need to replace/upgrade our loft insulation..........original 1938 spec and not providing much in the way of insulation now.

any tips/comments from you guys welcome before I tackle it.

for instance would you recommend I remove all the old insulation and kind of clean out the loft first ?

and there seems to be a few types of replacement insulation on the market, what would you recommend ?

Iain

My house has about 250 to 300 mm of orange rockwool insulation in the loft, but under that the company left the old insulation and under that it appears to be shredded newspaper I bagged up all the old newspaper type and glass fibre above my bathroom as the ceiling has halogen spotlight in and i was worried about fire

Everywhere else it has just been left and new placed on top, but they pushed it right down in to the eves, which i think is blocking the air circulation as sometimes i suffer from dripping condensation.

I would contact your energy supplier, as they might be able to do this for free (dependant on age/circumstances), or at least low enough cost to warrant you not bothering topping yourself head to toe in white overalls and buying dust masks and sealed to face goggles as well as the insulation on top of all that.

i

Knauff " Space Blanket" is easy stuff, it is a roll of PET insulation encapsulated in a polythene sleeve, orange on one side and heat reflecting silver foil on the other, you can get it in various thicknesses 100mm and 150 mm and . main advantage is it is easy to lay, does not irritate you and gives a clean finish, IMHO much better than the normal stuff. You can put two layers down at right angles to get as much depth as you need. I got mine last year at Wickes when they had a 2 for one offer, It worked out cheaper than paying the contribution for " free " insulation, and the end result I think is tidier and better.

I did remove all the old stuff from a loft 60"x 12 and one 10 x 12, there were newspapers dated 1960 plonk and back pointing from 1848 under it, ! It was an awful , awful,dirty job, get masks, gloves and paper suits, lots of bin liners , and gaffer tape the legs and arms shut if you go down that route 2009 GS Auto Zermatt Silver - Sold June 21 after 10 years of ownership

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Iv'e got the 'Space Blanket' type, clean and easy to lay then I floored over it with flooring grade chipboard. Before it was warm in the attic, now it's cold so must be working.

As long as your old insulation is bagged and sealed, your local recycling place will take it, just let them know when you arrive and it will be put to one side.

Get intouch with your energy supplier, they did my loft at a reduced price, some govt funding apparently, all I did was show then the loft hatch they did the rest. a super thick layer of rockwool stuff over the existing layer of rockwool.

cost me £400 ish I think but its a big house, my dads 3 bedhouse was £250 I think. I reckon the material would have cost most of that. they even put new insulation around the water tanks

It certainly made a big difference At work
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thanks for the info and tips guys, always better hearing from those who have "got the teashirt", etc

Iain

chicken george wrote:

Get intouch with your energy supplier, they did my loft at a reduced price, some govt funding apparently, all I did was show then the loft hatch they did the rest. a super thick layer of rockwool stuff over the existing layer of rockwool.

cost me £400 ish I think but its a big house, my dads 3 bedhouse was £250 I think. I reckon the material would have cost most of that. they even put new insulation around the water tanks :

It certainly made a big difference

Good Point about the tanks, if you have any header tanks and pipe work and overflows ensure that you insulate it as after replacing the insulation there will be no heat loss through the ceilings to help stop the freezing.

One point about the subsidised "energy schemes" is that they will only lay over old insulation they will not remove old insulation/ muck/clutter etc. you still have to do that yourself, a crap job, especially when like me you squeeze into the loft opening and worry about getting back out  2009 GS Auto Zermatt Silver - Sold June 21 after 10 years of ownership

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if you ring your energy supplier, they might offer cavity wall insulation also

I did and was going to but i read a lot of horror stories about it causing more problems, such as damp/mould due to the walls not having the breathing space in between

anybody else had good or bad results from cavity walls been done?

MartynB wrote:

chicken george wrote:

Get intouch with your energy supplier, they did my loft at a reduced price, some govt funding apparently, all I did was show then the loft hatch they did the rest. a super thick layer of rockwool stuff over the existing layer of rockwool.

cost me £400 ish I think but its a big house, my dads 3 bedhouse was £250 I think. I reckon the material would have cost most of that. they even put new insulation around the water tanks :

It certainly made a big difference

Good Point about the tanks, if you have any header tanks and pipe work and overflows ensure that you insulate it as after replacing the insulation there will be no heat loss through the ceilings to help stop the freezing.

One point about the subsidised "energy schemes" is that they will only lay over old insulation they will not remove old insulation/ muck/clutter etc. you still have to do that yourself, a crap job, especially when like me you squeeze into the loft opening and worry about getting back out

Yep not insulating under the tank is sensible, Cleaning it depends on what you want to do, our loft spaces were horrible, 160 years of neglect, dead mice, rats, junk, sh 1 te etc, the old backpointing from when the roof was turned, newspaper, the place just stank , I swear that the building rose about 3 inches when we tipped out all the crap, over 30 big bin liners, we still had to leave the old victorian galvanized tanks in the loft as I couldn't find a safe way to cut them up, 2009 GS Auto Zermatt Silver - Sold June 21 after 10 years of ownership

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Definately remove all the old stuff, although its a horrible dirty job, you will be able to check all the woodwork up there and rectify any problems, they will be hidden and forgotten once the new stuff is down.

Not sure about the tank, if itself is insulated then I can't see a problem, a hole in the insulation under the tank makes no sense, it defeats the object of having it?

We have a dormer bungalow type house, the loft and eaves are insulated but not the flat roof sections, not sure if they can be done at some stage? they have a very thin layer in there, but nothing of nay use really.

The cavity walls have been done and we don't have any problems, although an eight year old with a door closing phobia keeps the rooms ventilated