Boarding my loft/ insulation dilemma

[TheHornmeister]

Hi, I’m looking to board my loft and presently the insulation I have is only a couple of inches thick and doesn’t come above the joists but I was looking to top up that with more insulation but the insulation I’m looking to get will take it above the joists so I’ll have to crush it down to screw the boards in. I’ve been told not to condense the insulation as it can cause problems with the ceiling (and damp ?). While I want to make my loft energy efficient with putting more insulation in, I also want to utilise it as a storage area by putting boards down. Any advice on this would be appreciated

 

[pompeyal]

You could go to the expence of insulating between the rafters then the loft will also be insulated, there are some insulations on the market that come in sheet form but these can be expensive, they are usually foil coated to help prevent condensation penatration and if fitted between the rafters there would have to be an air gap between the insulation board and the roof covering, I think the gap has to be 50mm but not sure on the new regs... regards Al.

 

[TheHornmeister]

Ok, cheers mate, i'll probably try and stick to the original plan as we're on a limited budget. Actually, I was thinking, is there not loft boards that have some sort of silver backing ? that could act as an insulator, save putting loads of insulation underneath the boards.

Thanks again

 

[JohnD]

you can counterbatten across the existing timbers, with, say, 50mm sq or 75x50

this allows you (1) to fill up between the existing timbers with insulation (2) to fill up between the new timbers with an extra layer at right-angles, reducing the risk of gaps or thin spots (3) to place your boarding across the battens, so that your weight is spread across several timbers.

when it is all screwed together it will be fairly rigid but will not increase the overall strength of the roof timbers so you can't use it as a habitable room or put anything heavy up there.

space the battens to suit the size of flooring panels.

see if you can carry a 2880x1440 piece of flooring chipboard up there, this is the cheapest flooring and large pieces are better than small.

do not bury any electrical cables (except lighting) in insulation.

 

[TheHornmeister]

Ok thanks John, I'll do that, nice one.

Ian