loft insulation

Not hard at all. Add a mask to your ppe list though 🙂

Definitely a mask to add to that. Also make sure you have a decent hoover around for when you come out of the loft, easier to hoover it off.
Providing the loft is clear it will take a day at the most. It isn't a hard job just a bit annoying.
Someone in here recommended a set of litter pickers and i found that helped a huge amount as you could grab it and push further than you can reach

The stuff nowadays are waaaay better than in the 80's and 90s...back then it was more like fibre glass...
Wearing a mask is a must..if your loft is clear then I reckon 3hrs max...use a Stanley knive to cut the wool down to size...and don't any cover vents

Have fun..lol

I'd say a mask is more important than coveralls. Cool shower afterwards, you don't want the pores opening up until you've rinsed the stuff off.

You can get spacers that stop the insulation from blocking the eaves.

Wiring in theory, should go over the insulation. However, when I looked at ours the derating of the cable due to being under could still more than easily cope with the load due to everything upstairs being low energy led.

Wear a car paint spraying overall and rubber gloves, tape the cuffs and wear your kneepads. go to the toilet beforehand.

Or get the stuff made from recycled to plastic bottles. No itch. No hazard. Similar price?

Possibly more expensive but I thought it was worth it for easy handling.

Or get the stuff made from recycled to plastic bottles

earthwool

it’s actually recycled glass bottles. Plastic candyfloss would be interesting in a fire 🙂

looks like the compressed floor sweepings from a Wookiee barbershop

but yes much more friendly to work with and handle. Just done under my floor with no need for gloves or coveralls

Can you put insulation straight on top of boarding? Loft was boarded when we moved in, it's basically chipboard fixed to CLS which was fixed to original roof/ceiling joists. There is insulation already under the boarding though I bet its only 100mm ish

I insulated ours this summer. Was a horrible job in the heat but the rock wool wasn't that itchy. Glad I did it before the heatwave though, the house was noticeably cooler in the very hot weather and now its proper cold the house feels just as warm despite dropping 1.5 degrees on the thermostat to save money.

Put 300mm on top of the existing boarding which had about 75mm under it (small ceiling joists).

Added 150mm to mine before last winter, crossed lapped over existing. The rolls at Wickes are 8m long, can be cut with a blunt knife. I work for the manufacturer, as stated it is glass wool, 80% recycled glass, far friendlier nowadays, the binder used in it smells of candyfloss.
My bedrooms are far warmer now, no longer feel a cold draft coming down the stairs.

If your loft is boarded make sure it's not compressing the insulation below, it'll ruin the thermal properties and overall breathability. You can raise the floor level with loftlegs, little plastic uprights.

make sure it’s not compressing the insulation below

Mine deffo isn't. The old insulation only came up to height of ceiling timbers, at best max 25mm over, and the 'framework' for the boarding over it is over 50mm higher plus the height of the boards.

You can buy 'real wool' loft insulation. Not sure how much more it would cost though. A good eco friendly option. As for the time scale, I wouldn't know how long it would take.

tip I'd give in this weather is to open the hatch an hour or 2 before going up there to let the space warm a little, and use garden shears (need to be sharp) for cutting it to size. Take a lot of light with you, have a shower as soon as you're done. I doubt it'd take more than a couple of hours if you've got standard spaced joists, the rolls come sized to fit right in between them

I used rolls of fibreglass (laine de verre) twice vowed never to use it again. Since then I've used lots of recycled polyester wool, 27 layer multi-film stuff, polyurethane panels, polystyrene, and wood fibre panels... and rockwool panels. 1.5 times, 2 times, 3 times and 4 times the price per m2 for a given R value but no month of sore/itching.

It’s not a weeks worth of work - reckon you’d crack it in a day if you have a good go at it. Last time I did some I wore one of those cheap white decorating coveralls with plastic gloves and a fresh mask rated for insulation. Didn’t actually get itchy at all - just standard rock wool type insulation rolls. I actually built a platform in the middle of the loft to sit over 300mm of insulation but all the rest round it is just going to be over the existing 100 insulation.

A full day. if its a full loft your doing.

youll want to wear long sleeves and pull your socks over your trousers, tuck everything in and tape up.

good access to get the rolls of insulation up there. if not get it all up before you start and in a corner.

plastic bags to get the wrapping out.

As your laying it over existing its really easy. work from the furthest corner and back towards the loft hatch. there will be very little need to cut anything and you can tear it with your hands.

