Today we are going over everything to do with loft insulation, a property can lose up to 25% of the heat through the loft space. Majority of houses these days have enough insulation in the loft space already to be as efficient as they need to be in relation to heat being lost through the ceilings. This is because all newly built houses have to be installed to meet building regulations, which is considered very energy efficient. Older houses that would have only had a small amount of insulation installed when the house was built will have had it upgraded at some point by a competent person or company.
Building Regulations recommend the thickness of the insulation to be a minimum of 270mm, we generally install 300mm as a little bit extra never hurts anyone right? The insulation is firstly installed between the roof joists that are adjacent to the upstairs ceiling. Another layer is then added in the opposite direction laying across the joists to the desired thickness. It is done this way to try and eliminate any cold spots.
Generally, a lot of people can do their own loft insulation as a DIY job. We won't lie though, it isn't one of the nicest jobs to do, especially if the insulation that is up there already isn't of the friendly kind. By this we mean insulation that has a high amount of fibreglass integrated into it. Nine times out of ten it will be yellow in colour, so is usually quite easy to spot. If you feel like you are capable of installing the loft insulation yourself, then you probably are! Otherwise find a competent person or company to do or for you, better yet why not give us a call? Always remember if you do want to do it yourself, wear all the correct personal protective equipment (PPE) i.e. masks, gloves etc.
One last thing to mention about loft insulation, well any type of insulation really. A lot of people are under the impression this makes your home warmer, technically it doesn't. What it does is help contain the heat from getting out which is produced by your boiler or fuel source. So if you had two identical houses one insulated and one not, the one with the insulation wouldn't need to have the heating on anywhere near as much as the other. This is because the heat is held in the property more efficiently which allows the property to warm up much quicker, as well as contain the heat a lot longer. This will then lower the energy usage of the property alongside the amount spent to keep the house warm.
Keep an eye out for our next blog where we will be on the hot topic of Cavity Wall Insulation, we'll see you then!