loft - please advise me on insulating, it is bare

[laura1111]

Hi all
please can anyone help, i have recently bee up in our loft and its freezing there is a thin layer of insualtion in between the joists, but thats it, it is basially just the roof beams and tiles... and the cold!

i would like to insulate it properly but i dont know where to start! it is an 1890's semi with a really tall roof! and a later etension on the back of the property with a shorter (in height) roof which i dont think is insualted at all as our spare room (the extension upstairs over the ktchen) is freezing and we have lots of mould and condensation!! i think this is partly to do with the rendering needing re-doing, but any help would be greatly appreciated!

thanks

 

[Alastairreid]

minimum 250mm glasswool insulation in your loft.

 

[WullyB]

on insulating a loft the best process to work to is to use 250mm loft insulation running inside the floor joists only, also double it up again going in the opposite direction from your first layer of insulation to make a sort of kris-kros effect. this will stop the rooms being cold but wen u do this and its still cold in the extention the extion walls havnt been properly built which is whare the mould and dampness is probably comng from.

 

[laura1111]

thanks for this, is there anything i can do about the walls? we are using it as a spare room at the mo so its just sitting empty, however we would at some stage like to get our spare room to the point where we could have a bed in there!! its a very long way off! i will need to get someone in to try and do the extention insulation as there is only a very small opening and its not a proper loft hatch, is the main loft something i can do myself?

 

[PaulJR]

You should be able to do the main loft yourself.
Check out Wickes - they are doing 2 for 1 deals on loft insulation at the minute.
I would go for the 170thick knauf stuff between joists - it's sealed so less itchy rockwool to handle. Then go the other way with the 1200 wide rolls.

I would recommend you get a decent sized hatch into the extension roof space - just for inspection purposes