Have a clear route to the shower and and an empty wshing machine for your clothes ready to go. A  bike water bottle if you need a drink. If you wear glasses youll probably not wear a mask but take care.

It took me a lot longer than 3 hours!!

The roll had to be cut lengthways to fit in all our joists, and as the roof on our 3 bed semi slopes on 3 sides, there was a lot of crawling around on joists getting it into position. Moving all the stuff up there took ages too, as did removing and refitting the flooring higher up. I think I used 4 boxes of loft spacers, around 48 legs, and each one has 4 screws in, and each of those has to be screwed into a joist whilst balancing on a bit of wood I moved around.

Still it was better than sitting in the lounge watching "Made In Chelsea" which my OH insists on watching.
That program has saved us a fortune in heating bills.

Use wood fibre, performs much better as an all year round product i.e. keeps the house cooler in summer as well as warmer in winter. No itching either!

You can buy ‘real wool’ loft insulation

I've used it for sound deadening panels in an office I fitted out at the clients request - their offices really, really smelled of sheep as a result 🙂

It took me a lot longer than 3 hours!!

The roll had to be cut lengthways to fit in all our joists,

It makes sense to measure the spaces you're fitting between and buy rolls or slabs that are that size to start with 🙂 Bit late to tell you that now though.

youll want to wear long sleeves and pull your socks over your trousers, tuck everything in and tape up.

Is this more of TJ's sartorial advice from the Jeans thread?

keeps the house cooler in summer as well as warmer in winter.

Doesn't all insulation do that?
(It works both ways)

The roll had to be cut lengthways to fit in all our joists, and as the roof on our 3 bed semi slopes on 3 sides, there was a lot of crawling around on joists getting it into position. Moving all the stuff up there took ages too, as did removing and refitting the flooring higher up. I think I used 4 boxes of loft spacers, around 48 legs, and each one has 4 screws in, and each of those has to be screwed into a joist whilst balancing on a bit of wood I moved around.

thats not really insulating though - thats insulating and flooring. the flooring took considerably longer than the insulation.

FYI stanley knifes aint great for cutting rockwool in the attic - it only really works if you can compress the material prior to the cut. - found a regular wood saw to be far easier in confined space cutting in the air.

its an easy job, as long as the stuff overlaps it doesnt need to be exact use a panel saw to cut to length, earthwool, maybe others have pre existing width cuts so you can just pull them apart relatively easily. I could jst stand at one end of the loft, chuck the roll holding one end so it unrolls, move to that end, cut. Chuck the next roll from the other end. Repeat.

make sure you tape your wrists / ankles. rockwool might not be too bad, but other stuff up in your loft could be horrible itchy stuff.

Quick question...

Need to insulate my loft too and wondering about laying new insulation directly over existing wiring in the loft?

Seen a few contradicting views that it's either ok to lay over (with newer type insulation) or that you should lift the wiring up and rest on top of the insulation (perhaps in reference to older type insulation)?

In complete contrast to the advice above, I've always found shorts and tee shirt is best (+ mask). - The fibres always find their way into the weave of overalls / clothes and are held there like millions of little needles irritating the skin beneath. Try not to touch / itch your skin and then wash the stuff off by alternating hot then cold water in the shower.

@maccruiskeen

No it's actually recycled plastic bottles.

"SupaSoft recycled plastic insulation is manufactured from 95% recycled PET (recycled plastic bottles), "

https://www.celticsustainables.co.uk/thermafleece-supasoft-polyester-insulation/

Fire risk?

Flammability to BS 5803-4: Pass
Smoulder resistance to BS 5803-4: Pass

I guess once a fire had spread to my loft the house is toast no matter what the insulation is.

Lovely to handle and tears to length by hand.

wiring - I believe it is recommended not to lay over wiring.

However, if it is the lighting circuit and every light is a low energy LED the draw will be tiny so the risk of overheating minimal

I've pulled out the wires were they were accessible and fitted little cup things over the downlights (which are LED now)

However, if it is the lighting circuit and every light is a low energy LED the draw will be tiny so the risk of overheating minimal

What is it's a dishwasher?!
😉

Yea, you're not supposed to lay it over wiring, even if you've swapped to LED's that doesn't stop the next person screwing an old 100W incandescent in there (unless they're actual LED downlighters with the little cups over them designed to live under the insulation. It doesn't take long to lift the wire up and tuck the insulation under.

Time wise, a day, if you have a lie in, drive to B&Q for it, stop and McDonalds on the way out and start actually working at about 3pm. Otherwise unless access is a real pain you'll be done by lunchtime.

