Dormer loft thermal images anyone?

[HarryN]

Hi,

We recently had a dormer loft conversion completed, and it's been bugging me that it seems to lose heat much faster than the other rooms in the house, and I’ve confirmed this by tracking the temperature. Since this conversion was done to modern standards, I was expecting that the space would retain heat more effectively and that we might need open windows to keep it cool! Unfortunately, it's the other way around.

The builder is adamant that lofts are “meant to be cooler” and that there is no issue. I invested in a thermal camera, and I’ve attached some of the images from it. These show the dormer walls, and there are clear cold spots. My guess is that these are thermal bridges caused by insufficient insulation around the timbers.

I’d love to hear from anyone who’s had a similar loft conversion. How does your loft hold up in the cold? Even better, if anyone has thermal images of their loft, could you share them? I'd like to compare and see if what I’m experiencing is typical.

 

[catlad]

Not easy to interpret what is going on from those images, maybe put the normal pictures next to the thermal images.

 

[drpepe]

Our loft dormer (2021ish) is easily the warmest part of our 1930s semi.
Those cold studs suggest a problem!
I’d agree with your builder that a loft is “meant to be cooler”, but not a converted loft…