Things you need to know about insulating your loft space
Heat rises, and in a home with just half of todays recommended levels of insulation a quarter of your heat is lost through the roof.
Insulating your loft, attic or flat roof is a simple and effective way to save that waste and reduce your heating bill.
Loft insulation is effective for at least 40 years, and it will pay for itself over and over again in that time.
If your loft is already insulated, it's worth checking that you've got enough insulation to get the maximum saving.
If everyone in the UK installed 270mm loft insulation, we could save nearly £210 million and almost 1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide every year, the equivalent of taking nearly 364,000 cars off the road.
Installing 270mm of loft insulation will save the average household around £187 a year.
(Estimates taken from Energy Saving Trust website).
As part of our loft boarding packages we do loft insulation from as little as £5.06 a square metre for 100mm and £8.90 a square metre for 200mm supplied and installed.
Please note: we can only supply and install insulation at these prices as part of a loft boarding package, we do not just install loft insulation.
Storing items in your loft incorrectly can compromise the efficiency of your loft insulation. Putting boxes and suitcase away in your loft directly on to your insulation will start to cost you more money on your heating bills because you are effectively making it impossible to breath and circulate air through the fibres.
Wool fibre type loft insulation must not be compressed so air can circulate through it to be at it most effective.
Boarding directly on to insulation or squashing it down in between your joists will also reduce it's efficiency considerably.
So you want to add more insulation and use your loft for storage?
There are now specialist products that allow you to create a raised loft storage floor consisting of sturdy tri and uni support 270mm legs which support a metal cross beam section that allows you to board on to without compromising your insulation.
Loft safety is very important, accidents can happen and helping prevent them especially in lofts is very important. The most common accidents in lofts are falling through the ceiling and falling down the loft hatch opening.
In both cases we can help prevent this from happening by installing good quality strong flooring in the areas you want to access and install a rail or balustrade around the opening of the hatch to stop anyone from walking backwards or stumbling toward the loft hatch. It's a long way down and could be quite nasty so its worth considering installing a safety balustrade or railing.
We can make and install simple wooden balustrades or we can install universal metal rail versions which simply install to your loft joists or flooring.
If you need a helping hand getting in to your loft why not have installed a hand grab rail to assist your balance when climbing the ladder in to the loft area.
We can also create a safety balustrade around the edge of the boarding to prevent stepping off the safe boarded area on to the plaster board ceiling.
