bottles, it's only £3 per roll from B&Q - as our government subsidizes the cost of basic insulation under the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) - Really the taxes applied to a variety of things that are not regarded as being "green" (vehicles with larger engines - like our land rover etc) means it is really just a way to get a small amount of the tax I have already paid back. Mineral wool is basic, messy stuff to work with and there are other products around that look a bit neater although they are often far more expensive even though they provide a similar amount of insulation (it is recommended that you have at least 270 mm of rockwool)As a belt and braces approach I elected to line the voids between the joists with foil covered bubble-wrap, which would hopefully reflect any heat back; heat costs a fair amount to create these days so I'd rather not spend it warming up our eight legged house guests up in the rafters.
These rolls are available at around £12-16 each and should make a substantial improvement. I think it's common for people to use this material when insulating the insides of caravans, in-fact I've seen it used on refurbished aluminum Airstream caravans which are probably freezing without adequate insulation.
These rolls are available at around £12-16 each and should make a substantial improvement. I think it's common for people to use this material when insulating the insides of caravans, in-fact I've seen it used on refurbished aluminum Airstream caravans which are probably freezing without adequate insulation.
After the foil has been fitted flush to the floor the rockwool can be rolled over the top and cut to size. If you're fortunate your rafters will be 400mm wide, but in some cases the width might be slightly more or slightly less and you'll have lots of cutting of the insulation to do. Really, there is no easy way to cut rockwool. I used a pair of scissors, specifically Kat's only sharp pair of fabric scissors..which went down well - especially as I lost them in the dark loft ten minutes into the job - they did turn up though, without warning, when I sat on them. I've heard of people using bread knives too, I decided perhaps it would be best to leave the cutlery down-stairs and avoid losing that also, but whatever you choose you will be cursing the day you didn't buy overalls when you have to cut down the length of the roll to make it fit nicely down a narrow cavity. The £12 DIY stores charge for a disposable body suit (which at the time seemed ridiculous sum of money to waste on a disposable item) is probably worth every penny as all the loose fibers make their itchy way up your arms and torment you like you've just landed head first on a nest of ants.
So now the task is complete and already there is an improvement, the house has gone from feeling like being sat on the outside of an igloo to being at least sat inside of one, especially in our bedroom. This might help once we sort all the various drafts coming from everywhere else in the house so the next job should be new windows but these are hugely expensive and we'll have to save for new units, for now I have taped up the draftiest ones. A bonus point was that whilst up in the loft I noticed that our house does have a wall cavity and hopefully this will mean we can get some insulation pumped into the void so I'm going to see if I can get a grant to do this.
So now the task is complete and already there is an improvement, the house has gone from feeling like being sat on the outside of an igloo to being at least sat inside of one, especially in our bedroom. This might help once we sort all the various drafts coming from everywhere else in the house so the next job should be new windows but these are hugely expensive and we'll have to save for new units, for now I have taped up the draftiest ones. A bonus point was that whilst up in the loft I noticed that our house does have a wall cavity and hopefully this will mean we can get some insulation pumped into the void so I'm going to see if I can get a grant to do this.
What a glamours life I lead, news of further work on the chicken coop soon.
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