Tyvek suit, a decent facemask, goggles not glasses.

Breadknife for cutting the insulation.

It makes sense to measure the spaces you’re fitting between and buy rolls or slabs that are that size to start with 🙂 Bit late to tell you that now though.

Almost every gap was a different size.

I used a regular wood saw. I tried a bread knife but it wasn't long enough and made our bread taste funny.

I put it over the wiring too. I can't remember the figures, but I did look up the max amps 1mm can take under insulation and it was above the 6A used in the MCB for the lighting circuit.

Ta all

sounds entirely doable.

when I can actually find a free day I’ll give it a go!

I did a typical 3 bed semi in 2 days. This included shifting everything from one half to the other, lifting the boards, remaoval of old stuff, laying down new, and screwing back all the boards. Then doing it all again for the opposite side.

PPE reccommends heartily endorsed!

Thanks for the info on wiring!

I have been meaning to do this for a couple of years now but I still haven't. The price has shot up massively and I've not seen a B&Q 3 for 2 offer for a long time. Perhaps winter is not the time you would usually see offers like that so I'll have to wait and hope by some miracle the cost comes down.

no need to remove the old stuff you are just making the job more horrible. Yes its compressed and less effective but just chuck the new stuff on top. unless you need the clearance for loft legs or the like. All sorts of nasties could be in that dust you will disturb by taking old insulation out.

Bear in mind that once insulated, a colder loft condenses vapour much easier. Make provision for improved ventilation with soffit trays or lap ventilation.

If you think I'm talking crap, at least do yourself a favour and check after a few days when its still frosty.

He’s not talking crap. I would add to prevent moisture getting up in the loft as much as possible. Well sealed and insulated loft hatch. Sealed covers over recessed down lights if you have them. Look out for holes around pipe penetration etc into loft. And make sure you don’t have long runs of uninsulated extract duct all over the place.

some thoughts on

hempswool and sheepwool

-

-

mineralwool glasswool

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wH4Oyj4fNxQ

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wH4Oyj4fNxQ -

Superfoil has some advantages

https://www.superfoil.co.uk/
https://www.superfoil.co.uk/case-studies/

Superfoil has to be in the right place and superfoil branded superfoil is very different to silver bubble wrap.

I've used superfoil to wrap our challet style upstairs knee walls l. It's made a massive difference to the air tightness and thus the temp in the rooms

Slight tangent - does anyone know if it’s possible to just staple superfoil on top of ceiling joists? So leaving existing rock wool type insulation between the joists and then putting superfoil over the top?

As long as it’s a foil with a breathable membrane would it work?

That Roger bloke is completely clueless and not particularly good at getting impartial advice on products.

Use an old saw to cut it to width while it’s in the wrapper. And as above shears rather than Stanley knife for other cuts.

I found Knauf Rockwool from Wickes was easily cuttable with a box cuttter, or wallpaper scissors were good. FWIW I lifted and cleared all the left over rubble from our in situ insulation, installed wooden flooring with loft legs, removed the old board and layed new insulation on top of the old in probably 2 full working days. I did that over a couple of weeks doing an hour or so most nights, then a few few hour stints in weekends. Get a decent mask, white coverall, gloves and goggles (wear contact lenses if you need glasses)and I found it ok. Don’t worry about overlaps as it’s just extra insulation.

Sounds like you should get yours done in a day no problem.

It doesn’t take long to lift the wire up and tuck the insulation under.

Unless you are lucky enough to have conduit.

Use an old saw to cut it to width while it’s in the wrapper.

Wait. Wut? God dammit!

I also used the recycled plastic bottles. It is a joy to use, no itching.

The recycled plastic stuff from B&Q I’ve found to be expensive compared to recycled glass, and difficult to cut and tear (easier than cutting) than Rockwool

The recycled plastic stuff from B&Q I’ve found to be expensive compared to recycled glass, and difficult to cut and tear (easier than cutting) than Rockwool

All qualities which make it great for retrofitting into the 175mm gap in the sloped bits of my roof.

So far only been able to get my hands on one roll though. Been out of stock consistantly since.

“how hard can it be?” the good lady however is telling me it’ll take me a week (I’d say a day at the absolute most)

Don't tell her that whatever you do! Imagine the consequences 😉

Im doing ours at the moment, also doing between joist shelves and changing the landing lights while I'm at it- using that Knauf stuff from Wickes, pretty affordable and tbh you dont need any PPE on at all.
Treated myself to a GVS pp3 mask for when it gets dusty, much better than the disposable paper ones